Institutional Affiliation
I did the interview in three parts: The company, position and advices. These three parts in this job interview paper are discussed in depth. As we all know, State Farm is the largest insurance company in America. This company was established by a farmer who was named as George J. Mecherle in 1922. The reason he started it is because he thought people who lived in the country side should have less to pay in terms of insurance than the person who lives in the city. He started his first auto insurance company in a small town at Bloomington, Illinois. By selling his insurance door to door, State Farm has a sign sentence called: “ Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” And is the biggest insurance company in America now, also it’s two times big than the second insurance company, all states. With the development, State Farm carry more than seventeen insurances now and have business in Canada. Under this background, I decided to interview an agent from State Farm, to see how the company developed to the largest insurance company in United States. The person that I interviewed is a 56 year old agent named Chuck Detmering. As a local resident, he spent his college life in the University of Cincinnati. He is one of three agents in the area of Cincinnati who holds more than twenty-two years working experience at his position.
In my job interview with Chuck, he gave me a lot of insight into what his job entails. As an insurance agent his primary purpose is selling insurance policies. Just as the founder of the company Mecherle had initially done when he started the company the agents still stay close to their target markets. Chuck and his fellow agents hold regular conferences and meetings to inform while still convincing new and potential clients on the benefits of the various policies available to them. They also hold question and answer sessions where the clients (potential and existing ) are allowed to table their queries and specialists, like Chuck, give the necessary corresponding clarifications.
Chuck told me that what he liked most about his job was that it allowed him to travel to various parts of the country. This is because he grew up in one place and likes spending most of his time alone at his house. The travelling helped him get out of his comfort zone. He also found this to be really helpful as it makes him more diverse and open to new cultures. Different as it may be from his. The travelling also acts as a team building activity. He and his fellow colleagues spend most of their time together and builds strong bonds. Even when not working they still tend to hang out together. The other thing he likes are the allowances that they get while on the road that act as extra incentive.; Compared to other companies, the travel allowances that State Farm gives are significantly higher than any in the country.
The things that Chuck dislikes about his job are quite few. He does not like the idea of travelling too often away from his family. He is a married man with three children. He has two boys and a girl. However all his children are either married or living independently on their own. He does not like leaving his wife of 31 years all alone in their sub-urban home. He also hates it when he gets tired from all the travelling he does while on the job and at times even fall sick from the constant migraines.
The bizarre thing about his job is that in his 22 years that he has worked for State Farm, he has never sold a car insurance policy. He even wonders how he has worked this far for the company without doing so. However when it comes to selling health and life insurance policies nobody does so like Big Chuck as he is called at the work place.
Chuck said that he expects changes to occur in his field to occur in the foreseeable future. This changes may vary depending on the policies on offer. For instance health insurance may be altered so as to attract potential clients who are in the lower income level. The premiums may be lowered to suit them. Another change may be in the Life Insurance category. Insurance companies may start programs that enable collage students to start investing in their insurance for the future. The premiums for these students will be low but when they graduate and get a job it will rise depending on their income. These are a few of the changes Chuck is expectant of.
He also reserved some advice on the kind of personalities and skills anyone willing and hoping to join this field of work should have. Insurance agents should be patient. Clients tend to have lots of question on different matters and an agent should be patient enough with them to provide the corresponding answers. This is because being hasty with clients tends to scare them of leading to them leaving. They should also be open minded and adventurous as they tend to travel to different locations in the country to work. It will help them cope while they are away from their comfort zone. He insisted that they must have excellent social skills which is useful when trying to sell policies to different people. This is because people have varying personalities and an agent should be able to cope and persuade them to buy the policy on offer. Also, an agent should be confident. This is attractive to potential clients as it shows you believe in what you are selling and it mostly makes them assured leading them to purchasing the policy.
As an agent Chuck says there are various types of jobs available. Obviously selling insurance policies to clients is one of them. Another is recruiting new agents. This entails going out and about scouting potential agents and convincing them to join.
The average salary for this job description varies between $100,000 and $300,000 annually. This could vary depending on the work experience, company policy and job performance. When you add the various allowances in this package, the average income gets even higher and this is what makes Chuck still press on valiantly at the age of 56.
Appendix of Questions:
- What does your job entail?
- What are your primary job functions?
- What do you like/dislike about your job?
- What kind of education/training is required for your position?
- What future changes do you foresee occurring in your field?
- What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter into this field?
- What are the key skills needed for someone hoping to enter into this field?
- What other types of jobs are available in this field?
- What is the approximate salary range for this type of job?
