May 2014 BIG Times Interview
Sharron Varga By Don Lukenbill BIG Times Magazine: We feel honored to be talking with you today. Before we get started, tell us a little about your preinsurance background and bring us to your first insurance encounter. Sharron Varga: You all know I am from apple country in upstate New York. Growing up, we lived next door to an apple farm and when I was a teenager, I sold candy apples. I am sorry (!) to report that my first real job was actually in insurance. Syracuse is a very big insurance city, so my first job was in the Claims Dept. at Hanover Insurance. It takes a special person to do claims and I admire them, but it did not take me long to figure out that was not me. My next job was in the Bond Dept. at Peerless Insurance, and then on to I.N.A. which had a job opening for Marketing Rep. It sounded exciting to me, but back then they could actually tell you they did not want a female for the job. They did offer me a job as a commercial auto underwriter which I took. I then went to work for a small agency close to my home. I worked there until I moved to CA to escape the cold and snow. BTM: What made you decide that insurance was your career? SV: When I first moved to CA, I worked at Merrill Lynch in Santa Ana. They asked me to become a broker, but I thought if I am going to be in sales I might as well get back into insurance where I had the experience. I went to work for National Auto and Casualty (later to become part of Kemper Insurance). After calling on so many agents and having them tell me I should get in the agency side, I decided to open an agency from scratch. This is when it finally clicked that insurance was to be my career. No customers and renting a desk in a real estate appraiser's office I must have been crazy but it worked LOL! BTM: Tell us about the business decisions that you pat yourself on the back for‌ and some you learned from. SV: I pat myself on the back for having the guts to open the business from scratch It was very risky and when you are young you don't think. I am glad I didn't over think it. I'm also glad I listened to what every agent and marketing rep shared with me. Since I was still pretty new to California, I joined the chamber and other organizations to try and market myself. In retrospect, the one thing I probably should have done is to give up some of the reins and hire a manager. But throughout my whole agency career, I wanted to be in control. Perhaps I would still have the agency. BTM: Much of your producer life included membership in various trade associations. Why is that important?
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SV: Yes, I have always been involved with insurance associations. I feel it is critical to stay up to date on all the news and to share with fellow producers. Your colleagues can teach you so much, and vice versa. Of course, meetings and conventions have added to my knowledge and friendships in the business. BTM: We have all seen those associations come and go. What would you say are the most common reasons for failure? SV: The most common reason for association failures to me are that they don't listen to the broker on what their needs are and sometimes the costs are not justified. BTM: Of course hindsight is 20/20, but what do you think could have been done differently to save those other associations? SV: As I just mentioned, they could have been saved by listening to their members and saying "what do you want us to do for YOU" instead of telling the broker what we are going to do for you. Most times it was not what the members wanted. Also, the dues and costs could have been trimmed. I will toot my own horn and say that I ran a very successful monthly meeting for more years than I care to own up to, but I was constantly asking the agents who they wanted for speakers, what do they want to learn, and offered C.E. credits. Another important thing was cost. I never charged for anything except food costs, so if they wanted to learn and just had coffee, so be it. I don't think you have to charge for everything. BTM: Now you're with BIG. What makes this association different than all the others we've seen come and go? SV: I think BIG is different than the other associations in that their costs are lower for all that they offer. BIG leadership is continually asking the agents what they want the association to provide for them. They have also added fun events where you get insurance training with an outing. BTM: As a guiding force behind BIG, where do you want the association to focus? SV: I would like to see the association focus on helping agents both new to the business and seasoned veterans get the programs they need, whether it is C.E., networking, benefits, meetings, and/or enjoyable educational convention. All of this can be done at a reasonable cost. BTM: I am a producer who went to a BIG meeting and am thinking about attending the convention. Sell me. SV: I think you should attend this convention because where else can you visit a trade show with in excess of 100 insurance company related booths , education , an awards
