ADJUSTED
ADJUSTED
Power of Internships Rebroadcast
In this rebroadcasted episode of ADJUSTED, we explore the transformative power of internships in the workers' compensation insurance industry through conversations with current and former interns and their manager. The episode reveals how internship programs address the industry's talent crisis while providing students with valuable career exploration opportunities and pathways to full-time employment.
Season 9 is proudly sponsored by Berkley Industrial Comp and our host, Greg Hamlin. If you're interested in learning more about leveraging internships as a student or employer, this episode provides valuable insights from multiple perspectives. Remember to like and share this episode and leave us a five-star review.
For more insights, visit the Berkley Industrial Comp blog. Have questions? Email us at marketing@berkleyindustrial.com. For music inquiries, contact Cameron Runyan at camrunyan9@gmail.com.
Hello everybody and welcome to Adjusted. I'm your host, greg Hamlin, coming at you from beautiful Birmingham, Alabama and Berkeley Industrial Comp. And I'm excited to share with you this rebroadcast. This episode is one of my favorites. It's the power of internships, and this is something I discovered later on in my career in management as I was building a department. This is the second time that I've had the opportunity to rebuild a department, and one of the things that has made a huge impact is bringing in internships, and so this was a great episode because we got a chance to talk to several of those who have had internships here and also talk about how their career has changed as they've had the opportunity to gain experiences and apply for even for permanent jobs within the company. So I hope that you enjoy this one.
Speaker 1:There's definitely a desperate need in the industry to bring people into insurance, and what a great opportunity. So if you're interested in learning more about how to leverage internships either if you're a student, or if you're in leadership, or if you're currently in one I think this is the episode for you, and, as always, remind our listeners to like and share this episode as well, as leave us a five-star review so that others can find their way to the podcast and, of course, remember to do right, think differently and don't forget to care, enjoy, welcome to Adjusted. I'm your host, greg Hamlin, coming at you from beautiful Birmingham, alabama, in Berkeley Industrial Comp, and with me today are a whole host of guests, so we have three guests today, so it's going to be a fun podcast episode. We'll start with you, luella, do you want to introduce yourself?
Speaker 2:Yes, luella Alcorn, I am out of our Lexington Kentucky office. I am business operations manager here at Berkeley Industrial Comp.
Speaker 1:Excellent. And then next up, we have Luke. Luke, do you want to introduce yourself?
Speaker 3:Yes, hi everyone. Happy New Year. I'm as Greg said. My name is Luke Lenahan. I'm an associate underwriter in the Lexington office and started as an intern last January. Excellent.
Speaker 1:And I won't hold it against you, luke, that you graduated from University of Kentucky, since I'm an Indiana grad, but we're both having very difficult basketball years right now. 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?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm 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 Comp for a little over a year now.
Speaker 1: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 of a telefund. 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 worked the same way.
Speaker 1: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 we interviewed four 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 in criminal justice, which gives me a different background going into claims. So I don't know if that's now an associate underwriter and the manager that's trying to manage a department that is made up of many interns, 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 it help you? So I thought I'd start with you, luella, though let's talk a little bit about how you got into workers' compensation.
Speaker 2: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 processed their own medical bills, and so my coding background then qualified me for that position. And then I came to Berkeley Industrial Comp Comp and one step has led to the next, and then we're not. We now have business engagement, so kind of a roundabout way, but I love where I am today.
Speaker 1:We love having you as part of our team, lala, 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 Comp? I'm sure, as you were at University of Kentucky Business School, the first thing you thought is I want to get into workers' compensation and I'm going to go find an internship in that field. Am I right? Yes, you're totally totally right.
Speaker 3:No, I mean I got my double major in accounting and finance and I really had never heard of workers' compensation Insurance, did not know really anything about insurance in general. But Jeremy Morrison, the director of underwriting, reached out to me on my senior year Christmas break and he had an opportunity for me, thought I'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 Luella and had a great experience with that and then got hired full-time as an associate underwriter in June. That's awesome. I started interning with the business engagement team under Luella and had a great experience with that.
