Stay in School, Don’t do Drugs, and Maybe Become an Insurance Agent
A few years ago I shared with you in this column about the time I was speaking at a Career Day at one of the elementary schools in our local school district where I am the school board president. I asked the students, “Who wants to be an insurance agent when they grow up?”, and while most of the kids in the class looked at me as if I were an example for not doing drugs, one little boy in the back almost jumped out of his seat, yelling, “I do! I do!” Well, as the story goes as you may remember, this little boy’s dad was an Allstate agent, and being the proud son that he was, he planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and enter into this thing of ours as soon as he possibly could. I have told this story to many a fellow insurance friend, as so many of us did not grow up with aspirations of a career in the insurance industry. As a matter of fact, most of you with whom I have asked the same question that I posed to this young elementary class, have quickly replied (expletives removed as my mother reads this column), “No way!” However, each and every one of us is now extremely content with our careers, and probably would not trade it for any other, although many within this industry still aren’t quite sure that they believe that there are youngsters who as they grow up are yearning to have a career in this industry…or would there be? Let’s take a look…
InVEST, a program sponsored and managed by the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers Association (IIABA), is a “school-to-work insurance program partnering with high school and college educators to provide a useful insurance curriculum for students.” articulately stated on the InVEST website.
Under the guidance and assistance of insurance professionals, InVEST students are afforded the opportunity to be educated in the insurance industry through formal instruction, internships, “shadow days”, and even be offered careers in our industry after graduating from InVEST. Through the utilization of guest speakers, an InVEST class can obtain knowledge and hear compelling stories of what a career in the insurance field may resemble, and as salespeople we all know the power and value of telling a story to get a point across to a candidate or prospect.
Also on the InVEST website is the history of how this organization came into existence, and how it grew into what it is today. The following is an excerpt that from the site that I wish to share with you:
“Forty years ago, a visionary insurance agent by the name of Stephen R. Dach recognized the fact that the hunt for talent was one of the most important issues facing independent insurance agents. He believed that the ability to recruit, develop and retain the best people was the key to running the best insurance agencies in the future. And he could not have been more correct. Steve Dach wasn’t just a man who had good ideas—the world is filled with those kinds of people, few of whom ever make any significant contribution to society. Steve was a person who wanted to change the industry he loved for the better, so he created a program to attract and train the next generation of insurance professionals. That program was called Project InVEST—Insurance Vocational Education Student Training. Steve believed that if you could capture a student’s attention at an early age and reveal to them the vast opportunities available in the insurance industry, that student would be intrigued enough to consider a career in insurance. So, in 1970, he approached the Los Angeles Unified School District to see if there was any interest on their part in implementing such a program. Steve knew that many students who would graduate high school in Los Angeles would not go on to college, for a variety of reasons, many of which involved money. The basic idea behind InVEST was to spend an entire school year preparing students to run their own small business, and then help place them in independent insurance agencies as sales or service representatives. Should that student later decide to pursue a college education, the insurance agency could help by providing financial support and a flexible work schedule. The first InVEST program was started at Hollywood High School that year. It was an immediate hit with educators and students alike for its unique interactive and participatory curriculum. So successful was the program that other school districts learned of it and wanted to incorporate it into their vocational or business curriculum. Within three years, InVEST had spread to Northern and Central California.
For a person with an entrepreneurial spirit, this was not only an opportunity, it was the ultimate challenge. Students have the opportunity to intern with a local insurance agency to spend some time in the “real world”, and are also taught the basics of insurance company operations such as marketing, underwriting and claims handling. InVEST grew and grew until it could no longer be managed by the Los Angeles or California Independent Agents Associations. The program was then put under the auspices of IIABA, where it remains to this day.”
Many insurance organizations, carriers, and service/product providers contribute in many different ways to this program, and as someone who is part of the EZLynx family, I am proud to share this very recent press release with you, as well:
EZLynx Donates Insurance Rating Tool to InVEST Financial literacy program offers interactive tool to teach underwriting criteria for personal lines policies. InVEST, the insurance industry’s premier classroom to career education program, is pleased to announce that EZLynx has provided its online rating tool free of charge to the hundreds of InVEST teachers, agent liaisons and students across the country. EZLynx enables students to enter information once into a single interface and receive simulated rates directly from participating carriers for automobile and homeowner policies.
“InVEST is grateful to EZLynx for the generous contribution of this incredibly helpful resource to help InVEST students understand the various rating factors in automobile and homeowner risks,” says Heather Minkler, chair of the National InVEST board of directors and CEO of Clark-Mortenson Agency, an independent insurance agency in Keene, N.H. “In-kind contributors, such as EZLynx, are critical to InVEST’s ability to simulate working in the insurance industry.”