ceremony, an inspirational speaker at Saturday lunch, legal updates and a technology meeting with the co-creator of GetAMovie (now Redbox). Did I mention that if you had registered early the cost was only $40 and this includes your meals as well? The convention is being held in the newly remodeled Riverside convention center. You have to give me a reason why you should NOT attend. BTM: It's all about taking advantage of the opportunities you get and doing your best. We know that you sold your agency and are thrilled to have you play an active role on the BIG Advisory Board. But you are also working with some special people outside of the insurance industry. Explain that smile on our face. SV: I have been working with some very special people outside the insurance industry. Several BIG members have met some of them at our various events. They are special needs people that I have been associated with for the past 6 years on an organized basis. We formed a Kiwanis Aktion Club originating with 22 members and we now have 100 They have so much love to give, they never complain, they are hard workers, they share and care with their fellow workers all with a smile. They volunteer and do service projects. We should all be so lucky. That is why they are truly special people and the loves of my life. BTM: How can we support this worthy cause? SV: The first way would be to sign up for BIG's Charity Golf Tournament (if it is not too late). It takes approximately $15,000 to send 43 members and their chaperones to their convention/camp. The BIG Golf tournament has been responsible for providing at least half the cost for the last 3 years. You can sign up to golf, be a golf sponsor or donate money directly to the Aktion Club. There are other ways to help as well. I am always looking for speakers for their meetings. We are always looking for transportation so that they can do some outside activities. BTM: Back to insurance. Would you say a producer's role is not to be an order taker, but to help the customer figure out the best coverage for them? When everyone is shopping based on price, how do you get it through their heads that minimum coverage is just that?
used to ask why not we would not want a sale. I told them the reason I was successful is that I was doing the proper job for them to cover them correctly and to protect their assets. That I would not be helping them or doing the right thing if I gave them just the minimum limits. BTM: I'm a young producer itching to break out on my own. Any advice? SV: If I was working for an agency already I would tell you to stay there until you feel real confident with your knowledge of the business. Build up a relationship with your companies and their marketing reps so that they will feel confident in giving you an appointment. Also, have a model for how you are going to get business. You cannot just expect business to come to you just because you have opened an agency. Have a plan. BTM: For someone so young, you have achieved some impressive personal and professional successes. If someone asked you for a blueprint, what would you say? SV: Treat others how you want to be treated. Whether it is your customers, your fellow agents, the companies, your employees, your suppliers. You are not selling something tangible so you must make the most of your expertise. Don't lie, be true to yourself, at the end of the day be happy with what you have accomplished and know that you did it to the best of your abilities BTM: What drives you toward success? SV: My late Father. He instilled a very strong work ethic in his children. We were always told to do the very best of our abilities and don't give up. I always wanted to please him and make him proud of my achievements. I know he is still looking down and wanting me to succeed in everything I attempt. BTM: Any final words of wisdom? SV: Don't let the almighty dollar drive you. While of course we are in business to make money don't let it be your only driving force. Happiness, family, love and friendships are your real success. If you are happy with them and yourself and at the end of the day you have no regrets on what you did, that is the day you have everything.​
SV: I used to tell the people that I will give them the price for minimum coverage but that I would not sell them that. They
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Forget the ‘Likes’ – How to Market Effectively Using Today’s Facebook It seems nothing changes faster than the big social media platforms -- Facebook, Twitter, Google+. No sooner do marketers figure out how to best promote a product or business than they change the rules! That's been especially true for Facebook, which had to find new ways to make money after going public two years ago. Twitter has also been making changes since its IPO in November, but most of them – including a visual redesign, tagging people and uploading multiple photos – are geared toward user friendliness. Even Google+, owned by Google, which went public way back in 2004, is constantly tweaking. But the tweaks bringing the most squeals of protest are those being made by Facebook. Basically, it has taken away users' ability to reach – for free – all or even most of the people they've worked so hard to attract to their pages. So, do brands and businesses just abandon the platform and the audience there? "No – they just have to change how you use Facebook," says Jonathan Sellers, a social media strategist at EMSI Public Relations, (www.emsincorporated.com). "In the past, the goal was to get as many people to 'like' your page – or to 'friend' you if you were using a p e rs o n a l p a g e fo r marketing purposes," he says. "Forget likes. Now, Facebook makes you pay to get people to l i ke y o u r p a g e b y charging you to promote your posts, and then it makes you pay again to get your posts in front of them. That seriously devalues the like!" Only 5 to 10 percent of people following your business or brand pages – sometimes even less! – will see what you have to share if you don't pay for extra visibility via a "boosted post," he says. "So the focus should shift from working to get people following your page to getting your content to your market."
