The Power of Internships

In this episode, ADJUSTED welcomes Luella Alcorn, Business Operations Manager, Luke Lenihan, Associate Underwriter, and Tristan King, Business Engagement Intern. Luella, Luke, and Tristan discuss why internships are a great option for both students and companies.

Season 5 is brought to you by Berkley Industrial Comp. This episode is hosted by Greg Hamlin.

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Transcript

Greg Hamlin: 0:12

Hello everybody and welcome to adjust it. I'm your host Greg Hamlin coming at you from beautiful Birmingham, Alabama and Berkeley industrial comp. And with me today are a whole host of guests. So we have three guests today. So it's gonna be a fun podcast episode. We'll start with you. Luella. Do you want to introduce yourself?

Luella Alcorn: 0:32

Yes, well, alicorn I am out of our Lexington Kentucky Office. I am Business Operations Manager here at Berkley industrial calm.

Greg Hamlin: 0:40

Excellent. And then next up, we have Luke Luke, do you want to introduce yourself?

Luke Lenihan: 0:45

Yes. Hi, everyone. Happy New Year was Greg said my name is Luke Lenahan. My associate underwriter the Lexington office and started as an intern last January.

Greg Hamlin: 0:56

Excellent. And I won't hold it against you look that you graduated from University of Kentucky since I'm an Indiana grad. But we're both having very difficult basketball years right now. So yes, definitely. We can share in our misery, right? Yes, absolutely. And the only difference is we don't have a lifetime contract on our coach. So unfortunately, hopefully they get things turned around there for you guys. Yeah. All right. And finally, our next guest. Tristan, you want to introduce yourself

Tristen King: 1:21

Glad to be here today, Greg. I'm Tristan King out of the Birmingham office. I'm currently a finance student at UAB. And I've been with Berkeley industrial comm for a little over a year now.

Greg Hamlin: 1:30

Excellent. Well, I wanted to get this group together. One thing we have not talked about in any of the episodes is the power of internships. And this is something that's really near and dear to my heart. I started my career at Indiana University, and actually was a student manager have a telephone. So I started actually doing fundraising over the phone and then became a student manager much like both of their stories. I don't think it was labeled as an internship. But really, it works the same way. And I remember in my interview process, the time when I was getting ready to start my career after graduation, they had interviewed me and said, you know, we interviewed for business majors, you're the only criminal justice major, why should we hire you? And I said, Well, easy. One is I already have work experience in the business world doing fundraising over the phone. And I understand statistics. And I know how to run metrics in computer systems. And I know how to manage a room and I've had leadership experience. So all those things. And I said, I have a different background and criminal justice, which gives me a different background going into claim. So I don't know if that's what got me the job or not. But I do think it was a differentiator. So as we have built out our claims department in the four years that I've been here, internships have been a huge part of that. So what I wanted to do today was bring in a current intern, a former intern that's now an associate underwriter and the manager that's trying to manage a department that is made up of many interests, because I think those are three different stories that people might be interested in one, why do internships? How do you manage that? And how can I help you? So I thought I'd start with you Luella. Though, let's talk a little bit about how you got into worker's compensation.

Luella Alcorn: 3:15

I've got a transcription and a medical coding background. So that seems kind of strange. However, the first workers compensation carrier I went to, they process their own medical bills. And so my coding background then qualified me for that position. And then I came to Berkeley industrial comp, and one step has led to the next to the next. And then we're not, we don't have business engagement. So kind of a roundabout way, but I love where I am today.

Greg Hamlin: 3:42

We love having you as part of our team Wallah. So I feel very fortunate, very fortunate. Thank you. So, Luke, let's move over to you. How did you end up with an internship at Berkeley industrial competence? Sure, as you were at University of Kentucky Business School, the first thing you thought is I want to get into worker's compensation. And I'm gonna go find an internship in that field. Am I right?

