LIFE UNDERWRITER: Job Applicant

LIFE UNDERWIRTER: ROLE-PLAYING SCRIPT FOR JOB APPLICANT,
Ms. Sieburg, UCONN SPRING 2008

It is Spring 2008. You will soon graduate from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Risk Management and Insurance and have a 3.8 GPA reflecting your outstanding commitment to your studies.

You have worked in the insurance agency your father owns in Danbury, CT all through high school and college. When you started, you worked in the mail room, the human resources department, and running errands. As you became more experienced you helped applicants for insurance policies make sure that they submitted all the necessary medical, occupational, financial, and legal information to obtain the policies they desired. You also helped with preliminary calculations of premiums for various insurance policies. You found this work fascinating and wanted to learn more.

That’s why you chose UCONN and majored in Risk Management & Insurance in the Finance Department. This major has provided you with the knowledge and skills to enable you to compete successfully for career opportunities in risk management, insurance, and financial planning.

Besides continuing work with your father’s agency, you had 2 internships with insurance companies in Hartford, learning more about the large corporate insurance business. Both companies were impressed with your work and encouraged you to apply to work there when you graduate.

You did community service for 3 years volunteering with The United Way’s Seniors Secure Center, helping elderly clients fill in their insurance claims and warning them of fraud perpetrated on seniors.

Your father would like you to return home after graduation and go into business with him as Sieburg and Daughter, but you want to work for a large corporation in Hartford, "The Insurance Capital of the World”.

You would like to get a job as an entry-level underwriting job. Your advisor told you that Columbus Mutual (CM) is expanding services into the Hartford area, and that they are hiring. This new office will offer a wide range of insurance products including life, health, homeowners, accidental death and disability, property and casualty. So the career growth opportunities for you in CM are vast.

Yesterday you interviewed with Mrs. Heer, the Vice President for Human Resources. You were thrilled when she told you that she was very impressed with you and offered you a job. She asked you to come back today for a second interview just to settle a couple details like salary and starting date, and then sign a contract.

You've done your homework. Www.wageproject.org tells you that the entry level Life Underwriting position that you've been offered has a salary range of $40,000 to $52,000 with a median salary of $46,000. The benefits package for this position is worth another $19,000. You've determined that your target salary is $46,000 which you firmly believe, given your experience with your father’s agency, your internships with well regarded Insurance firms in Hartford and volunteer activity with the United Way’s Seniors Secure Center is certainly justified. Also you have a 3.8 GPA which attested to your intelligence and hard work.

You know that living in the Hartford area will be expensive. You have hefty student loans to pay off. You want to buy a car so that you can travel and finally enjoy some social life. The minimum salary you can possibly accept is $42,000, and that would mean living VERY modestly.

You have the last appointment of the day. Mrs. Heer has to leave in 15 minutes to return to Columbus.

Can you and Mrs. Heer come to an agreement about a starting salary which you accept? Can you get her to agree to your target salary figure? Make notes on what you consider your persuasive points. Decide the sequence in which you will present these points. Make notes about the language you will use. Make notes about objections she may raise and what you will say.

Use every minute of that time to get her to your target salary. It's your chance to start out being paid what you deserve. Remember, $46,000 is what you’ve determined that you're worth doing that job.

Go for it!