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Facebook's inexpensive ads and "boosted posts" actually offer some great benefits, he notes. Here are three he says we should be taking advantage of: • Flexibility. Facebook allows you to create ads and boost posts for any number of reasons. For example, you can create content designed to drive people to your website; get them to engage with you; to sign up for an event; or even track visitors. • Targeting. Did you know that when you create an ad on Facebook, you can choose the specific types of people you want to see the ad? Targeting on Facebook goes far beyond the traditional demographics of age, sex and location. You can target people based on their interests. Are you a sports bar owner in Miami who wants to attract Chicago Bears fans to watch the games at your place every week? Facebook makes it super easy for you to reach people who live in your ZIP code, who are over 21 and who love the Bears. • Reporting. Facebook offers very detailed reporting so you can rest assured that you will see exactly where your ad dollars are going. There is a slight learning curve to figure out the best ways to utilize the data, but it's there for you. "This experience should be a lesson to all of us that we cannot become too dependent on any single platform," Sellers says. "They're all going to continuously evolve to find the best mix of optimal user experience and profit." About Jonathan Sellers: He is a social media strategist at EMSI Public Relations, a social media marketing and national pay-forperformance PR firm. A graduate of the University of TennesseeChattanooga, Sellers specializes in online content marketing strategies, driving engagement through blogging best practices and use of multiple media formats including video, photos and graphics.
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Are You Still Arguing Over Muticultural ROI? Get Over It! By Terry Soto, President and CEO, About Marketing Solutions, Inc. By Terry Soto, President and CEO, About Marketing Solutions, Inc. When it comes to multicultural marketing, many organizations still struggle to answer the question about whether multicultural marketing ROI is justifiable. But, think about it. Isn't that like asking whether it makes sense to market to only some consumers who buy our products and services because we can't figure out the value of marketing to all current or potential buyers? Does it really make sense to decide that marketing to a segment of our consumers is a discretionary investment? If that made any sense at all, one could easily question marketing investment in general. Nearly everybody who works in marketing knows the John Wanamaker quote, "Half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." The truth is that tracking marketing spend against ROI has always been like trying to nail air to a wall, and yet we continue to invest millions. So why does multicultural marketing ROI remain such a contentious issue? I believe the problem stems out of the fact that U.S. marketers haven't yet evolved from being Middle America marketers to Multicultural America marketers. We are still thinking and behaving as though our country remains demographically unchanged. We read and hear about the demographic change and its impact, yet we continue to rationalize planning and spending primarily against an outdated marketplace definition. In his white paper after the 2010 census results were released, Peter Franchese, founder of American Demographics magazine said, "marketers need to realize the U.S. has changed forever adding that the concept of the Average American no longer exist and trying to market to them is an irrelevant undertaking." Did anybody else but me read this?