Luke Lenihan: 4:02

Yes, you're totally totally right. I mean, I got my double major in accounting and finance and I really had never heard of worker's compensation insurance did not know really anything about insurance in general. But Jeremy Morrison, Director of underwriting reached out to me on my senior year, Christmas break, and he had an opportunity for me, I thought it'd be a great fit. And I connected with him and had a great first meeting with him. And from there, I started interning with the business engagement team under Louella and had a great experience with that, and then got hired full time as an associate underwriter in June.

Greg Hamlin: 4:38

That's awesome. So you are what, six months in now? Maybe a little more than that. Yep. Just about. That's awesome. That's awesome. And almost a year here with us at Berkeley. Yes. Excellent. Excellent. Well, I guess there's a lesson to be learned there that if you're on LinkedIn, make sure you check your messages. Because I don't think the past I think we've reached out to people and then like four monthsgo by like and just seeing this message about an internship and they were like, wow, now it's full. Great way to get your name out there. So Tristan, let's talk a little bit about you, how did you end up with an internship here at Berkeley

Tristen King: 5:13

was in November of 2021, I was sitting outside of a Moe's eating my, my free college lunch, and I got a text from you, Greg, about this opportunity. And I thought, I thought insurance and I was a finance major at the time in an investment group. So my mind was either in hospital administration or investment management. And so I thought insurance, you know, it's, this is something I really want to do. But what I appreciated the most was having someone I respected and a leader in the company reached out to me and say that they think I'd be a great fit for I think that's what motivated me the most. And that really helped me to get my feet wet and insurance. And as I've been in it, and I've gotten to learn a little more about underwriting my learn that investment analysis, like underwriting, you look at a risk, you price it, and you do a little analysis on it. And the rest is history there. And, and so that's what really interested me. And that's kind of how I got started here at Berkeley.

Greg Hamlin: 6:08

That's awesome.Well, I think one of the challenges and I think we've talked about this in other podcasts episodes is, there aren't many people, one that are even aware of the opportunities and insurance and to that, get the experience in it, and would pursue a career in IT, even though it's a great career that so many different backgrounds can feed into. You know, when I was in college, I think the only thing I ever thought about when I thought about insurance was sales, like some guy trying to like sell you auto surance or something or life insurance. And I didn't really know anything else about it, I just kind of thought like, it's that grimy sales guy that's like trying to tell you something. And really like our organization, we have a couple business development professionals, but the vast majority of our company are people who are evaluating risks in underwriting like Luke, or people on the claim side who are handling the injuries as they come in. So there's so many opportunities that I think the industry needs to do a better job of exposing people to if we want to develop talent, because that's the big talk right now is that we're facing a talent crisis. So I want to just to talk a little bit about Luke, your initial thoughts as you started your internship on the opportunity, you had mentioned that you didn't know a whole lot about workers comp, or underwriting. So what did you think as you started learning more through business engagement about what this industry could offer?

Luke Lenihan: 7:32

You know, I mean, I felt the opportunity was great. That was totally there. But yeah, like you're saying, no experience, no real knowledge of insurance, I was pretty nervous about what I was getting myself into. But you know, Louella, and Stephanie, and the rest of business engagement team made me feel like very welcoming them. And they knew that I didn't really know much. So everything was just kind of training from the start. And as I started to learn more, I felt like I could like be good at this. And, yeah,

Greg Hamlin: 8:00

so for you. One of the things when you're an intern is you're taking you're taking classes and going to school at the same time. So how many credit hours were you taking? Last semester? Ithink that was taking 15 to five. Okay, so 15 credit hours? And about how many hours were you working?

Luke Lenihan: 8:18

I'd say anywhere from maybe like 12 to 20, just depending on whether or not I had to test that weaker, we'd be out of town.

Greg Hamlin: 8:25

Okay, so how did you balance that? Because I think that maybe if you were a student, right now, a question that you'd want an answer to is how do you balance working 12 to 20 hours a week, plus taking 15 credit hours, and I'm assuming you had a pretty good GPA? Yes.

Luke Lenihan: 8:40

So really, the work life balance, and school balance really wasn't that hard for me, you know, I would contact Louella, usually on Sundays and kind of let her know my schedule for the week. And if something popped up, I could just shoot her a text and say, Hey, I can't come in Wednesday, because I have a big test on Thursday. And she was so accepting of it and was like, hey, all she said back would be, hey, good luck on your test. Let me know when you come in next.

