WHO WE ARE.
Life at Travelers Podcast Ep.3 – Claim University
Kim: Welcome, everybody, to another episode of the Life at Travelers podcast. Today, I have my guest Chris Day here with me to really dig into what is, at times, an unknown treasure of Travelers. That is Claim University.
And so, we’re going to talk all about Claim U, what’s there, what happens there, and some of the really, behind the scenes, look and information that our expert Chris here is going to chat about with us. So, let’s get started.
Chris, why don’t you just introduce yourself to our listeners?
Chris: Sure. Thank you very much and thanks for the opportunity to be here today. Yeah, my name is Chris Day. I currently am the Assistant Vice President for Catastrophe Response. And I work at Claim University.
Kim: Awesome.
Chris: I’ve been with Travelers since 1999. I spent all of my time in claim, most of it in catastrophe. I’ve had a chance to go to a lot of different places around the country for catastrophe response and do a lot of different roles. Before I was with Travelers, I was, I spent ten years in the military.
Kim: Thank you so much for your service.
Chris: Thank you. But I had a great opportunity to learn a lot after college. I went into the service after college. And, maybe a little bit more about myself. Away from work I enjoy spending time with my family. My wife and I have a very active seven-year-old…
Kim: Alright.
Chris: …and when I’m not, sort of, chasing her around, I stay busy with a lot of activity in sports. I swim for the Connecticut Masters Swim Program, represent Connecticut at the Masters swimming level. I swam in college and have continued that on through, throughout the time since I was in college.
Kim: Awesome. So, you’re reveling in the chaos at home, at work…
Chris: Always.
Kim: Alright, awesome. Alright. So, let’s talk about Claim U and why we’re here today. Can you tell our listeners, you know, what is Claim University? What happens there? Who works there? Just give us that inside look.
Chris: Sure. Claim University is a 200,000 square foot multi-use facility. It’s out in Windsor, so, a little bit north of Hartford.
Kim: Okay.
Chris: It houses both our flagship training facility…
Kim: Yup.
Chris: …for Claim University, where we train our claim handlers, our claim team. It also, it has a world-class conference center. It houses one of four Customer Service Centers, where we, you know, take first notice of loss calls from the customers. It houses our Catastrophe Management Center and also houses our brand-new Risk Control Lab.
Kim: Okay, so a couple of things going on there.
Chris: Lots of activity, always, with a bunch of different people from a lot of different disciplines.
Kim: Yeah. And I know my first time over at Claim U, I was, shocked, amazed, right, because the facility is so… Can you talk about, like, the Auto Lab, Property Lab, even the Workers’ Compensation Lab there?
Chris: Yeah. So, yeah, starting with Claim University. First, a couple of really cool statistics. So, Claim University hosts more than 250,000 hours of training…
Kim: Wow.
Chris: …in a year, 7,500 annual onsite learners, so, people traveling in to take classes. So, a lot of classes online, but a lot there. And more than 80,000 total enrollees into Claim University-lead classes, both virtual and live. I talked about… Maybe I’ll start with the Risk Control Lab, too.
Kim: Yeah. Sounds great.
Chris: That’s the newest facility right there.
Kim: Yup.
Chris: So, industry-leading space, really a world-class bench-top laboratory space. They do claim investigations and risk control. So, they’re helping out our customers keep their employees safe…
Kim: Yup.
Chris: …and also investigating claims, you know, cause and origin, fraud investigations with just an array of scientific and technical expertise. Then, the laboratory spaces. So, you’ve got an auto lab with dozens of cars and heavy equipment that have been in actual accidents that are used as learning resources for the auto trainees that move through and claim handlers who are advancing their career as they move up. And then the same thing for property, not only full-scale, live mock-ups of equipment, but building components that they can train on, but three full-scale buildings that are fully functional. So, two houses and a commercial space. And all of those have full electrical and mechanical services. And they have a bunch of different types of damages and different finishes displayed and the claim handlers are able to train on actual hands-on, live equipment.
Kim: Yeah. It’s on-the-job training at school. Yeah. That’s excellent. And, as far as, you know, you mentioned digital forensics. For folks who might not know what that is, you know, what are they working on in there? What is digital forensics?
Chris: This is the space in which they’re investigating all aspects of digital risk management and digital claim handling, or claim responses. So, increasingly, our customers’ risks are virtual and they’re digital and they’re computer driven. And so, they have the ability to take computers, compromised computers, or do investigations where they’re, they can, what’s called, air gap the computer from any of our networks and they can investigate any malware that might be on there, or they can find damaged computer files and restore computer files for an investigation, a whole bunch of different, sort of, technical or computer investigative techniques.
