July 29 is National Intern Day, which makes this the perfect moment to celebrate the terrific interns we've been lucky enough to work alongside this summer! The current crop of interns come from a diversity of backgrounds, but all share in common a drive to better learn their chosen fields and get real-world experience that's priceless to someone starting out in a new career.
Interns at FrankCrum fall into three different groups: Risk Management Insurance/FWCI, IT/PEO, and Operations. RMI Interns received 18.5 hours of training within their first few days on topics such as GL and WC basics and underwriting practices, Risk and Safety, Claims and Litigation, Accounting and Compliance, Business Development and Marketing, and Operations. On the IT side, we have formalized an internship program that focuses on college students interested in the technology industry as their career field. This program brings candidates to fill future vacancies and provides continued expansion and promotion of FrankCrum’s name in an additional large community (colleges and universities).
Human Resources VP David Peasall has been working with faculty at USF, FIU, Barry University, and St. Pete College in the hunt for qualified candidates. David has attended virtual career/business fairs with these schools to meet interns and has been haunting school job boards in search of applicants. He also made personal contact at each school with specific key administrators to draw attention to our Intern Program through the school’s program leadership.
"Having this program shows the incredible growth of FrankCrum and the expertise/experience of our staff to have the willingness and capability to invest in the future leaders of who will be working in our needed industries, and who hopefully will choose FrankCrum as their future employer!" David says.
Without further ado, let's meet our Summer 2021 Interns:
On the FWCI side of things, Philip Jimenez (University of South Florida) and Nora Godiksen (Florida State University) have been learning the insurance ropes, taking on everything from basic level underwriting and risk evaluation, to the analysis of processes by department, writing system requirements for Winston changes, documenting the training processes for GL, and assisting with billing projects.
"I’m thankful to have been given such meaningful tasks as an intern," Godiksen explained. "I feel like I made a difference in my time here."
For Jimenez, the summer internship proved he was headed in the right direction career-wise. "It showed me that I have made the right decision. I have been very lucky to be chosen for this internship. I have learned a lot and appreciate how much everyone I had the pleasure of working with was willing to help me learn. Everyone was great and really wanted to show us about the company and what they do."
Godiksen backs him up when it comes to working with the staff. "The best part of my internship was getting to know the people here," she says. "I loved getting to work with them and they included us interns in whatever fun things they were up to."
As you might expect, an IT internship at FrankCrum involves learning quite a bit about the high-tech tools that are the lifeblood of modern companies. For interns Prajakta Ingle (University of South Florida), Riya Bansode, and Joshua Keffer (University of South Florida), that included SQL Data warehousing development and Azure Synapse database, as well as double-checking risk assessments of various IT areas such as Access Control, Data Management, Facilities and Tools, Monitoring-Oversight-Metrics, Security Violations, and Third Party IT Security.
"I am also working together with the company FrankCrum hired to do Cyber Security Consulting," Joshua explains, "and I have been working together with them to clearly communicate risk items to FrankCrum."
"Through my internship, I have learned many valuable lessons, like what it’s really like to work as a Data Analyst," Prajakta says. "Moreover, it has given me the hands-on knowledge in the field I am pursuing my master’s in."
In addition to all the hands-on technical experience the IT interns have received, there's also no substitute for getting to work with experienced professionals willing to share their knowledge. "There is a large focus on creating a team dynamic, where everyone’s work merges together to create something bigger," Joshua says. "Everyone in the infrastructure team has been great, it has been a great learning experience."
Harmony Gibaldi (University of Florida) is our sole Operations intern, working on the PEO's Client Experience team. Harmony has spent the summer learning the ins and outs of the corporate environment. That includes working on data spreadsheets, running reports for our clients, answering queue calls on behalf of our account managers, and reaching out to clients to ask them about their experiences with FrankCrum.
"My favorite part has definitely been working with everyone in the Client Experience team and handling the situations that come up together," Harmony explains. "They are always super helpful in giving me practical advice when speaking to clients or answering their questions, as well as providing me with personal support. They have always been so welcoming and awesome! I love talking to them about the wild things that can happen throughout the day."
Harmony's main goal when she started the summer program was to learn to better think on her feet and communicate in a more professional way, something she knows she accomplished in her time at FrankCrum.
"I had a blast this summer and I'm so thankful for this amazing opportunity," she says. "I’ve learned so much and feel that I’ve grown a lot as a person since I started. Thank you to everyone who has been super welcoming and kind to me!"