Greg Hamlin: 9:07

Awesome, awesome. Well, I think you know, for me, one of the things I love to see when I'm interviewing and this has been no matter where I bed as a hiring manager, our I love to see people who can balance grades in school, because the reality is when you start adulting, that's life, right? Like you end up having a family or a lot of people do you have interests outside of work. If you have kids, you got to figure that out. And you got to balance your job, figure out how to make all those things work. And so when I see a student who is getting great grades, and they can balance that work life balance of a job, that's a huge plus to me, because it tells me a lot about their time management. So I think it's a huge win for both the employee that's learning how to do that or the intern as well as the company to have a chance to see that. So Tristan on your end I just wanted to ask you the same question. So what were your initial thoughts when you started here not knowing a whole lot about insurance?

Tristen King: 10:06

Yeah, my initial thoughts were a lot like yours. Great. When I thought of insurance, I thought of brown suits, gray walls in LED fixtures buzzing. But I was completely mistaken. The first time I came into the office here at Berkeley industrial Corp, I immediately knew it was different, you know, the bright windows and the bright lights, and just the friendly faces and getting to know everybody and, and you introducing me to everybody on the team, it felt really special and very boutique. And so I immediately felt like a valued member of the team, even though I had not even interviewed yet. And that was really special to me to be here at Berkeley and in the insurance industry, and to learn a little bit more about that.

Greg Hamlin: 10:44

So Tristan, and Luke, you when you were doing your internship and interest and who's currently doing it, you guys touch a lot of things, we're probably a little different than some and that we're, as Tristan said, we're a little more boutique, in that we have 60 employees. So we're not siloed, where you might go to a different carrier. And if you were where I started my career, we had 50 people on a floor and they were all claims people and I never talked to an underwriter the entire time I worked there because it was so siloed here, obviously, we have underwriting claims, finance, audit, all these things moving around, and our interns touch a lot of those things. You know, for you, Luke, how did you like that having an opportunity to kind of experience different parts of the insurance business?

Luke Lenihan: 11:27

I really liked it just because No, I really didn't know what I wanted to do. And just sticking with the business engagement team really wouldn't have shown me all parts of insurance. So that really was beneficial. And even with Louella, she makes sure that when you're interning, like you're seeing everything, and you also are like learning how to do each and everything. Just in case like say you didn't like what you started off doing. She's like, Okay, let's try this. Let's go somewhere else and see if you like this a little bit better. So I thought that was very beneficial.

Greg Hamlin: 11:59

That's awesome. So now well, this is my question for you. This is. So we talked about some of the flexibility. I think Luke mentioned, you know, he had a big test and he needed to be off or he tried something, maybe tried one part of his engagement. And you gave him the opportunity to try something different. How do you manage a unit that maybe I believe almost half your unit is internship internships. So how do you manage a unit where you've got work that has to get done, but you have maybe part time employees, student employees, people who are who really need the opportunity to try different things, but you still have to figure out how to get the work done. So how do you manage that?