Kim: Yeah. They’re digital detectives.
Chris: They really are.
Kim: That’s amazing. Okay. And I know there’s also a lot of chemists over there, right? There’s a whole, kind of, chemistry lab? You know, what would I call that?
Chris: Well really, I mean, there’s, so, there’s a couple of different spaces. I talked about the bench-top laboratory space. So, that’s, yeah, your traditional, if you think about like the world’s best college chemistry class, right? I mean, this is. You’re talking, so, gas chromatographs, scanning electron microscopes, you know, really, sort of, world-class chemical analysis that they’re doing for multiple different things. Plus, there’s rooms where they can do, sort of, live event reconstruction. So, they can do fire investigations where they, where they’re actually looking for cause and origin and actually causing or trying to reproduce fires live on site. And they can do, they have a wet room where they can investigate water damage and valve failures and a bunch of different stuff as part of the claim investigation process.
Kim: And are these labs used for training as well?
Chris: Yeah, for our risk control folks, too. So, keeping in mind, so, there’s claim handling training and then there’s the risk control professionals who are out there learning all of those techniques, you know, for risk control training as well.
Kim: Okay.
Chris: But that lab is probably more focused on the actual work that we’re doing for customers and for the claim investigations.
Kim: Okay. So, if I’m coming in as a new hire, as a claim trainee, right? I’m entering into this program. What can I, kind of, expect? What does the layout of the training program look like?
Chris: So, I think coming in, as you mentioned, I think most people would be blown away with the hands-on technical. The layout, the spaces are enormous. There’s, I think, nine large classrooms. We’ve got multiple breakout rooms. So, there’s a lot of really one-on-one or small group training. You see these classes going through. They’re working, you know, in the lab and then back in the classroom, really advancing their careers, you know, starting from the very beginning, learning the basics of insurance and insurance damage investigation and, you know, estimate writing for auto and property and, you know, medical management training through the workers’ comp labs. But then as their, as folks’ careers advance, they’re working on more technical. They’re working into more commercial buildings or heavy equipment, larger heavy equipment in the auto space and more complicated losses and, you know, income losses. Things that evolve through the higher complexity claims that our claim handlers take on as they advance their careers.
Kim: Okay. And you’re a perfect example, right? You started as a claim rep at Travelers, correct?
Chris: As a front-line auto and property claim rep in the Denver office. Yeah, that was where I got hired. I moved over to the catastrophe team about a year later and was a claim handler and unit manager on the CAT team for about six years and then, spent some time in the Midwest region as a regional manager before coming out to Connecticut in 2006. And I’ve been at the Claim U facility Or, at the CAT Center facility since then.
Kim: Okay, so let’s dig into catastrophe because I know that’s your whole world. So, how does it work? You hear of an incoming disaster and then you sound the alarms and we go from there? Or…?
Chris: It’s a lot like that. So, CAT response is the most important thing that insurance companies do.
Kim: Okay.
Chris: Well, kidding aside, it’s certainly one of the most important. And it’s one of the most complicated. So, if property insurance, and auto insurance to a lesser extent, were a little more, like, more predictable, like some of the other lines of business are, it would be easier to manage the response. So, you know, for most lines of business, you write a certain number of policies and you can expect a certain number of claims, you can work the staffing model. And if we only had to insure for washing machine hoses and kitchen fires in property, we could do the same thing. But we’re in the weather business. And so, we have to be able to manage all of those day-to-day claims and also, be able to shift gears for the entire claim department in order to handle events that might produce a year’s worth of claims or two years’ worth of claims in just one or two days. Traditionally, the way the industry has always done that is that they have outsourced that to independent adjusting firms. And we don’t do that and we think we’re unique in the industry in doing that. We handle all of our catastrophe claims with our own staff. We don’t contract for any independent adjusters and it’s really for that reason that we actually locate our CAT Center at Claim University, because the first step is to make sure that our people have the right expertise and specialization to handle every claim. But we also build, and this is what we do on a day-in and day-out basis, is we build and manage a scalable model that allows us to respond to any size of event. So, we have our CAT team, so about 400 people total. About 250 of those are the field CAT team and they go to all events. They’re, sort of, the front line, the tip of the spear. They’re deployed up to 220, 225 nights a year away from home. And they’re going to every office maybe five or six people at a time, or three or four, or 200 or 220 at a time for a large event like we’ve had this year with Hurricane Helene. And then, as events get a little bit larger, our Workforce Management team, that’s co-located with the CAT Center, calibrates the capacity of every one of our offices all the way down to the individual claim handler level every day. So, we always know exactly when an office is going to need help, but also, at any point in time, which office might be able to assist the CAT team if we reach their capacity to handle larger events. And then, what really makes us different is our enterprise response strategy. And that’s where we’ve cross-trained literally thousands of claim professionals from other lines of business…
Kim: Okay.
