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I always kind of hate updating on a Saturday. Livejournal traffic seems to drop off precipitously on the weekends and then return all in a rush on Mondays, so I worry that my post gets lost on those people who have nice full friends pages. Plus I feel like a dweeb, because its a Saturday, and I'm being a useless internet user. But whatever, its midday and I want to get a post out. So.
This update is going to be in abnormal, non-chronological order, because I'm going to start with the thing that seems to be on everyone's mind: the Interview. It went well! I arrived in Chicago Thursday morning, and made my way relatively easily to the Liberty Mutual office (located at 1 N Franklin, for those of you to whom that means anything.) The man with whom I was originally meant to be meeting, the Regional Underwriting Manager, had abruptly gone out of office due to a family emergency (which I was later informed was a death in the family) but I had received an e-mail about that the day before and came prepared. I met instead with one of the Area Underwriting Managers. We had a very good conversation in which I felt I handled myself well and asked good questions. Then he took me out to lunch with three of the people in his immediate department. Unfortunately none of them were precisely my age. Apparently most of the young underwriters take this week off, because they only have to use four vacation days to do so. Can't say as I blame them. After lunch we chatted a bit more and then I got cut loose.
The outcome of all this is of course indeterminate for the time being. The AUM (they love their acronyms at Liberty Mutual) explained to me that for a while they had been looking to fill two openings for non-entry level people, but that the search had proved fruitless thus far and they were now considering alternate strategies. Apparently in about a week's time there's a managers meeting, at which point they'll decide whether to press on with the search or whether to hire a pack of trainees (at least two), one of whom would probably be me. I can expect to hear one way or another probably no sooner than two weeks. The job would be in National Markets Underwriting, and would represent a rather significant investment on the part of the company, as it takes nine months to a year to train an underwriter to the point of competency. The first three months of that is apparently mostly just reading to bring you up to speed on the insurance/business world. Its a little intimidating and exactly what I want (I think) so keep your fingers crossed for me.
OK, now, backtracking a little: I had an excellent 4th of July weekend with my family. I got some sun (and even a hint of color, gasp!), I got to see my sisters and extended relatives and even the soon-to-be-newlywed-Doyles. It was so much fun being on the Cape, having my parents pay for everything directly, and lounging around on the beach, that I was briefly tempted to just stay until just before my interview and then dash back to Boston to grab my suit.
In the end I didn't do that. I headed back to Brighton on Tuesday so that I would be be back in town with a few hours to spare before I was scheduled to ST for the Tuesday Night Gaming Crew. Of course on the drive home I got a call from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sleetfall explaining that he had developed a fairly vicious chest cold over the weekend and wouldn't make it to game. I briefly toyed with the notion of hauling my own ass out to Auburndale in order to finish up some prelude stuff for the other players. Eventually I scrapped that, tho', and game was cancelled entirely. Just when I was ready to despair of keeping my positive energy momentum going, amuronomiko IM'd me out of the blue and I ended up at her apartment watching 50 First Dates with a handful of friends. The movie was unimpressive, but the company was good, and now I've finally seen the interior of amuronomiko's place. Its nice.
This week has been a bit weird in my apartment. Jayeeta's parents and little brother have been visiting (and staying in her room, since she lives at MIT for the moment). Her father's English is very good aside from an accent, and her little brother is 100% assimilated like her, but her mother seems a little confused and intimidated by everything having to do with America. And, completely true to the stereotype, they offer to feed me at every available interval and periodically fill the apartment with strange, foreign cooking smells. Its my understanding that they're leaving today, however, so I can go back to walking around the place in my underwear when no one else is home. Hurrah! Oh wait... Matt's girlfriend is visiting for the weekend. Damnit.
One final note: Eric Burns of Websnark and Gossamer Commons is selling a new t-shirt at his original site. It says "I Aggro Drama" in honor of his recent discovery that this is, in fact, the case. I've already ordered mine, and I can think of a half-dozen people who read this thing who might want one, too. Not wanting one might just be a sign that deep down you're a bad person, or possibly a communist.