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And if we know this, why aren't we stepping up our organizational game to learn about and respond to this new marketplace reality? Why do we continue to question the sense in understanding and investing in the marketplace as it currently exists? Why aren't we taking a comprehensive approach to raising our organizations' competency and capabilities so we can actually see what truly makes sense for our businesses? Why don't we see the fool heartedness of remaining mired in debates about ROI justification for multicultural segments simply because we don't understand these segments in relation to our business goals? How can our organizations claim to be great global marketers when many of our organizations haven't a clue about the impact this demographic change is having and will continue to have on their business? How can we say we're successful multicultural marketers when most within our organizations refuse to acknowledge the impact of these segments on the organization's business? Why do we continue to relegate responsibility to managers who are hired to "deal" with multicultural segments which the rest of the company doesn't understand or with which few want to deal. Some of us would shudder at the honest answers to these questions as many are founded on personal, philosophical, and political ideology, but let's remember that we're in this to grow our businesses based on business savvy not personal views or biases. We are at a pivotal point in our country's demographic history where multicultural market expertise including a much multiculturally impacted non-Hispanic white consumer is a
requirement for every organization's growth strategy. Smart organizations simply can't afford to remain indifferent to America's demographics or to continue make only tactical efforts to effect sizable growth for their organizations. Status quo multicultural ROI rhetoric is not only irrelevant in today's America, but it is an increasingly dangerous liability corporate America can no longer afford to carry. About the Author: Terry Soto is President and CEO of About Marketing Solutions, Inc., a Burbank, California – based strategy consulting firm specializing in transformative business readiness and strategy consulting for profitable and enduring total market success. She helps her clients dramatically improve overall business performance by optimizing their strategies to succeed in the Hispanic market. Contact Terry via email at terrysoto@aboutmarketingsolutions.com.
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BIG Times Editorial – May 2014 Here at BIG, things are just going crazy! But a good crazy. You are reading this as our Convention is taking place. Hopefully you are in Riverside enjoying the seminars, parties, trade show, and networking opportunities. If not, just wait until the next issue of BIG Times Magazine to read about what you missed. Because we have definitely arrived! Like many of you, I have been in the insurance business for a long time. I've seen associations come and go. Without getting into particulars, the biggest reason for failure, I believe, is a lack of focus on members. Much like our political system, people get too caught up in maintaining their position and forget (to a degree) about the people who are supporting them. They forget about the foundation on which the association was built. Here is our mission statement: We pledge to offer industry related education, create networking opportunities, and to act as a voice for all participants within the Insurance Industry. To create an environment around sharing information, discovering new ideas for streamlining current processes, increasing productivity through new technology, understanding new legislation, and benefiting from our experiences as an industry rather than an individual. In other words, you are welcome and encouraged to
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participate. Whether you are a multi-office agency or the biggest carrier in the business. If you are a regional company, start-up vendor or one-person operation, we want your input. We stand together because everyone has something to say. If you have been to a BIG meeting (which are growing exponentially), you know that the atmosphere is one of inclusion and opportunity. Our minivention in Northern California was another example of education and advantage all coming together. There are no cliques here, just insurance professionals who want to be the best they can be -- For their clients, their families, and themselves. So if you made in to the Convention, I hope you had a great time. If not, I am looking forward to seeing you at a meeting near you. Check out www.bigusa.com for details. We are only as good as our supporters and we will go as far as those who believe in our mission will take us. There are BIG things ahead and we are happy to welcome you aboard.