EZLynx was established in 2003 with the primary goal of addressing some of the challenges facing the inde- pendent agents in the property-casualty industry at that time. EZLynx’s flagship product, EZLynx Rating Engine, enables insurance agents to generate accurate real-time rate quotes from multiple insurance companies’ sites with a single data entry point. EZLynx processes more than three million auto, home and package transactions every month covering more than 150 insurance companies in 48 states.
“We are excited to be involved in the effort to further the cause of independent agents,” says Jaideep Jayaram, EZLynx vice president of sales and marketing. “Our goal aligns with that of InVEST, which is to ensure that the next generation of insurance professionals are exposed to the latest technologies and are prepared to join an increasingly competitive industry. EZLynx Rating Engine will provide InVEST students exposure to the foundation of our management system and digital marketing ecosystem.”
Today, InVEST works with almost 400 educators in 44 states. More than 13,000 students will participate in InVEST programs this school year, 2012-2013, learning basics of insurance and exploring careers within the industry. The program continues to grow in popularity among teachers and school systems. In the last year alone, InVEST has grown by 47% and now includes 380 high schools and colleges across the country.
As a 501(c)(3) educational trust, InVEST benefits from the support of numerous insurance organizations, hundreds of agencies, brokers and volunteers. The program provides the insurance industry with motivated, talented and intelligent professionals through a support structure of state associations, board members, national staff, teachers and the many industry professionals who work in the field as classroom liaisons.
Founded in 1970 and based in Alexandria, Va., InVEST promotes insurance education in order to attract individuals to pursue a career in the insurance industry. Each year, the program prepares thousands of students for insurance-related careers with a hands-on curriculum taught in high schools, adult education centers and colleges. The high school curriculum is a business-education program that utilizes a hands-on approach which simulates an insurance agency and company operations to prepare students for various business careers and create more knowledgeable insurance consumers. At the college level, InVEST is an information- intensive curriculum of risk management and financial services. These courses provide students with a working knowledge of the basics needed to pursue careers in the insurance industry. For more information, go to www.investprogram.org.
Founded in 1896, the Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of approximately a quarter of a million agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
For additional information on InVEST please call Diane Mattis 800-221-7917 or email her: diane.mattis@iiaba.net Speaking of some wonderful organizations that are involved in our industry, The Council Of Insurance Brokers of Greater New York (CIB) recently held its annual event, at the very elegant El Caribe Country Club in Brooklyn, NY. Another spectacular job by Committee Chair Al Caputo of Buckingham, Badler Associates, along with his fellow committee members Anthony Aqulinoof Regency Agency Inc., Ron Brunell of B&B Coverage LLC; Anthony Calafiore of Apex Brokerage; Michael Conte of Honig Conte Porrino Agency; Michael Cracco of Completely Covered; Michael Demetriou of Demetriou General Agency Inc.; Donna Doyle of Narragansett Bay Insurance Co.; Michael Honig of Honig Conte Porrino; Jay Levy of Morstan General Agency; Michael Pellicone of Barry Risk Management; Maureen Reinhold of Buckingham Badler Associates; Peter N. Resnick of Interboro Autoone Insurance Co.; and Elmer Rivera of Jimcor Agencies. Congratulations to Narragansett Bay Insurance Company as the CIB 2012 Company of The year; Erica Echavarria of Jimcor Agencies and Joseph Gallegos of Morstan General Agency. Inc. for being awarded the 2012 Theodore P. and Peter T. Demetriou Scholarship; and to incoming CIB President Joseph R. Bosnack, Jr.; along with his cabinet of Shelly Kozel, Vice President; Richard Signorelli, Vice President; Michael J. Honig, CIC, Treasurer; and Naomi Margolin, Secretary. Congratulations to all as it is certainly well deserved, and we wish you the very best…thank you for all you do for our industry!
Presently I am writing this while seated on a US Airways flight to Dallas, where I will be attending the ACT/AUGIE conference. As a proud member of this insurance and technology committee for quite a few years, I look forward to bringing you a summary of some of the accomplishments of our meetings, where insurance executives from carriers, agencies, and technology providers gather to discover new and innovative methods to streamline our industry by making it more effective and efficient to those whom we serve. This should be an exciting week of meetings and I look forward to sharing it with you next time right here in living color, so don’t touch that dial, and Ciao for now!