Chris: …to handle lower severity personal insurance property claims and that frees up our property staff to handle the more severe losses and the business insurance claims. And that scalability is what allows us to handle every event.
Kim: Yup.
Chris: And then the way we execute the strategy is, we monitor the weather out to as far as 16 days in advance.
Kim: Okay.
Chris: We look for potential future events. We track those over multiple days up to the event and we start to game plan three or four or even seven days ahead of time. And then the event, if the event happens, then we aggregate just literally millions of data points from across the footprint of the event to, sort of, diagnose what happened, figure out how many claims are going to come in, and then we build a claim response package of claim handlers to meet the needs of the customers, and then we issue deployment instructions, and then within 24 hours, those claim handlers are on the ground helping the customers. And we do that process for every single storm that comes up. Most of the time they actually don’t happen, like, we do all the planning and then the storm misses. But if it does, we have all of that pre-planning under our belts and we execute that multiple times a year, as many as 80 or 100 times for different storms.
Kim: So, you’re always ready. Whether it happens or not.
Chris: I would say, always ready and always responding. So, we’re always responding to the prior events, we’re prepping for the next events and we’re off and handling, you know, five or six or even ten events simultaneously.
Kim: Yup. And I know from my side of the house, right, working in social media, a lot of the times the disasters hit, you know, we’ve posted online before saying, ‘Hey, our CAT van is located, you know, at X parking lot, you know, if you need service, if you have a claim.’ Can you talk about the CAT vans and and what happens there, for folks who are unfamiliar?
Chris: Sure, and about our shared services more broadly, too, there are dozens of groups across the enterprise. There’s your social media group, you know, teams from subrogation, corporate security, corporate real estate, other communications teams that all have responsibilities within our CAT response. We have a playbook and we have hundreds of tasks, about 250 tasks for a large hurricane, where different groups and all of our leadership team are executing all of these plays that we’re running. One of those, you might take it as a good example, is the CAT van. So, we identify a need, an operational need for a CAT van, or maybe an insurance department is setting up a place where customers can meet. We can deploy one of our eight different CAT van units to that. We have four large mobile claim office units. They’re big RVs, RV-based units, and we have four quick response vehicles that we can use on smaller events, or smaller venues, or we can get really close to claims and we’ll deploy those out, with claim handlers or unit managers, and we can be right there, where our customers need us. Maybe there’s a big disruption to the cell phone infrastructure or power. They can turn in a claim, they can meet with their claim handler, we can use it as a platform to, you know, do something as simple as get out of the rain and do inspections over multiple days at, like, a large claim event. We’ve used the small CAT van for that. But it’s a great resource tool. It really gives customers access into the response and that’s one of the critical things, whether it’s giving our agents access in, or customers access into the response so that they can get the information they need from us.
Kim: Right. And immediately.
Chris: Immediately.
Kim: Yeah, yeah. Amazing. And I know, right, with a lot of catastrophes and it is the property claim, kind of, damages, you know, responses that we’re doing here, I have heard at Claim U there’s drone school, correct? Is that… That’s a skill that our property reps have.
Chris: It is.
Kim: Yeah. Can you talk about that? Are they becoming drone certified pilots?
Chris: It is. So, you have to be certified by the FAA to fly a drone commercially.
Kim: Yup. Okay.
Chris: And so, we have a training curriculum, a program, by which our claim handlers and risk control professionals can go through and become certified to fly drones commercially and then they’ll take the test. They get licensed by the FAA, or certified by the FAA, and then they follow, they have to file flight plans and they, when they’re using drones in the field. We do hear about some of our competitor drone programs. You know, I think, probably, our thought is, they may be more like a drone team or a drone vendor. I don’t think anyone is doing what we’re doing, which is really replacing, or augmenting, the ladder in the trunk of the car with a drone for individual claim handlers and risk control professionals to use on claims. We don’t think anyone is in large-scale doing that. And we think it, quite frankly, makes us the leader in that space.
Kim: So, if somebody is interested in working in claim at Travelers, right, they’re thinking about becoming an auto rep, a property rep, you know, what would you tell them? You know, what advice would you give to somebody who might start at Claim U?