Speaker 1:And then got hired full-time as an associate underwriter in June. 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 know in the past, I think, we've reached out to people and then, like four months go by and they're like I'm just seeing this message about an internship and they're like well, now it's full. It's a 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?
Speaker 4:Well, it was in November of 2021. I was sitting outside of a Moe's eating my free college lunch and I'd gotten a text from you, greg, about this opportunity and I saw it and I thought you know 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, is this something I really want to do? But what I appreciated the most was having someone that I respected and a leader in the company reach out to me and say that they think I'd be a great fit for it. I think that's what motivated me the most and that really helped me to get my feet wet in insurance, as I've been in it and I've gotten to learn a little more about underwriting. I learned that investment analysis is a lot 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 so that's what really interested me and that's kind of how I got started here at Berkeley.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Well, I think one of the challenges and I think we've talked about this in other podcast episodes is there aren't many people one that are even aware of the opportunities in insurance and two 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. 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 sell you auto insurance 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.
Speaker 1: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?
Speaker 3:I mean I felt the opportunity was great, it 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 Luella and Stephanie and the rest of the business engagement team made me feel very welcome 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 be good at this and yeah, so for you, one of the things when you're an intern is you're taking classes and you're going to school at the same time.
Speaker 1:So how many credit hours were you taking that last semester?
Speaker 3:I think I was taking 15. So five classes.
Speaker 1:Okay, so 15 credit hours, and about how many hours were you working?
Speaker 3:I'd say anywhere from maybe like 12 to 20, just depending on whether or not I had a test that week or would be out of town.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 3:So really the work life balance and school balance really wasn't that hard for me. You know I would contact Luella usually on Sundays and kind of let her know my schedule for the week, 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.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, I think for me, one of the things I love to see when I'm interviewing and this has been no matter where I've been as a hiring manager are I love to see people who can balance grades and 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?
Speaker 4:Yeah, my initial thoughts were a lot like yours, greg. When I thought of insurance, I thought of brown suits, gray walls and LED fixtures buzzing over you. But I was completely mistaken. The first time I came into the office here at Berkeley Industrial Comp, I immediately knew it was different. With the bright windows and the bright lights and just the friendly faces and getting to know everybody 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 with Berkeley and to be in the insurance industry and to learn a little bit more about that.
Speaker 1:We're probably a little different than some in 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. For you, luke, how did you like that, having the opportunity?
Speaker 3:to experience different parts of the insurance business. Yeah, I really liked it, just because 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 Luella, she makes sure that when you're interning you're seeing everything and you also are learning how to do each and everything. Just in case, 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.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So now, luella, this is my question for you. So we talked about some of the flexibility I think Luke mentioned he had a big test and he needed to be off, or maybe he tried one part of business 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 internships?
Speaker 3:So how do you?
Speaker 1:manage a unit where you've got work that has to get done, but you have maybe part-time employees, student employees, people 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?
Speaker 2: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 have to mean that. So to Luke's point, I send out like who's doing what for the week and we take turns in those responsibilities. So everyone's getting exposure to everything we do setting up planes, 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 you know 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, luella, here is my new schedule. So last semester 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. 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 half the time say anything. If let's say someone is not going to 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.
Speaker 2:But the other thing to Luke's point is I want them to feel fulfilled. So if their goal is, hey, you know what, luella, I just want to work 16 hours a week, I'm just going to 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's school or personal, then I can do that for you. Right, I'll give you work, 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.
Speaker 2: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, giving them an opportunity, but then they feel like they're being fulfilled, 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. Luke stayed, tristan is staying, and I can 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.
Speaker 1: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 will think of better ways to do some of these tasks if we give them the chance to take a look at it. Two, I also think learning how to get exposure to the claim 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.
Speaker 2:And if you talk to cause, I have you know those that have gone on Jacobs, the Christinas right. Their 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 times, 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.