Jon Spaugy is the CEO of BIG Insurance Group
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The Federal Reserve Board of Governors Have the Right to Regulate "Systemically Important Financial Institutions�s By Stephen S. Santoro Since 1864, the individual states in America have regulated the insurance business in the USA. In all that time through the present date, especially during the Great Depression starting in 1929 and the Great Recession of 2008, this insurance and reinsurance business in America has remained strong, stable, and has not contributed to any major economic downturn in ANY way. Since 2008 there was talk of a "federal insurance chart (FIC)". That really has not been implemented, although Dodd-Frank has made provisions for it under the jurisdiction of the US Treasury Dept. I support this. But I do not support what the Fed and the US Treasury are trying to do with certain insurers (life, health and p/c) currently. The FSOC and the US Government are trying to fix something that is not only not broken, but is functioning well, is profitable and has been for years and is prohibited from making the investments banks and other shadow lenders did between 2000-2008. The FSOC is trying to create "bank-like" regulation on large US and international insurers using a foolish, stupid and unworkable "once size fits all" concept. This foolish portion of the Dodd-Frank law includes General Electric's GECC (General Electric Capital Corp.). *Full disclosure: I am shareholder in GE (and GECC due to GE). I am also a shareholder in 5 other SIFIs right now. I have been since 1988. This regulation is part of the Dodd-Frank Act created several years ago in answer to the Great Recession to avoid "too big to fail" and "too small to succeed" concepts. Dodd-Frank is just now in the process of being implemented, in concert with International Standards for banks called Basel III, named after Basel, Switzerland. (World central bankers meet there once a year and dream up regulations that stifles competition, over regulates and creates huge multi-million dollar costs, filing costs and drama for banks with assets under $100 billion (gross). FSOC is focusing on firms like GECC, AIG (American International Group), Prudential and Metropolitan. They have deemed these four SIFI's, although Metropolitan is fighting them tooth and nail. The other three have implicitly capitulated to this stupid regulation. The basic premise of the FSOC is to identify non-banking firms who if they fail can pose a threat to the financial stability of the USA or the USA's citizens. (They have not yet really defined that the hell that means, but so much for clarity.) The FSOC, via Dodd-Frank imposes Federal Reserve oversight on top of state oversight and the quasigovernment oversight of the NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners, based in Kansas City, MO). DoddFrank, via the FSOC empowers the Fed to regulate some insurers who own small banks or savings & loan entities. In a nutshell the Fed can potentially end up the consolidated regulator of some of the nations and world's largest insurers. It is imperative to regulate insurance correctly. Life insurers paid out $350 billion in benefits last year. Property & casualty firms paid out $300 billion in claims last year (business, personal lines, workers comp, etc). Every dollar these insurers pay out is one less taxpayer dollar that has to be paid out due to the decisions of FEMA and federal agencies like them. Bankstyle oversight of insurers are really foolish, considering state regulators and their partner the NAIC served as the model of stability and strength in the 2008 crises while federally regulated banks and the mortgage system completely imploded, resulting in "bail-outs" by the US Treasury and organized, and sanction by the FDIC, the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve, with the sanction of Congress and the Bush and Obama Administrations. The bail-out of AIG was NOT the result of the state regulated entities that were solvent and in fact by sanction of the NY Insurance Superintendent were prepared to upstream $40B to aid the parent. (That transaction was never done, as the Federal Reserve made available $180B to AIG, all of which was paid back at the expense of long-time shareholders like me. The US Government by taking a "preferred stock position" in essence "stole" 90% of AIG's value. This action is now a subject of a multi-billion dollar lawsuit by long-term AIG shareholder Starr International, LTD and CV Starr, LTD. Many other shareholders are participating in this action, including me.) Stated bluntly, the insurance entities were solvent, profitable and under no distress of ANY kind. BUT, the federally regulated products division did fail and fail badly. The insurance regulators had no jurisdiction over it. State regulators and the NAIC Model Investment Acts do not allow insurance units (risk-assuming units licensed in the USA) to take such risks. And they never have. EVER! State regulation is superior to federal regulation of insurers as state regulators and the NAIC have the knowledge, experience, and understanding of the idiosyncrasies of these markets and the unique risks they pose and have posed. They have been doing this for 150 years! How long has the Fed or the FSOC being doing it? The requirements of the NAIC and the state insurance laws consider all possible risk from asset management and investments to claims to underwriting and determine by line how much capital an insurer must hold to make sure they can pay claims from the risks they write. This is called "risk-based capital pricing/assumptions/stress testing". And trust me it works if they are allowed to do their jobs (State regulators and the NAIC). The Fed, Congress and now the Obama