Chris: Yeah. I think it’s interesting. So, you know, I think, I think our investments in facilities like Claim U, the Risk Control Lab, our CAT response, are really tangible examples of our commitment to the Travelers Promise, right? To be there for our customers, for our communities and for each other. Right? It’s a, you know, when we respond to catastrophe events, it’s really, we’re supporting the offices, we’re supporting our customers and the communities impacted. And because that promise is woven into the entire enterprise, our claim handlers that have gone through the classes at Claim University, you know, hundreds, maybe thousands, of them have moved up through the ranks of the teams in the field, the claim teams in the field, and at home office and really to all corners of the enterprise. And so, I’d say that it really is the doorway to any career that you would want at Travelers. So, you know, handling, you know, front line, customer-facing interactions, learning to deliver on that promise in face-to-face or over the phone with the customer, and that’s what you learn at Claim University, I think is the foundation for really any career that you would want at Travelers.
Kim: Yeah, yeah, a lot of space to go from there. Yeah. Now, personal question for you, Chris. I know we were talking before this episode, and you had mentioned our Military/Veteran & Allies Diversity Network (MVADN). I know you used to be Chair, correct? And you have that past military experience. Can you talk about the MVADN and, kind of, your involvement there and, kind of a follow-up for how military might fit into the catastrophe world. I have an idea.
Chris: Okay. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up. I was honored to serve multiple years in the leadership team of the Military/Veterans & Allies Diversity Network and was the immediate past Chair, Co-Chair, or Chair for the organization. The MVADN is, it’s a big organization. It really does help a lot of people. We have 82 leaders, more than 3,000 members in 43 locations across the country. And I’m going off statistics that are probably a year old at this point. So, I’m sure it’s bigger than that, right? As you see that. And we have found that there is a real ability to translate the skill set, the professionalism, the empathy that we see in a lot of retiring or transitioning service members who are coming into the private sector and identifying really terrific career and job opportunities for them as claim handlers and as investigators and, you know, across the board, risk control engineers, you know, as they develop and develop new skill sets or build on the skill sets that they learned and the leadership skills that they had in the, that they learned in the military. I feel, you know, personally, for me, that a lot of the, you know, sort of, self-discipline and the leadership skills I had, you know, Were, they’re really, you know…
Kim: Transferable.
Chris: I built a foundation on that in the military and have been able to build on that you know, in the private sector. It’s different. You know, managing people is different in the military than it is in the private sector. But there’s this, sort of, core that you can build on and I think that we see that in a lot of the leaders who have prior military experience. You see that sort of foundation.
Kim: Yeah. So, claim provides a lot of those, kind of, opportunities to transfer skills from the military over.
Chris: We definitely have seen a lot of that. Yeah. And had a lot of success.
Kim: Yeah. Amazing. I mean, you’re a prime example. You’ve been at Travelers a little while. I think you might like it. Excellent. Chris, we talked about a lot today. Is there anything that we didn’t talk about that you think is important to mention? Whether that be about, you know, military background, Claim U, anything else that we didn’t touch on?
Chris: You know, I think you hit on it a little bit in the last question, too. And that’s really how truly fortunate, you know, I think I have been, you know, to have had a career. You know, I found it rewarding, challenging every day. I think one of the great things about our industry, and maybe about claim in particular as well, is that because we insure every part of the economy there is a never-ending need to learn and grow and develop and learn more and be curious and challenge yourself to learn more. I find that I like to think that I challenge myself to learn something new every single day. I think it makes it interesting. It, you know, it keeps you coming back, you know, every day, even on the days that are difficult. But that real reward, I really do feel honored to have been able to, you know, develop and have such a, you know, such a broad, you know, career and been able to help so many customers or help people develop, really, really feel honored.
Kim: That’s awesome. And I’m honored to have you on the show. So, thank you for being here. You know, when I think of Claim U, Chris, I’m like, if Claim University had a sports team, Chris Day would be the coach, the GM and maybe the mascot. I’m like, you are the guy.
Chris: Well, I’ll definitely volunteer to be the mascot, to do that. No, thank you.
Kim: Well, thank you for being here. You know, if, if listeners are interested in learning more about Claim University, our claim roles, visit us at travelers.com/careers. Chris, if we tag you on the social post on LinkedIn, can folks connect with you?
Chris: Oh, they definitely can. Yeah, I’m on it.
Kim: Okay. We’re going to make you an influencer out there.
Chris: Excellent.
Kim: We’ll tag you. Well thanks, Chris. Thanks for being here. And thanks to our listeners for tuning in and we’ll be back soon with another episode for you. Take care.