Speaker 1:I agree, and some of the things that you have been flexible with Luella that 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 Luella 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?
Speaker 4:often you meet and the value that's had for you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4:One of the coolest things about this internship was that, you know, close to my year mark, I'm telling Luella, hey, I'm interested in underwriting, you know, and I'm looking for more opportunities to learn about it.
Speaker 4:And so she immediately helps me schedule meetings with Dustin, our senior vice president underwriting here at Berkeley Industrial Comp, and with Jeremy, and so it's really cool to be able to walk into the vice president's office of underwriting and say, hey, I would like more opportunities to learn about underwriting. And immediately he sets you up with your director of underwriting to learn about underwriting, and immediately he sets you up with your director of underwriting and Jeremy, the director of underwriting, is right out the gate hey, I got these renewals that need to be priced. Let me show you how to do them. And I'd like you to do this entire month 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.
Speaker 1:I think 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 biweekly sessions with to do mentoring. So 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, luella, 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?
Speaker 2: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 house 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. So 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 I want to send you off lovingly 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 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.
Speaker 2:That was not his focus in school and because of this exposure he's changed his major and could potentially 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 wins, 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 like, oh, I think this person would be good.
Speaker 2:One of the biggest compliments, greg, that you could give Tristan is that you would vouch for him right, and say, hey, we have this opening and I think he would be great. That's a wonderful compliment, right, and then you know what kind of quality candidate we have. So really, the only hard things I would say is just coming to 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 them 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.
Speaker 1:Those are great examples and you're right, and I have said that multiple times as we've managed our interns. 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 graduate work in veterinary school and that's fantastic. We had another of our interns, 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 it's fantastic and he'll end up editing this entire podcast and has the technical skills to do that.
Speaker 1: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 were 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 an insurance company before I'm 40 if I hadn't had those experiences early on. So I do think they matter.
Speaker 2:Even some of 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.
Speaker 2:However, later on down the road, when there has an issue of some sort, we try 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 adjuster's chair and say why 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 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.
Speaker 1:Great, great points. So I wanted to go back to you, luke, and talk about as you transitioned into your full-time position. How was it different than your internship? I?
Speaker 3:mean, really the only difference was that I was moving from the business engagement daily tests that I was doing to more of learning how to underwrite and evaluate the risks of the new business and renewals that we have. And I guess another difference would be the people that I'd be working with. So, instead of working with Shannon and Stephanie and Luella, I'm not working with Jeremy and Steve and Leslie and all the other underwriters. But I think one of the benefits of working with all of the underwriters is each underwriter has a different way of doing their accounts, so I can not only see how Jeremy's doing, but Leslie's doing and Steve's doing, and they all do it differently and 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.
Speaker 1:Great, great points. I think there's a lot to be learned in that, and you mentioned something 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. Luella, you're located in Lexington, kentucky. Any issues with trying to manage interns in multiple locations?
Speaker 2:I see it as a pro. Because of the different locations there's also different time zones, so then those individuals are available. You know, if I'm Eastern time, so I'm, so let's say I'm done at 5 pm, okay, but then I have an intern working until 4 or 4.30 pm Pacific time that's 7.30 my time that we still have new business being entered, e-mods being pulled, loss run reports being sent out, right, and there's not a huge gap of time when everyone clocks out at 4.30 in one time zone and doesn't come back until 8 am 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 5 pm. 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.
Speaker 1: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, well, that's difficult. I can't just say hi to them at the water cooler.
Speaker 2: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, and 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 know what 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.
Speaker 1: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?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm in an investment club at UAB called the Green and Gold Fund. We manage over a million dollars.
Speaker 1:So very involved in an investment club, also bragging on a little bit. Scholarship student at UAB, so a certain level of dedication to be able to maintain a scholarship at a school like UAB and also very involved in giving back in your community as well. As was recently married in December, so that's a lot to juggle. So how do you do that and an internship and be successful at all of it?