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Administration have no one in place that can understand or even spell this let alone regulate and implement. INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE NOT BANKS! They are different animals with different needs. By using a bank "one size fits all" regulation unwittingly the Fed and the FSOC may be encouraging risky behavior. Here is what I mean: Think about a life-insurance entity that invests primarily in fixed-income investments (bonds and debt instruments) that generate predictable cash flows/income over a certain time frame the insurer needs to pay benefits. Under state regulations, the life insurer would hold less capital (that is a smart) for AAA rated corporate bonds and more capital for riskier bonds (junk bonds, loans to companies and high-yield debt). Under Dodd-Frank all corporate bonds receive the same risk weighting, regardless of credit quality! This gives the life insurer the unintended incentive to hold riskier bonds for a higher yield. Did anyone in Congress think of this logically? Did anyone ask someone in the insurance business about this simple, rudimentary, BUT VERY POWERFUL AND RISKY investment concept? Here is another example for the intellectual powerhouses in Congress: Variable annuity contracts with guaranteed minimum payments. In the early stages of the variable annuity, known as the accumulation phase, customers invest in a group of securities, chosen by the insurer and the customer at the annuities outset, which are managed by the insurer similar to how a mutual fund would manage the money. Variable annuities come with a guarantee that the asset value will not fall below a certain level, so the insurance company must set aside capital to ensure this agreement/contract/promise is met. (Again this is agreed to by the consumer and the insurer upfront at the outset of the agreement.) The insurer is at less risk when asset values are rising and more at risk when asset values are falling. Bank regulation under Dodd-Frank ties the capital an insurer must hold to asset value on the insurer's balance sheet. Insurers would then be required to hold more capital as asset values increase, while their risk DECREASES. And the reverse is true. Bank rules would require the insurers to do the exact opposite of what is best for the insurer, the consumer, the regulator and the citizens of the USA! Dodd-Frank is clearly not designed for insurers. And it never was thought through clearly, which is why many want to repeal it and start over. (I for one agree!) And let's not forget the costs attached to these new rules, especially for those insurers who hold less than $50B in total assets (the so-called "critical mass threshold" for SIFIs). These Dodd-Frank rules provide no additional protection. And why should we change what has been working well for 150 years with SOMETHING THAT CAUSED THE SECOND WORST ECONOMIC DOWNTURN OF ALL TIME IN 2008? Thank you to Jon Spaugy and the Board of BIG for allowing my viewpoints. I'll be back next time! +Examples taken from a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Article, April 15, 2014, page A-13, authored by NAIC CEO Ben Nelson. About the Author: Stephen Santoro is a former senior executive officer from two Fortune 200 Insurance Holding Companies. Since 1988, he has operated a consulting firm focusing on personal lines p/c with insurers, reinsurers and managing general agencies as clients. You can contact Stephen via telephone at (310) 305-0459 or by e - m a i l a t ssantoro@stephensantoro.com. Follow him on Facebook (Stephen S a m u e l S a n t o ro ) , Tw i tte r (@StephenSantoro, Instagram (Stephen Samuel Santoro), and L i n ke d I n ( S t e p h e n S a m u e l Santoro).
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Are All-In-One Health Care Models Trending? By Don Lukenbill Has the emergence of Obamacare (and the subsequent debates) caused a permanent tear in the current health care insurance continuum? In a March 27th article in The Fiscal Times (www.fiscaltimes.com), health care and business professionals attending the recent The Atlantic's Health Care Forum in Washington, DC said that there's an increasing trend in the industry toward cutting traditional insurance companies out of the process entirely, as large, regional hospital systems move into the insurance business.