Luella Alcorn: 12:37

Yeah, trial and error a little bit. But what I've said to all interns that come is that school comes first. And then when I say that, I mean it and I you know, I have to mean that. So to Luke's point, I send out like who's doing what for the week, and we take turns and those responsibilities. So everyone's getting exposure to everything we do, setting up claims, scanning the mail, doing underwriting tasks, there's so many things that we do, I want them to be exposed to all of that. So I set that schedule. And then I have to be nimble and quick as those things develop and have the next person able to step in. So again, when I said school comes first, I mean that. And it's not just school schedules, right? If like Luke said, or Tristan even now has said, Okay, I'm starting a new semester. Louella. Here's my new schedule. So last semester, you know, he was working Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Now I'm adapting to his new schedule, and he tells me what his schedule is. I don't dictate that to him, you know. So now he's switching to Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, I think is a new schedule. And so now I adjust from that. But let's say they were to even call in sick or something. Right. So business engagement, as all of them will attest, I'm sure is an amazingly supportive team, that I don't even have to have to time say anything. If let's say someone is not gonna be able to come in, they can look and see, okay, well, Tristan had a pipe stream shift today. So I'll take his pipe stream shift, and then he could maybe swap with someone else another day. So I say that, and I mean it. But the other thing to Luke's point is, I want them to feel fulfilled, you know, so if their goal is, hey, you know what, Luella I just want to work 16 hours a week, I'm just gonna pound out whatever I can do. And then I'm signing off. And I'm not really interested because I've got so many other things I'm focusing on whether that school or personal, then that's, I can do that for you, right? I'll give you work, you clap. You clock in, you clock out, thank you for your work, and we're good. But if they're interested in an additional opportunity or a future here, I want them to be exposed to whatever their interests are. So we'll ask I mean, of course, we have underwriting, we have resolution, the claims department, we have finance, we have marketing, and all of the people that are in business engagement have different interests, and I want to fulfill that because I want it to be a win win, that we have a win and having them as an opportunity, you know, giving them an opportunity, but then they feel like they're being fulfill, not just short term and what they're trying to do to accomplish before they get done with school. But then their long term goals and it's been successful so far loop date, Tristan is, you know, staying, and I could list all the other people that have stayed right Jacob is one, Christina is one, Justin's one, right? Our recipe that we've built here is working for us. And I'm super proud of that.

Greg Hamlin: 15:22

That's fantastic. And I know what you're talking about can't be easy. And if you went to a lot of other organizations, even in the insurance space, a lot of these tasks they would have done by full time employees that might even be clerical. And we took a different approach for a few reasons. One is, I believe very strongly that the current generation of students that are coming out, have new ideas. And we'll think of better ways to do some of these tasks. If we give them the chance to take a look at it, too. I also think, learning how to get exposure to the claims side, the finance side, the audit side, the underwriting side, is going to help that so that when we if we want to hire that person, they know where they fit, and they know what they like. And that way, we're not getting a year or two into the training process. And they're like, Man, I hate claims. Why did I do this? And we've already poured all those resources in right. So lots of advantages.

Luella Alcorn: 16:20

And if you talk to because I have you know, those that have gone on Jacobs that Christina it's right there beginnings in business engagement, helps them in their current position, they understand how the mailroom works, they understand how the underwriting tasks go right turnaround time, those kinds of things. So I feel all of them have said that they have benefited from coming through business engagement and learning all those things for their next role.

Greg Hamlin: 16:45

I agree. And some of the things that you have been flexible with Llewellyn, I think has been helpful is allowing for mentoring to take place with some of the interns. So Tristan, I know on your end, you're doing the tasks that the wall assigns, but you're also having some mentoring sessions with Jeremy, who's our Director of underwriting. So can you talk a little bit about those and the kinds of things you guys talk about how often you meet and the value that's had for you?

Tristen King: 17:09

Yeah, absolutely. One of the coolest things about this internship was that, you know, close to my year, Mark, I'm telling you, well, hey, I'm interested in underwriting, you know, and I'm looking for more opportunities to learn about it. And so she immediately helps me schedule meetings with Dustin, our Senior Vice President underwriting here at Berkeley and Astro comp. And with Jeremy and so, you know, it's really cool to be able to walk into the Vice President's offensive underwriting and say, Hey, I would like more opportunities to learn about underwriting. And immediately he sets you up with your director of underwriting. And Jeremy, the director of underwriting is right out right out the gate, hey, I got these renewals that that need to be priced. Let me show you how to do them. And I'd like you to do this entire months of renewals. And immediately, I'm just thrown into it. And I'm doing the work that underwriters do, and I get to learn about it by being in the process of it. And I think that's really special that when you've created a culture, where you can talk with your leaders, and say, This is where I want to grow, this is what I want to learn. And immediately, they're finding opportunities for you.