Speaker 4:I think it's interesting because about 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. So this is things I'm pretty used 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. I'm, you know, I'm in school and clubs. I'm not playing sports, but that's kind of where my working is now.
Speaker 4:And yeah, yeah, I got married and we're having our ceremony this year, but I just I don't, I don't see it for me as being entirely difficult. It 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, those clubs I'm 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, you know. 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 balance it. It's just something I've grown up doing and very used to.
Speaker 1:Well, pro tip for somebody who's almost been married 20 years now. Keep the dating going. You got to keep doing that, right.
Speaker 2:That's valid advice.
Speaker 1:Well, a couple of things. I wanted to wrap up with One. I want 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 give them on internships?
Speaker 3:I mean I'd say, have an open mind. I mean I'm sure almost every college has those career fairs monthly or whatever, a 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 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 the first job you may get or internship you may get you might not like, but you'll at least learn things that will kind of help you in your future career.
Speaker 1:Great points. A friend of mine actually our actuary, matt Murphy, has said to me that 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'll never catch the wind. So going to the career fair, that's putting your sail up. Getting an internship, that's putting your sail up. And the wind may or may not blow the direction you want it to go, but if you don't go to those things, 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 were talking to an incoming college freshman, what advice would you give them about internships?
Speaker 4: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 have a little feel for them. And number two, I think to me is the most important. Like just, for example, throughout my college and the clubs I'm in, these individuals, these students, are very focused on getting the big name investment banking, internships, these big offices where they're kind of under the shadow.
Speaker 4:And what was always important to me was feeling valued in the place that I work and 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 interests and skills and apply them, but also a place that they know your name, that you feel valued and that they understand who you are and what your skills are and where you can apply them. And just finding a place that you feel valued at, because your job is going to be your long-term You're going to spend the majority of your time and life in a career. My advice would just be to find a place where they feel valued and important.
Speaker 1:I think that's great advice and I also like what you said about 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 a 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, again, if you don't do the homework, you'll never know.
Speaker 1:Everybody recognizes the big names, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're the best place to start. Could be so great points. So I want to also ask you, luella, 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 would you tell them? And then they're thinking about it. What would you tell them of why they should consider it?
Speaker 2:Here at Berkeley Industrial Comp. We're a testament to what we've produced from starting that internship program. 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 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.
Speaker 1:I couldn't agree more. Huge, huge, huge believer in it, and I would just encourage other employers who haven't 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.
Speaker 2:It's rewarding. It's been very rewarding to see that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely and finally, the last thing I wanted to do this year is, 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 this season, I wanted to ask each of you something that you're grateful for. So I'm going to start with Luke.
Speaker 3:Something you're grateful for 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 in a good direction and everything keeps going well, awesome.
Speaker 1:Awesome, Luella. What are you grateful?
Speaker 2:for Countless things. I could go on and on. The thing right now would be the support of my husband. So I'm super busy with my job. He also has a full-time position as well, and then we have kids and grandkids that have lots of interests and we lead a very, very busy life, kind of passing driving and his support means a lot to me. It's the extra stuff. It's not the stuff that he needs to do, it's the extra stuff.
Speaker 2: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, so they had. I'm now cookie manager so. So I got voluntold on that and so I was running out the door to 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 warm. So it's just those extra things. That support means everything to me and I'm super thankful for that.
Speaker 1:What great examples. Now I feel bad. I'm going to have to go home and be extra nice to my wife.
Speaker 2:Sorry, he's very good to me.
Speaker 1:I know I like Chris. I'm not her husband. He's a good guy. He is so Tristan? Same question what's something you're grateful for?
Speaker 4:I'm very grateful for my wife. 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? I'm 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 my skills and my abilities that I bring to the table, and she just is a great person and a great support and, like I said, just that kind of person that just offers perspective to me.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Sounding boards are important. If you don't have one, find one A friend, a spouse, somebody. I felt like most of the bad decisions I've made in life is because I didn't have a sounding board, and the ones that I've avoided and the good ones that have happened because I bounced 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, you.