office administrator

insurance agent

insurance account representative

sales representative

office manager

State Farm

As a disclaimer, my experiences do not reflect all State Farm agencies, nor working directly for State Farm / Desjardins corporate. 

State Farm functions under the agency model.  As such, each agency is essentially an independent small business with the agent as the supreme hiring/firing authority, with vague oversight by the parent company.  As such, your experience working for a State Farm agent will be directly related to that agent's policies and practices.  My review here is based on the agencies I worked for.

If you are a strictly sales-minded individual, you will likely do well in this environment.  As a result of the agency model, do not expect modern coaching methods that focus on employee development, working individually and as a group to set reasonable, achievable goals, or deal with feedback in a positive manner.  The agents I worked for could best be described as a mix of absentee leadership with all-stick-no-carrot when it came to addressing issues in the office.  Typically the only direct interaction with the agent was disciplinary in nature, and poorly administered.  Without an HR department or higher authority to appeal to, or even modern leadership/coaching methods, this led a very negative experience that fostered resentment, hampered productivity, hurt office morale, and created a highly adversarial atmosphere.  Recognition for good performance outside of strictly sales numbers (despite 50% or more of the workload being service related to retain clients) was non-existent. 

Attempts to suggest improved business practices that would aid workflow, productivity, and/or morale, were typically disregarded or actively discouraged if they deviated in any way from existing practices.  All responsibility for performance lumped on the employees, and leadership in the office exhibited limited to no ownership unless success was involved.  Advancement in the industry under the agency model is also completely at the whim of your agent, unless you are willing to invest large amounts of unpaid personal time in self-study (typically ~20 hours per line of business, or 40 hours of study + exam fees per licence). 

Bottom line, unless you get very lucky, expect a boss not a leader when working for a State Farm agent.  Additionally, do not expect benefits as this varies by office.  

Again this varies by agency, however, themes of: too much work for too few people, poor or antiquated business practices, resistance to positive change or modernization, and focusing on development of new staff over existing staff, remained consistent across my experiences.  I cannot in good conscience recommend this environment to anyone unless you are the sales-focused type.

•	Involved in Development and Execution of Test Plans, Test Cases & Test Scripts by reviewing the business requirements document, and technical specifications document.
•	Documented Test cases corresponding to business rules and other operating conditions.
•	Prepare status summary reports with details of executed, passed and failed test cases.
•	Reported the bugs, Email notifications to the developers using the Quality Center. 
•	Monitored status using Quality Center to close the bugs/cases as and when fixed.
•	Analyzed all the bugs in the Quality Center reported by the users during the UAT. 
•	Performed Integration Testing, Functionality testing, System Testing, Regression Testing.
•	Developed Test scripts and enhanced scripts using QTP.
•	Involved in the functional testing of web pages using QTP.
•	Prepare Automation Scenarios and Test cases.
•	Participated in User Acceptance Test (UAT), Documented procedures and guiding the users in verifying various transactions on the System.
•	Responsible in providing regular test reports to the management. 
•	Made extensive use of MS Office tools to create and maintain documents such as test plans, test execution and test results documents.
•	Tested the backend database using SQL queries.
•	Worked with Unix Shell Scripts extensively.
•	Worked on the build management and Release management for the product release.

I liked to arrive early to set up my day and to see what my priorities were.

I learned the importance of educating people to start investing in their futures.

We were a small office so we all worked along side each other help was never far and we were all busy.

I enjoyed the quick small talk that we would have during the day and also the ability get other opinions on clients situations.

The hardest part of the job was that it was never done; no matter how much work you did there was always one more call.

The most enjoyable part of this job was the people I met and was able to help whether is was part of a claim or information of how to help in a situation. Educating someone that actually appreciated the time I took to explain different products that are an important part of life and setting their future up because no-one had ever took the time.

The thank yous' and of course the commissions.