Greg Hamlin: 18:14

And that's fantastic. And I'm such a big fan of mentorships. In general, I think they're really important. We did a whole episode on that there are a couple of our associate claims resolution specialists that I'm doing bi weekly sessions with to do mentoring, because I think it's important and it's how we learn is when we have people who aren't maybe our direct supervisors who can step in and show us the way and give us some ideas of things that we can do to be successful. So well, I know, we talked about some of this, but maybe talk a little bit more, what are some of the challenges of running a department that's augmented by interns? And then what are some of the benefits?

Luella Alcorn: 18:49

I think a lot of those are both challenges and wins. So challenges are when Tristan and Luke have these opportunities to be exposed to other departments, then they see how much they shine. And I want to have that all internally with me and not let anybody else know that because then the second, they see that they want to take them from me. That is both a challenge. And also a win. I mean, and again, that's what I want. I'm super proud. And I've said to Tristan, you know, I want to send you off lovingly, you know, when that time comes that you would go to another department or be hired or whatever. And again, I've had that experience with other employees. So I think the challenges only come with wanting to find out how they can feel fulfilled, you know, and so I have one on ones with everyone in my department. So I'm regularly conversating with them again, are you the one that wants to work your 16 hours and clock out and you know, you just want to do the work, I'll meet that need happily. And then do you have other needs and I want to make sure that I expose them to those opportunities to make the decision. Tristan had mentioned when he first came to us, that was not his focus. In school, and because of this exposure, he's changed his major and could potentially, you know, want a real long term opportunity here, that is a wonderful testament to how we've made him feel the opportunities we've provided for him. So again, some of the challenges of him being in school are also the winds, because if he ends up staying on with us, that's, that's the biggest compliment we could get. Right? A lot of times when you're looking at a resume, like, Oh, I think this person would be good. One of the biggest compliments, Greg, that you could give Tristan, is that you would vouch for him right? And say, right, hey, you know, we have this opening, and I think he would be great. That's a wonderful compliment, right? And then, you know, you know, what kind of quality candidate we have. So really, you know, the only hard things I would say, is just coming to, you know, scheduling when they would work and their availability, but it's all about communication. And so again, in those one on ones that I have with them, they've got to communicate with me, even if that's a text saying, hey, something's changed, I'm not available this week. And then I'm just wanting to be fulfilled, that's a challenge, I really care to make sure that they're happy when they're here. And I'm giving them any opportunity that they want that they want. Those

Greg Hamlin: 21:06

are great examples. And you're right. And I have said that multiple times as we've managed our entrance, if they say, Well, I think I want to be a veterinarian. That's great. That's okay. That's okay. And things can change. And they might not change, you know, one of them, one of our interns went on, and I think she's doing, you know, graduate work on in veterinary school. And that's fantastic. We had another of our entrance, Jacob, I'll highlight him, he, at the time was working at Cracker Barrel. And now he's a full time employee of our resolution department and is fantastic. And he'll Anil end up having editing this entire podcast, and has the technical skills to do that. So, so many different talents can enter our department if we're open minded to the internship program. And I remember when I was working for Indiana University Foundation, one of the things they said to me early on was, we're not going to be able to compensate you for the level of work we're going to be doing, and we compensate our interns, but my point was, they paid me a little more than what you would get paid if you were working some hourly job while you're going to school. But what they did is they gave me the skill sets and the experiences that gave me the confidence to be able to do so much more with my career. And I really believe there's no way I become a vice president of insurance company before I'm 40 If I hadn't had those experiences early on. So I do think they matter.

Luella Alcorn: 22:30

Even some of the the tasks like let's say scanning the mail, right, that's not a celebratory thing, you know, as he's over there scanning the mail, right. However, later on down the road, when there has an issue of some sort, we tried to figure this out, because he started with scanning the mail, he understands the process of how documents come in how they're labeled, that is huge. To understand that when you then are sitting in an adjusters chair and say, Hi, did this, you know, non medical invoice come in, and it didn't create a task to me, he knows that because he scanned it at one point in himself and can understand that. And then it also then says, if they're willing to take the time to do those things, right, then they're absolutely willing to do the other ones, right. So even taking the time to do those small tasks in the beginning really makes a difference later on for them.