This update is going to be in abnormal, non-chronological order, because I'm going to start with the thing that seems to be on everyone's mind: the Interview. It went well! I arrived in Chicago Thursday morning, and made my way relatively easily to the Liberty Mutual office (located at 1 N Franklin, for those of you to whom that means anything.) The man with whom I was originally meant to be meeting, the Regional Underwriting Manager, had abruptly gone out of office due to a family emergency (which I was later informed was a death in the family) but I had received an e-mail about that the day before and came prepared. I met instead with one of the Area Underwriting Managers. We had a very good conversation in which I felt I handled myself well and asked good questions. Then he took me out to lunch with three of the people in his immediate department. Unfortunately none of them were precisely my age. Apparently most of the young underwriters take this week off, because they only have to use four vacation days to do so. Can't say as I blame them. After lunch we chatted a bit more and then I got cut loose.
The outcome of all this is of course indeterminate for the time being. The AUM (they love their acronyms at Liberty Mutual) explained to me that for a while they had been looking to fill two openings for non-entry level people, but that the search had proved fruitless thus far and they were now considering alternate strategies. Apparently in about a week's time there's a managers meeting, at which point they'll decide whether to press on with the search or whether to hire a pack of trainees (at least two), one of whom would probably be me. I can expect to hear one way or another probably no sooner than two weeks. The job would be in National Markets Underwriting, and would represent a rather significant investment on the part of the company, as it takes nine months to a year to train an underwriter to the point of competency. The first three months of that is apparently mostly just reading to bring you up to speed on the insurance/business world. Its a little intimidating and exactly what I want (I think) so keep your fingers crossed for me.
OK, now, backtracking a little: I had an excellent 4th of July weekend with my family. I got some sun (and even a hint of color, gasp!), I got to see my sisters and extended relatives and even the soon-to-be-newlywed-Doyles. It was so much fun being on the Cape, having my parents pay for everything directly, and lounging around on the beach, that I was briefly tempted to just stay until just before my interview and then dash back to Boston to grab my suit.
In the end I didn't do that. I headed back to Brighton on Tuesday so that I would be be back in town with a few hours to spare before I was scheduled to ST for the Tuesday Night Gaming Crew. Of course on the drive home I got a call from
sleetfall explaining that he had developed a fairly vicious chest cold over the weekend and wouldn't make it to game. I briefly toyed with the notion of hauling my own ass out to Auburndale in order to finish up some prelude stuff for the other players. Eventually I scrapped that, tho', and game was cancelled entirely. Just when I was ready to despair of keeping my positive energy momentum going, amuronomiko IM'd me out of the blue and I ended up at her apartment watching 50 First Dates with a handful of friends. The movie was unimpressive, but the company was good, and now I've finally seen the interior of amuronomiko's place. Its nice.This week has been a bit weird in my apartment. Jayeeta's parents and little brother have been visiting (and staying in her room, since she lives at MIT for the moment). Her father's English is very good aside from an accent, and her little brother is 100% assimilated like her, but her mother seems a little confused and intimidated by everything having to do with America. And, completely true to the stereotype, they offer to feed me at every available interval and periodically fill the apartment with strange, foreign cooking smells. Its my understanding that they're leaving today, however, so I can go back to walking around the place in my underwear when no one else is home. Hurrah! Oh wait... Matt's girlfriend is visiting for the weekend. Damnit.
One final note: Eric Burns of Websnark and Gossamer Commons is selling a new t-shirt at his original site. It says "I Aggro Drama" in honor of his recent discovery that this is, in fact, the case. I've already ordered mine, and I can think of a half-dozen people who read this thing who might want one, too. Not wanting one might just be a sign that deep down you're a bad person, or possibly a communist.