The project involved revamping Agency Contract management system into new RDBMS. It combined various details about individual Agency into one easy application. Project captured all the details ranging from Name, address, phone and Fax number, e-mail address while linking it to Databases storing Agency Production and Profitability details. Responsibilities included:

•	Performed Gap analysis, conducted walk through and acted as liaison between the Business users, Stakeholders and the development team to perform requirements gathering.
•	Gathered business requirements through sessions and analysis by interviewing users and SME.
•	Analyzed Business/system requirements using requirements arbitrage and assign appropriate priorities.
•	Effectively managed requirement change requests during various phases of project life cycle.
•	Ensured all requirements, enhancements have been met. 
•	Managed change and enhancement request. Got system approvals by conducting UAT sessions.

State Farm offered a great work culture.  The training offered prepared you for the role you would take and give you the opportunity to apply the knowledge before you started in that role.  Once inside the company your job was secure and it was reinforced to you.  The company however viewed your role as one that was equivalent in another department, regardless if you had any interactions with that department.  ie.  Claims Adjuster in Automobile was the same as an Injury adjuster or Property Adjuster.  The company would treat you positively but when new roles in other departments such as Property would open up, they would often take inexperienced people from outside the company and train them instead of letting you move over.  Other times they would let you move over, if a position was available however you would not receive an increase in compensation as they viewed the move as a lateral one.

Your experience will depend 100% on the agent you work with. The office I was with started of really well. Positive team and good perks. As the years went on the agent and office manager (married couple)  were out of the office more and more on personal holidays/business and expected you to fully run and manage their business with very little support. Concerns that were voiced were ignored leaving you feeling unappreciated. The benefits provided were average.  It is a very independent job so you have to manage your work load effectively, especially the sales end of things. Its very easy to get overwhelmed with the small things. The biggest thing I learned- If the agent decides they don't like you or you aren't preforming, they just fire you and move to the next person. You are very replaceable.

	Over 4 years of banking and 6 years of insurance experience in the following areas: Sales & Marketing, Client/Customer Servicing, personal lending, investments, everyday banking needs, finance, insurance claims Examining/Auditing (auto), and Relationship management-corporate accounts.
	Skilled Communicator; ability to build strong, effective rapport with diverse range of clients/customers.
	Highly self motivated team player, with eagerness, competitiveness and confidence to engage in work which demands multitasking, surpassing targets, team leadership and high pressure.
	Customer service driven; ability to provide an enhanced customer experience while meeting company objectives.
	Outstanding research and business development acumen. Capable of identifying new business opportunities by analyzing market needs and capitalizing on trends before competition.

Until State Farm lost a class action law suite , They not only, would not recommend quality repair facilities, they would not notify customers their facility they choose, was known for poor workmanship, repairing parts , after they were paid to replace them. Now they have a program. Until they lost another class action law suite,  They they only paid for used suspension parts.  parts failed people were killed. Until the lost another law suite , they would only use after market parts. Until in a third class action law suite , it was proven that they were not living up to the claim that the customer's vehicle would be brought back to "Pre-Collision Condition" putting after market parts on a vehicle de-valued it 

My average day at work is constant which I enjoy.  I use a lot of energy to process information, service existing clients and gain new business as well. I have learned effective communication skills, multi tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and completing tasks in a timely manner.  Management micro manages the team and my co-workers help out but don't seem to share the same drive as myself. I feel the environment is not enough for me to reach my goals and I would like to expand with my knowledge. The hardest past of my job is delivering negative news to clients although I have managed to communicate professionally. The best part of my job is the unknown everyday, I really enjoy new tasks and problems coming to me as I am always eager to solve them!

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Office administrator 5 salaries reported	$23.10 per hour
Insurance agent 1 salary reported	$25.50 per hour
Insurance account representative 2 salaries reported	$45,000 per year
Sales representative 1 salary reported	$45,000 per year
Office manager 1 salary reported	$36.00 per hour

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