Greg Hamlin: 23:21

Great, great points. So I wanted to go back to you, Luke and talk about as you transitioned in to your full time position, how was it different than your internship?

Luke Lenihan: 23:33

I mean, really, the only difference was that I was moving from the business engagement, like daily tasks that I was doing to more of kind of learning how to underwrite and, like, evaluate, like the risks of the new business and renewals that we have. And I guess the another difference would be the people that I'd be working with. So instead of working with, you know, Shannon, and Stephanie and Louella, I'm not working with Jeremy and Steve and Lesley and all the other underwriters. But I think one of the benefits of working with all of the underwriters is you know, each underwriter has a different way of kind of doing their accounts. So I can not only see like how Jeremy's doing but Leslie is doing and Steve's doing, and they all do it differently. And like each of their ways is like it's not right or wrong. But for me, I can see what I see myself doing and how I see myself looking at these accounts and these risks.

Greg Hamlin: 24:25

Great, great points. I think there's a lot to be learned in that. And you mentioned something you know, and I don't know why it spurred my mind this direction, but I know Luke, you're in Lexington, Kentucky. Tristan is in Birmingham, Alabama, and we have had interns in our Las Vegas office. So we've had interns in all three of our offices. Louella you're located in Lexington, Kentucky, any issues with trying to manage interns in multiple locations.

Luella Alcorn: 24:50

Um, I see it as a pro because of the different locations there's also different time zones. So then those individuals are available Will you know if I'm eastern time so I'm let's say I'm done at 5pm. Okay, but then I have an intern

working until four or 4: 25:06

30pm. Pacific time, that's 730. My time that we still have new business being entered, ie mods being pulled, last run reports being sent out, right. And there's not a huge gap of time when everyone clocks out at 430 in one timezone and doesn't come back until 8am. The next morning, we get constant compliments from the underwriting department about how they're surprised that they'll send an email to the new business workflow, and that it's entered into the system 15 minutes later, and it's 5pm. Like, how does that even happen? Well, it happens because we have people in all of those different locations. So I see it as a pro.

Greg Hamlin: 25:47

I think in today's world, we're moving more and more to a place where we have to be able to manage people remotely in multiple locations, the days of us all clocking into the same office, those days are probably done. Not that we won't have locations, but I think it's just the world we live in has moved to that. So figuring out how to manage that and seeing the advantages instead of just the points where you're like, wow, that's difficult. I can't just say hi to them at the watercooler.

Luella Alcorn: 26:13

Now, some of the other things though, Greg is here at Berkeley industrial comp, every phone call I have with them is video. So it's not, you know, in, I'm old, right? In the old days, you know, when I'm calling them and they can't see me, I can't see them. So even though I'm not physically next to Tristan, a lot of the times I really do feel a connection with him because we have the conversations, he can see my facial expressions, I can see his I've been to the office, you don't I mean, I have visited we do know each other personally at this point. He's even come to Lexington. So those interactions because we're through video are helpful. And same thing. Of course, with the people in the Las Vegas office, I see them each time we're on the phone. And that's a personal connection.

Greg Hamlin: 26:55

Great points, great points. And we have to leverage technology, if we're going to be successful on that. And we have so many things that we can do that we couldn't do 10 years ago, that make things a lot easier. So switching gears Tristan, I wanted to ask you that same question about work life balance. I know for you because I've worked around you for a while that you are very involved in clubs at school, like a financial club, correct?

Tristen King: 27:17

Yeah, I'm in an investment club. UAB called the Green and Gold Fund, we manage over over a million dollars.

Greg Hamlin: 27:24

So very involved in an investment club. Also bragging on him a little bit scholarship student at UAB. So, you know, certain level of dedication to be able to maintain a scholarship at school like UAB, and also very involved in giving back in your community, as well as was recently married in the summer. So that's a lot to juggle. So how do you do that and an internship and be successful at all of it.

