Growing the Next Generation: How AP's National Internship Program Develops Future Insurance Superstars
Long gone are the days of endless coffee runs and re-organizing cabinets full of old files. In today's insurance world, internships are crucial in shaping a company's long-term future. Internships aren't just a chance to mentor and train the next generation of insurance professionals, it's an opportunity to sell passionate new talent on joining our team when they graduate.
This has been one of the major payoffs of AssuredPartners' National Internship Program. The program has become a successful talent pipeline since its founding in 2020, with 91 graduates of the program currently owning full-time roles at AP, working in various departments such as sales, accounting, service, and marketing.
AP Interns at a loss control visit in Des Moines, IA
I think it's a wonderful way to showcase the opportunities that we have within the insurance industry," says Mallory Deeter, AP's Program Manager for Talent Acquisition. "Traditionally, I think insurance as a whole hasn't done the best job of selling how great of an industry this is. There's job security, cool different experiences, and meaningful work that you can do."
Deeter, a former AP intern herself, spearheaded the creation AssuredPartners' National Internship Program, featuring a centralized curriculum that includes a mix of "Insurance 101" courses, team exercises, and hands-on training specific to their chosen career path.
Deeter says the goal is to give interns a clear understanding of what a full-time role with AP might look like, helping them jump-start their careers after graduation.
"I think that's a key point of our internships; they're interviewing us as a potential employer as much as we're interviewing them," says Deeter. "We want them to walk away at the end of the summer understanding, 'did I like what I was doing, and is this an organization that I'd be excited to join?'"
Jonathan Bozarth, a producer in the Midwest Region, was more than excited to join AP after graduation. Bozarth initially joined AP as a Sales Executive Intern in 2021 with little knowledge of the industry. But his sales team took him under their wing, teaching him key skills like how to prospect, team-selling, and putting together a blueprint. In fact, Bozarth recently secured an $80K win from a client he first met through a prospecting exercise at his internship
"The internship program provided a good structure and did a good job making it clear that AP had a lot of opportunity and was only moving up," says Bozarth. "By the end of the program, I remember going back to college and telling people, 'I just don’t think it’s possible for me to find a better career opportunity than this out of college.'"
This summer, AssuredPartners is proud to host 187 budding insurance stars as part of our program. Some of them revealed what they've learned so far during their experience at AP.
Interns at AP's Greater Cincinnati office at a team outing at Great American Ball Park
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