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Guiding Careers, Building Connections: Hina Bennett’s Story of Mentorship
Since 2010, Travelers has partnered with American Corporate Partners (ACP), a national nonprofit dedicated to helping returning veterans and military spouses transition into the civilian workforce. Through one-on-one mentoring, networking, and online career advice, ACP empowers veterans to discover their next career. Together, we’ve supported over 900 life-changing mentorships for post-9/11 veterans. Hina Bennett, an AVP in Business Transformation at Travelers, is one of the experienced ACP mentors making an impact. In her role, she oversees transformation and information technology projects while leading a team of more than 100 people. She’s also a dedicated career coach, committed to helping veterans succeed.
Hina shares her perspective on mentoring, the meaningful connections it creates, and how her own experience has shaped her professionally.
Guiding Careers, Building Connections: Hina Bennett’s Story of Mentorship
By Hina Bennett
AVP, Business Transformation, Travelers
I have had the honor of mentoring service members, military spouses and veterans through Travelers’ partnership with American Corporate Partners for the past 14 years.
When I initially decided to sign up for the ACP program, I had little to no knowledge of what I was getting into or how my efforts would impact someone’s life. I’ve always had an affinity for social work, community connections and giving back. This opportunity was intriguing and just…different, so I figured I should give it a shot and see where the journey took me.
I started reading all the materials ACP provided as guidance and familiarized myself with the process in anticipation of my first mentorship. Admittedly, I was somewhat nervous about the engagement, wondering what I would possibly say to an active military member or a Veteran. What could we possibly have in common, and what would we talk about – me having spent double-digit years in insurance and tech in an office setting, while my protégés were coming out of combat, a battalion or marine forces? I learned very quickly that the valuable experiences we were sharing in our conversations were a two-way street to learning.
Fast forward to multiple years of mentorships, I found these relationships so utterly rewarding that no matter how busy my work schedule or personal life got, I kept picking up new protégés. Each protégé offered something unique in their profile, whether it was helping them refresh their resume and navigate the job market, helping translate military experience to civilian life or simply assisting in organizing their thinking through upcoming changes in their personal life and career path. Proud moments of immense achievement for me were when, under my guidance, my protégés landed jobs at companies like Microsoft, Meta, Oracle and other Fortune 100 companies. Owing to the immaculate discipline and work ethic military personnel possess, this was no surprise.
All these conversations were fully virtual, as none of my protégés were in close proximity to Minnesota or Connecticut, which would be convenient meeting places for me. One such mentorship started when my protégé was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. We would need to meet either very early in the mornings or very late in the evenings to accommodate time differences. As a Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Expeditionary Strike Group-7 – US Navy, my protégé was nearing retirement after 20 years at age 41. Based on his senior military experience and top-level security clearance, he was looking to launch into a full corporate career in a related field and needed guidance on career paths in organizational leadership with a strong link to technology and cybersecurity. Originally from Guam and with a Japanese wife, he really hoped he would land a job in Hawaii so he could be close to family and the mainland U.S. as well.
He managed to land a role in Honolulu contracting through Peraton as a Senior Naval C4 Planner, consulting to re-org Marine Forces Pacific. We continued to connect throughout his relocation and transition out of the military into the new role.
After 14 years of mentoring Veterans, I had the surreal experience of meeting him recently in Honolulu while I was vacationing with my family in Hawaii. We arranged to meet at a local quaint Hawaiian coffee shop and chatted for a couple of hours about kids, family, life in Hawaii, and where he would go next in his career. I had previously introduced my husband (who is an Aerospace engineer) to him as well to help him network within the Aerospace industry while job searching. So I brought my husband along, who was also very eager to meet him. They both had a lot in common!
Words cannot describe the joy I felt shaking his hand in person and thanking him for his service. As we parted ways, we also assured him that we would host him and his family any time he wants to experience snow in the North! I will be sure to keep in touch.
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Travelers Awarded Code Platoon’s 2024 Partner of The Year
Travelers recently had the honor of being named Code Platoon’s 2024 Partner of the Year, an award given to a company whose leadership significantly advances Code Platoon’s mission to empower the military community to transition into civilian careers in software engineering.
It’s no secret that military veterans and spouses often face challenges transitioning into civilian professions and finding lasting careers. With the help of Code Platoon—a coding bootcamp that teaches software development skills to veterans and their spouses—Travelers has helped bridge that gap.
Over the past year, Travelers has hired several Code Platoon graduates who went on to complete the Travelers Engineering Development Program (EDP), equipping them with the tools and confidence to find meaningful roles within Travelers’ Technology & Analytics department.
The EDP offers four distinct engineering tracks: Software, Cyber, Data and Infrastructure, and Cloud. Upon completing each track, participants hone their technical and self-leadership skills, preparing them for successful careers in technology.