Tristen King: 27:49

I think it's interesting, because of what work life balance and how I'm juggling it, because it's kind of what I've grown up doing throughout my entire time middle school, high school, I was going to church, I was playing sports, I was going to school. And I was dating, you know. So this is, you know, this is things I'm pretty used to nowadays, you know, I'm in school and clubs. I'm not playing sports, but that's kind of where my working is now. And yeah, I got married, and we're having our ceremony this year. But I just I don't I don't see it from me as being entirely difficult, just kind of what I'm used to. But, you know, I put out what's important to me, you know, work is important to me, school is very important to me, there's clubs involved in you know, I've dedicated my time to those things and in my relationships as well. And so what's important to me, is at the forefront, so I tend to focus on those things throughout my day. I don't, I don't like to spend too much time not doing anything. I'm always trying to do something. So that's kind of how I've been asked. So just something I've grown up doing and very used to,

Greg Hamlin: 28:51

well, pro tip for somebody who's almost been married 20 years now keep the dating going. He gotta keep doing that. Right. Even though your advice? Well, a couple things. I wanted to wrap up with one. I wanted to ask both of you these questions. So starting with you, Luke, if you were talking to an incoming college freshman, what advice would you get them on internships?

Luke Lenihan: 29:14

I mean, I'd say I'd say have an open mind. I mean, I'm sure almost every college has those career fairs monthly or whatever, couple times a year. I mean, go to those and like what's the worst that can happen by talking to somebody for 30 minutes or an hour? I mean, the only thing you're going to get out of it is yeah, I like this type of company or I didn't like it and you lost 30 minutes but you know, at least you know that you don't like what that company is doing or where that company is going. So yeah, keep an open mind. Work hard in school. And you know, the first job you may get their internship you may get you might not like but it'll at least you'll at least learn things that will kind of help you in your future career.

Greg Hamlin: 29:55

Great points. You know, a friend of mine actually our actuary Matt Murphy has said to me You know, people talk all the time about their success, and boy, they got lucky. And luck is part of it. But if you don't put your sail up, you will never catch the wind. So go into the career fair, that's putting your sail up, getting an internship that's putting your sail up. And, you know, the wind may or may not blow the direction you want it to go. But if you don't go to those things, you won't you'll miss out on those chances. And I think that was a great point to make. Tristan, I'd ask you the same question. If you're talking to an incoming college freshman, what advice would you give them about internships,

Tristen King: 30:33

the advice I would give to incoming college freshmen about internships, is number one interview, go into the workplace, meet the leaders, and get to get to have a little feel for them. And number two, I think, to me is the most important, like, it's just, for example, throughout my college, in the clubs, I'm in, you know, these individuals, these students are very focused on getting the big name, investment banking, internships, these, you know, these big offices where they kind of under the shadow, and what was always important to me was feeling valued in the place that I work in feeling that I'm important and that I'm contributing something. So my advice would be to find that place, find that company, that you're able to perform your interest in skills and apply them, but also a place that they know your name that you feel valued, and that, that they understand who you are, and what your skills are. And where you can apply them to just finding a place that you feel value that because your job is gonna be your long term, you're going to spend the majority your time in life in a career, my advice would just be to find a place where they feel valued, and important.

Greg Hamlin: 31:45

I think those That's great advice. And I also like what you said about, like, maybe the big name isn't the first place that you go, there's nothing wrong with the big names. I started at one. But I can remember when I've worked at career fair when I was working as a director for a state fund. And we would see a line, a huge line for a bank that was nationally known. But the career that they had was a teller, like just basically somebody at the front desk, and we're right next to them, and nobody knows who we are. And so there's nobody talking to us. And I'm looking at going, I know that our job pays more than that job does, and has more opportunities, but people just don't know who we are. So I like what you said about being sure you get out there and you just really do some homework and check in on some of those others that you might not know about. Because if you again, if you don't, if you don't do the homework, you'll never know, everybody recognizes the big names, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the best place to start could be so great points. So I want to also ask you, Louella. So switching gears, if you were talking to employers, because there's probably a few that are listening, that don't have internship programs, what what would you tell them? And then they're thinking about it, what would you tell them, why they should consider it?