not headed on a path to self-destruction, the debate poses some interesting questions. Being able to utilize more of the premium dollar for health care is certainly not a bad thing. Kaiser has multiple thousands of satisfied customers who swear by the system. Other insurance consumers would prefer having the flexibility of a PPO. But however slowly or quickly the wheels of change turn, it does seem like a change is going to come.​
Certainly the system has been trending toward HMOs and organizations like Kaiser Permanente, which pioneered the health insurance/health care provider model, are "thriving." Wellpoint recently acquired a California health care company and, some believe, will attempt to replicate what is being accomplished at Kaiser. A n o t h e r exa m p l e o f t h i s m ove towa rd insurance/health care integration is a plan by Mount Sinai Health System to offer its own Medicare Advantage plan. Mount Sinai, New York State's largest health care provider is also planning to develop other ways to capture premium dollars directly rather than through insurance companies. In the Fiscal Times article, Dr. Kenneth L. Davis, CEO and president of Mount Sinai said he expects organizations similar to his to move in the same direction. "Inevitably the large systems are going to move to take part of the premium dollar." The article also quoted Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, chairman of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act, who said we're witnessing "the end of insurance companies as we know them" and that if they want to survive, they "will have to get into the business of providing care." He predicted that in the world of health care, "the wave of the future is integrated delivery systems – integrating insurance with delivery function." While the health care insurance industry is surely
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Fun Facts About May May has always been sort of a buffer between cold and warm seasons, or wet and dry depending on where you live. It signals the time to put away the coats and break out the shorts. As we look forward to the official start of summer (Memorial Day, of course), here are some fun facts to ponder about the fifth month of the year. There are several theories as to the name "May." The most believeable is that the monoth was named for Maia, the Roman goddess of spring and growth. Makes sense, especially since the Romans had considerable input on the modern calendar. Of course, no May would be complete without Mother's Day, which falls on May 11th this year. Get your card in the mail soon, as Mother's Day causes one of the business times of the year of the postal service. It is also responsible for one-fourth of all plant and flower purchases in the US. Another Mother's Day note: Julia Ward Howe, the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic who tried unsuccessfully to establish a Mother's Day holiday, was born on May 27, 1819. As mentioned, Memorial Day is the first of two summer "bookends" (Labor Day being the other). Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day was originally established to remember those fallen soldiers in the Civil War. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. Memorial Day was declared a federal holiday in 1971 and established on the last Monday in May. The birthstone for May is the Emerald and Hawthorn and Lily of the Valley are the flowers for the month of May. Astrological signs for May are Taurus and Gemini.
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Insurance Job Market Still Strong, But HR Departments Struggling Eight out of every 10 insurance companies surveyed by GreatInsuranceJobs.com indicated they had at least one job open currently. In a comprehensive survey of 114 insurance companies, GreatInsuranceJobs.com reports 10,000 open and available jobs across the nation in the insurance industry. On top of that, the survey projected an additional 18,000 more by the end of this year. The survey and its findings were released today and are posted on GreatInsuranceJobs.com. "If you are looking for a job in the insurance industry, you don't have to look far," according to Scott Kotroba, President and CEO of GreatInsuranceJobs.com. "The overall hiring outlook is the most positive we have seen in the last six years. Employers are preparing to hire numerous employees in almost every insurance discipline. Standing out at the top of most companies recruiting list is the need for sales professionals." KEY FINDINGS: - 42% of surveyed companies indicated that hiring would be better in 2014 when compared to 2013. (41% of respondents said the same in 2013.) - 84% of companies currently have open jobs. (84% in 2013.) - The top six insurance jobs being recruited for are sales positions, claims adjusters, account managers, customer service, call center and IT. - Skilled insurance industry professionals are extremely hard to find. - Unqualified applicants are filling up applicant tracking systems of major insurance companies, causing work overload in human resource departments. - The recession is over but recruiting departments have not increased in size or budgets resulting in them having a disadvantage in the hiring of top talent.
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GreatInsuranceJobs.com surveyed 114 insurance entities from across the United States by phone and asked them seven questions about their current and projected open positions, along with the challenges they are facing. For more on this survey, including a full listing of open jobs at the companies surveyed, download the entire whitepaper at greatinsurancejobs.com/whitepaper. Media interviews are available upon request. “This report was very clear that insurance human resource departments are overworked," says Kotroba. "Many of these departments are trying to fill the needs they have today, and can't yet get capacity to build their pipeline for future hires. This is an ongoing issue we will continue to see in the insurance industry for years to come, a legacy of the great recession as well as a Baby Boomer workforce who are retiring in great numbers in coming years."
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