“I think the EDP is a good fit for Code Platoon graduates because it provides a robust, structured training approach,” explained Bruce Soltys, VP of Emerging Talent and Talent Acquisition at Travelers. “Within your assigned track, your experience includes a combination of hands-on opportunities, immersive learning accelerators, and a mentoring program to prepare you for a dynamic career at Travelers.”
With over a century of experience helping veterans transition into the workforce, Travelers recognizes the unique talents these professionals bring, which are highly transferable to civilian careers. “I believe that transitioning out of the military brings a sense of uncertainty—and Code Platoon helped me adjust, to say the least,” shared Suhail Hameed, EDP Software Engineer at Travelers, US Marine Corps Veteran, and Code Platoon alum.
At Travelers, more than 1,000 current and former military professionals have found meaningful, lasting careers. Since 2020, increased hiring initiatives have resulted in the employment of over 300 military spouses in portable careers.
“I work with Travelers now because I started at Code Platoon, and the sky is the limit for me,” stated Chris Rances, EDP Software Engineer at Travelers, US Army Veteran, and Code Platoon alum. “I’m really glad that I am here now, and it all started because I went with Code Platoon.”
Watch the full video to learn more about Travelers’ Code Platoon 2024 Partner of the Year Award.
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Life at Travelers Podcast Ep.2 – Career Development
Kim: Welcome, everybody, to our second episode of the Life at Travelers podcast. I’m here today with my guest, Ellen Vyce. She is a career development expert and we’re so excited to have her. I’m going to pick her brain all about career growth at Travelers and what that means. Ellen, why don’t you introduce yourself?
Ellen: Yeah. Great. Thanks, Kim. My name is Ellen Vyce, and I’m a Senior Consultant in Enterprise Talent Management.
Kim: Awesome. Well, thank you for being here.
Ellen: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Kim: And talking all about career development with me, but before we get to career development at Travelers as a whole, I want to talk about you.
Ellen: Yeah.
Kim: So you have, kind of, quite the journey from starting, you know, as an intern at Travelers all the way through to, you know, working here full-time and working in Enterprise Talent Management. So, how did you first find out about Travelers?
Ellen: Yeah. Good question. So, my dad has actually worked at Travelers for about 23 years now.
Kim: Wow.
Ellen: So, growing up, you know, it was always a household name. So, I have always been familiar with Travelers, the Travelers Championship, the red umbrella was everywhere. So, when it came time to thinking about, you know, potential first jobs and careers, Travelers was at the very top of my list from early on.
Kim: That’s great. And what did you major in in college?
Ellen: I majored in industrial organizational psychology.
Kim: Wow. Okay. What does that mean?
Ellen: Basically, workplace psychology, very closely related to human resources, but more so the behavioral side.
Kim: Gotcha. Okay, so, so when you interned at Travelers, what did you focus on for project work?
Ellen: Yeah. So, the majority of my internship at Travelers focused on building out the career path and job family for the agile deliveries job family. So, I was working on putting together the experiences and the different career options for that job family specifically.
Kim: Yep.
Ellen: So even as an intern, I was working on career development focused work.
Kim: That’s awesome. Okay and so that was just agile delivery but this was happening across every job family?
Ellen: Primarily tech and ops, but yeah, throughout all of Travelers, a lot of job families were going through some restructuring at the time, and that was the one that I was tasked with, kind of, re-orging and figuring out. Let’s see, if I’m a scrum master, where should I go next? What are the skills and experiences needed to help me get there?
Kim: Yep. And did you feel like your internship at Travelers, did it bring your education into the experience? You know, did you walk away feeling like that real-world experience was valuable?
Ellen: Absolutely. It really put things into perspective for me and allowed me to take what I learned in grad school and apply it to my internship. And a lot of the terminology was the same. A lot of the concepts were directly applicable to each other. And I felt even more capable and ready to go back to grad school in between my internship and my school time because Travelers had prepared me really well to be able to take that knowledge back and apply it to my degree.
Kim: That’s great. That’s great. And was your, your master’s degree, was that in the same major you had?
Ellen: It was, yeah.
Kim: Alright, so you went all the way through a master’s.
Ellen: I did.
Kim: You loved it.
Ellen: I really did. It’s such an interesting field and so much of what we learn about in industrial organizational psychology is directly applicable to talent management. You’re thinking about, you know, what can we do to retain our talent? What can we do to ensure our talent is continuously learning and growing? And overall, making the workplace a better place to be.
Kim: That’s great. That is awesome and congratulations, all the way through master’s.
Ellen: Yeah, thanks.
Kim: That’s something to be proud of for sure. So, post-grad, found your way back to Travelers.
Ellen: I did.
Kim: What was it about Travelers that brought you back?