Luella Alcorn: 33:00

Here at Berkeley industrial comp, were a testament to what we've produced from starting that internship program. And we've got, again, countless examples at this point that came in as students stayed graduated, we hired them, and now they're valued employees here at Berkeley industrial comp, it would be sad, you know, to know that we would miss out on that opportunity and have those very, very important individuals that are here with us today, because of it, I think it's an opportunity as well to show that we're willing to put in the time to people that want the opportunities, right, it would be easy to say, I don't have time to develop these individuals and take the time to train and mentor in those ways. But we do value that. And it's been a win for us.

Greg Hamlin: 33:44

I couldn't agree more huge, huge, huge believer in it. And I would just encourage other employers who have thought about it, to think about it, you're going to be able to get work done with people who are going to have a fresh look at how that work gets done. And you have the opportunity to develop and grow them and give them exposure to an industry that really needs exposure. So great, great advice.

Luella Alcorn: 34:07

It's rewarding, it's been very rewarding to see that.

Greg Hamlin: 34:10

Absolutely. And finally, the last thing I wanted to do this year is each each time I've done one of these episodes over the last few seasons, I've wanted to put some good vibes in the universe, because I just feel like there's so much doom and gloom. And if there's one little thing I can do to put some positivity out there, I'm going to do it. So for ending the season, I wanted to ask each of you something that you're grateful for. So I'm going to start with Luke, something you're grateful for.

Luke Lenihan: 34:39

Okay. I'm very grateful for my friends and family and the health of kind of all those who I love. And I hope we start off this New Year positive and just kind of go from there and hopefully everything goes into good direction and everything keeps going well.

Greg Hamlin: 34:57

Awesome. Awesome. Well, what are you grateful for? We're

Luella Alcorn: 35:00

countless things I could go on and on, the thing right now would be the support of my husband. So I super busy with my job. And he also has a full time position as well. And then we have kids and grandkids that, you know, have lots of interests. And we lead a very, very busy life, kind of passing, you know, driving. And his support means a lot to me. It's the extra stuff. It's not the stuff that you know, he needs to do. It's extra stuff. So last week, one day, it was a work from home day, and he happened to be off work, and he brought in breakfast to me and that, you know, just an extra thing that he did, yes. And then the other day, I my daughter is in Girl Scouts, and obviously, you know, Girl Scouts, Hill Girl Scout cookies, and I'm the new mom. So they had, I'm now cookie manager. So the guy got voluntold on that. And so I was running out the door, learn how to do that. And it was a cold day, and I was running around getting things done. And I went out to the garage, and he had started my car for me to have it more. So it's just those extra things that support means everything to me, and I'm super thankful for that.

Greg Hamlin: 36:04

What great examples. No, I feel bad. I'm gonna have to go home and be extra nice to my wife. Sorry. Very good. Oh, I like Chris. I met her husband. He's a good guy. Yes. So Tristan, same question, what's something you're grateful for?

Tristen King: 36:19

I'm very grateful for my life. There's been plenty of times throughout this past year where I've said, Do I want to do this is this what I want to do? A very peculiar about my career choices. And what I'd like to do. And it's been very difficult trying to find a good one. But she's been the person that has provided that perspective, and reminded me of what's important in my life and, and my skills and my, my abilities that they bring to the table. And she just is a great person and great support. And like I said, just that kind of person that just offers perspective. To me.

Greg Hamlin: 36:50

Fantastic sounding words are important. If you don't have one fine one, a friend, a spouse, somebody I felt like most of the bad decisions I made in life is because I did have a sounding board. And the ones that I've avoided in the good ones that have happened, because I bounce my ideas off of somebody. So I think Simon Sinek, who I love, that's one of the things he talks about all the time is find a friend, find a spouse, find somebody you can bounce your ideas off of, because you'll get a lot further when you do so. Great, great thoughts, great words of wisdom. Guys, I can't be more proud of this episode. I love our interns. I love the work that they're doing. I really hope that some people listen to this and decide to go out and pursue some internships. I hope some employers consider adding internships so that they can develop their folks. And I would just end with our mantra to do right, think differently, and don't forget to care. And that's it for this episode. Thanks, everyone.