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You landed an interview, now what?

You have been applying left and right and finally received the call or email you have been waiting for: an interview! This is the crucial part and the most important piece for job seekers. This is the time to PREP! Biggest mistake candidates make is not doing their homework. These are the suggestions I give every candidate, so they can nail their interview:

Know what you are applying for. Understand the position by reviewing the job description, and if needed, research terminology you are not 100% sure about. Know what your strengths are for that particular position, and don’t forget to communicate these strengths during your interview!

Research the company! Visit their website and read the “About Us”. You have to understand exactly what the company does,

How to Effectively Communicate in the Office–Starting New, Helpful Habits

To start the year off on the right foot, follow these tips for effective in-office communication, whether you’re gathering for meetings or connecting via email.

Make Meetings Meaningful!

Create an agenda and send it out to attendees before the meeting whenever possible. This can be helpful for a one-on-one meeting with your manager or a large team meeting
Follow up with notes, especially so projects stay on track if there were attendees who couldn’t join. Create follow up tasks and assign them to individuals so that everyone is clear about their role in the project.
When necessary, follow up with another meeting. This allows you to put a plan in place for action items and track progress from your previous discussion.

Dive In – Diversity and Inclusion in Insurance

The Dive In Festival raises awareness of the business case for diversity and inclusion and has held events in 17 countries and 32 cities for four years now. Questpro sponsored the event in Dallas, TX, and I was so excited to be one of the attendees. After insightful small group discussions and hearing from the executive panelists, I think everyone had a new perspective on what it truly means to be diverse and inclusive. These are concepts that need to become reality, so if you missed one of their many events, here’s a little breakdown of what I learned.

Takeaways from the small group discussions:

Since the insurance industry is experiencing a huge age gap, one of the big topics for D&I was about how the younger and older generation can work together.

Open Letter to College Graduates

“I want to do something that helps people”. This was the guiding factor in my search for a career as I was discussing options with my university’s career center counselor. I tossed around possibilities in my head: teacher, social worker, non-profit development. These all sounded great, but my life was going to take an unexpected turn. After trying my hand at a few of the above-mentioned options, I didn’t see them working out long-term. I panicked – what was I going to do? Here I was with a college degree, three years of work experience with a non-profit school district, and four summer internships under my belt. How could I change directions now? How could I change my story? More importantly, where could I change my story?

A Word of Advice from Our QGrads

We reached out to two of our QGrads and asked them questions about their college experience as an RMI major. Tina and Samantha are seniors from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX, and they both gave us answers that not only gave us a look into their lives as students, but also provided great advice for those still in college. These were our questions:

Q: What’s been your favorite class so far, and why?

Samantha: My favorite class has been Student Managed Portfolio! It’s a student led class where we get to manage the school’s endowment by investing in stocks! So we’re dealing with real money (which is really exciting). I am in charge of a sector, so I have to give weekly sector updates and conduct stock screenings to determine if the stocks we have are undervalued or overvalued and what we should keep in our portfolio.

Top Tips for a Successful Career Fair or Conference!

Questpro Managers Meredith Haaker and Taylor Jones traveled to Chicago this month to mingle with students from all over the country during the annual GIS International Conference. They met some fantastic students and were able to speak with Chapter Advisers, University Faculty, and GIS Alumni during the week. Here are a few of their top tips for a successful career fair or conference!

1.) Do a little research before to see what companies will be there. Approach every booth you can, even if you are familiar with the company. Insurance is a small world, and you never know who you may meet or who has connections with your dream job.

2.) Take charge of the conversation! Approach the booth with confidence and your “elevator pitch”.

4 Easy Steps to Creating the Company Culture Your Employees Crave

When your employees arrive at work, what is it you want them to feel and think about your company?

Maybe you’ve never thought about it before. But, how they “feel” is a reflection on you and the company culture you’ve established.

How do you breathe new life into a company culture that needs resuscitating? It’s going to take some work – and you can start by asking:

How well do your employees enjoy their work? Coming to work should not bring a feeling of dread.
Is there a level of accountability and responsibility? Taking ownership makes employees feel connected.
Are your employees engaged? Believing what they do matters to the company and its mission leads to committed employees.
Is there a sense of camaraderie and respect?

Talent Shortage and Gap in Retirement

Here are the facts, and here’s what you can do about them. The insurance industry is amidst a turbulent time. Tons of people are retiring, and companies are having a hard time filling the gap with quality employees. We’ll give you the hard truth and some solutions for this industry-wide problem.

Facts:

By 2020, all Baby Boomers will be 65 or older.
Baby Boomers account for 31% of the workforce.
Millennials will make up 50% of workforce by 2020.
The average age in the insurance industry is in the late 50’s.
Full retirement age, as determined by the SSA, is 66 for this entire generation.
Nearly 50% of the industry’s workforce will retire in the next 15 years.

Questpro and The Birthday Party Project

Questpro has long been a supporter of The Birthday Party Project and was lucky enough to be able to volunteer at a couple of their June birthday celebrations.

The Birthday Party Project is non-profit organization that partners with homeless and transitional living facilities to throw a monthly birthday party that all the kids and parents get to attend. These parties always have fun themes, arts & crafts, games, decorations, music, cupcakes, goody bags and birthday presents for all the kids celebrating a birthday that month. The Birthday Party Project started over 6 years ago in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and has since grown to host parties in 11 other cities including: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Austin, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Washington DC and New York City.

7 Ways to Make Your Resume Stand Out

As someone with 10+ years of experience in recruiting, I recently had a moment of clarity about how I view people’s resumes. The moment of clarity didn’t come during the years I’d spent looking at them, but when my own son asked me for direction. He’s my son after all, so I had to give him the best advice. The resume he came up with was not at all what I like to see as a recruiter, so we got to work and did the following steps. Thus, my moment of clarity: 7 Ways to Make Your Resume Stand Out.

DO NOT be too wordy! In my son’s resume, he was very wordy. He basically listed his position and wrote a paragraph about what he does. There isn’t a recruiter on this planet who would read through all that!