Ellen: Honestly, the rotational nature of the leadership development program that I was in, the Human Resources Leadership Development Program.
Kim: Yeah.
Ellen: Knowing that Travelers valued careers so much and a lot of continuous learning, the leadership development program was a no-brainer for me. Through the leadership development program, I got to rotate through four areas of human resources over the course of a three-year period.
Kim: Okay.
Ellen: So I got to spend time in Talent Acquisition, Compensation, Employee Relations and Talent Management, which is where I landed.
Kim: Wow. Okay, so you got a taste of, like, every part of human resources.
Ellen: Indeed. Yeah.
Kim: And leadership development programs, there’s more than just HR. There’s several.
Ellen: There are eight, I believe.
Kim: Wow. Okay. And that was something that you applied directly to?
Ellen: Exactly. Yes. As result of the internship that is through the HRLDP, they also offer the full-time program, so, as soon as I got a taste of the internship, I knew that I wanted to come back full-time as a full-time participant.
Kim: That’s awesome. And I know it has a rotational nature, like you explained, but outside of the experience in LDP, is there, you know, is there work and play? You know, is there networking opportunities, team bonding, like, what happens outside of the day-to-day?
Ellen: Yeah, I think the leadership development programs are, kind of, the best of all worlds combined. You get not only the, you know, rotations and you get exposure to various lines of business, various leaders, but you also get to interact with other LDPs across the place. So, you can interact with Finance Leadership Development Program folks or Business Insights and Analytics Leadership Development Program folks.
Kim: Yeah.
Ellen: And yeah, you really get to put yourself out there and join different committees. And you get to network a lot. So, you know, a lot of us become friends outside of the program as well. So, it’s a really holistic experience.
Kim: That’s great. And then when you join full-time, it’s like you have a whole community already.
Ellen: Absolutely. Yeah.
Kim: Oh, that’s wonderful. And you said you landed in talent management?
Ellen: Indeed.
Kim: Okay, so what do you do now? What’s your day-to-day and what’s your team like?
Ellen: Yeah. So, in Enterprise Talent Management I’m primarily responsible for our top talent practices. So, think talent pools, think talent review, think succession planning in addition to career and leadership development.
Kim: Okay. And is your team small, large?
Ellen: Yeah. Enterprise Talent Management is about 12 to 13 people right now. Yep.
Kim: Yep.
Ellen: My immediate team is three. So, we’re small but mighty. We’ve got a lot going on, a lot of really exciting work.
Kim: That’s great. So, can you talk to me about some of those initiatives that your team works on for career development at Travelers?
Ellen: Yeah, absolutely. Right now, we have a really great platform that employees can use that is driven by AI and it will provide mentorship matches, it will provide available job matches and even some learning courses for employees to take based on employee skill sets, what they’ve entered as an interest or development area.
Kim: Okay and so, so this is geared toward all employees, right? Not just… Like, growing in your area or growing into a different space, it works either way?
Ellen: Absolutely. It’s actually great for both employees, whether you’re looking for a new opportunity or looking to grow in your current role, there’s really something for everyone at all levels.
Kim: That’s awesome. So career development is really a priority at Travelers, you’d say?
Ellen: It absolutely is. We’ve heard from Alan saying that our talent is our greatest asset, which means our people are our greatest asset. So, investing in our people and their career development is 100% a priority for the place.
Kim: Yeah. That’s great. I love to hear it. It’s, you know, it’s something that… You don’t know, you know, where you’re, where it’s going to take you when you start at a company and it just sounds like not only through your experience, but through the work that you do, exposure, right? Exposure to the different places in Travelers because it’s huge. There’s so many places you can go.
Ellen: There really are. And, you know, one way that employees are able to continue exploring what might be available is through our Map Your Career process. Which is the Travelers framework for career development.
Kim: Okay.
Ellen: Those four phases of map your career are explore, identify, plan and act and each one of those phases allows employees to focus on a different piece of the career development journey.
Kim: Yeah.
Ellen: So, you know, that was created to help our employees really explore what’s out there, hone their skills and get ready for whatever’s next.
Kim: Yeah, because I know in episode one, when I was talking to Brianna, she cited, you know, we have pilots, we have nurses, we have chemists. You know, I mean, you and I work in HR, right? And it’s yeah, it’s really amazing. And I think what you just laid out right there, map your career, it sounds, like, structured but simple, right?
Ellen: Absolutely. It’s meant to be a repeatable process for employees. You know, you learn the process once and then you’re able to go back and use it as needed as you continue along your own career development journey.
