How I Got Into Employee Benefits

I might as well describe why Benefits is part of the title of this blog.




I graduated from Texas A&M in 2002 with a degree in applied mathematics with a focus on actuarial science.  When I switched to this degree plan during my junior year I had no idea what actuarial science was or what an actuary did.  But I liked math and statistics and I discovered that in order to be an actuary, a series of exams had to be taken and passed.  So I took the first one near graduation and did well.

The important thing about passing that first exam was that I was able to get potential employers to call me back after I submitted resumes.  Before having that passing score on display I got no response at all.  But finally, I had insurance companies and consulting firms calling me to set up interviews.

I received two offers.  One was to work in the actuarial department of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas.  The second was to work as a consultant at Watson Wyatt, which is now a part of Towers Watson.  Both were good offers, but I liked the idea of working as a consultant.  Still, I didn't know what my job would entail.

On my first day a group of new coworkers took me out to eat.  One of them asked me if I knew what they did, and I really didn't know.  Looking back, I have no idea why I was offered the job when I clearly did not know what the firm did, or what my new department did.

Soon, though, I learned that the people I worked with were group healthcare benefits consultants.  They were responsible for helping employers set up and run their health insurance plans.  I was green as could be, but I tried to learn as much as I could.  I was still studying for the second actuarial exam, but unfortunately I did not do as well on the second exam as I did the first.  I ended up not taking any more exams.  I wanted to focus on being a consultant.

A coworker of mine left Watson Wyatt to go work for Deloitte Consulting, doing the same work that we did at Wyatt.  It wasn't long after that I was recruited to work for Deloitte.  I really enjoyed my time there, as it is a great place to work.  However, they slowly started to do away with their benefits consulting practice, so I ended up where I am now, EBSG, working as a healthcare benefits broker.  I'm working with the same people I was with at Deloitte, we're just getting paid by someone else.

Being a broker, I'm required to hold a Texas Insurance License (which my studying habits made a lot tougher than it should have been).  But the license is required since we help sell insurance.  Also, it's good to have in case I want to actually go out and start selling policies. 

So that is why I included benefits as a part of this blog.  I'd like to add some of my thoughts surrounding the healthcare world that we're living in now, such as medical networks, underwriting techniques, and more.  We'll see if I get around to it.