Kim: Yeah. Yeah. Repeatable, right? That’s a great resource. So, for folks listening to this episode right now who are potential candidates for us, right? They might be interested in working at Travelers. What would you tell somebody who was interested in working at Travelers?
Ellen: Yeah, I’d probably tell them quite a few things. But, the first thing that I tell them is to really invest the time getting to know the job that you’re applying for.
Kim: Yep.
Ellen: Read through that job description, think about the skills and experiences that you have and the skills and experiences necessary for the role that you’re applying for. And, you know, if there’s something that’s missing, think about how you can go about closing that gap and, you know, seek out some mentors to help you close that gap before you apply. And once you get here, we’ve got plenty of resources for you to help grow your career.
Kim: Yeah, I know, it’s like, now we’re at the point, I feel like where somebody could read a Travelers job description and think, okay, this is just where I’m starting, though.
Ellen: Yes. Oh, yes. It’s really just the ground floor and then, the sky’s the limit for employees now. Whether it’s, like I said, growing in your current role or exploring future leadership roles, we’ve got it all.
Kim: Yeah. That’s great. Ellen, thank you so much. Is there anything today that we didn’t cover that you feel is important to say?
Ellen: I don’t think so. I think we’ve covered it.
Kim: Okay. Good stuff. Alright. Well, well, thank you for being here today. And I’m sure you’ll be a resource to plenty of our listeners. If they connect with you on LinkedIn, is that okay?
Ellen: Absolutely.
Kim: Okay.
Ellen: Ellen Vyce on LinkedIn.com that’s me.
Kim: Alright, alright. Awesome. We will, we’ll definitely tag you in the social post.
Ellen: Thank you so much for having me.
Kim: Absolutely.
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My Travelers Journey – Chris Munoko
Taking care of our customers, our communities and each other is Chris Munoko’s middle name (literally). That name — Mobunda, in Chris’ native Kikongo— translates to “he who puts others’ needs in front of his.”
“I’m a caring person by nature, so The Travelers Promise encapsulates what I love most about this company,” says Chris.
Chris relocated from the Democratic Republic of Congo — where his parents and two of his six siblings still live — in 2016, when he became a student at the University of Wisconsin River Falls. Several of his computer science classmates had internships at Travelers, and Chris noticed how much they had grown and learned over the summer. So when a friend recommended Chris for a job at Travelers just after graduation, he jumped at the chance, and was hired into its Technology Foundational Development Program , which has been renamed the Engineer Development Program.
Now, as an Associate Software Engineer, Chris has helped the CAT Tech Team transform third-party and on-premise applications to internal apps hosted in the AWS Cloud, including the Catalyst Underwriter, which estimates losses from natural or man-made catastrophes. He gained experience with AWS Cloud on the job and went on to get AWS certified.
Day-to-day, Chris provides ongoing support for the workflow automation and catalyst underwriter apps after they launch. “Good is not good enough. I always try to find a way to use customers’ feedback to create features that make the user experience better.”
He also loves sharing knowledge with others; helping people get over hurdles to get into the cloud journey and achieve their goals.
Moving applications to production is a rewarding accomplishment: “It makes me stop and think, ‘Oh, wow, this thing we have been building for two years, it’s working and people are using it!’”
Outside of work, Chris loves spending time with his wife, Kaitlyn, who he met in college. He also enjoys watching and playing soccer, and he’s an anime afficionado, with a particular fondness for Naruto, Dragon Ball Z and Bleach — noting that these hobbies have taught him the importance of teamwork, the will to never give up, and the drive to strive for excellence.
With these values in mind, it’s no wonder that Chris also dedicates spare time to learning more about coding.
“I have always been fascinated by technology and how we can use it to impact today’s society. And, now as a Travelers employee, I get to see how we can use technology to push our business to new heights.”
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WHO WE ARE.
Embracing Accessibility: Kathryn Weber-Hottleman’s Journey of Advocacy and Support at Travelers
The Travelers Promise is to take care for our customers, communities, and each other. One of the best ways to demonstrate this is by sharing employee stories that highlight the work, experiences, and spirit that bring our Promise to life every day.
Kathryn Weber-Hottleman, a Senior Accessibility Lead in Personal Insurance, began her Travelers career over a year ago. In her role, she focuses solely on the digital accessibility of Travelers’ products used by customers, agents, and employees.
“To have an accessible product at the end means that any user with a disability can access our user experiences without needing any additional help,” said Kathryn. “For example, users who may be blind or who have low vision, might use screen readers. Basically, it reads all the text of a site out loud to you so you can hear whatever a sighted user is seeing.”
What makes Kathryn and her position unique is that accessibility is important not only in her role but also in her personal life. Since her late teens, Kathryn has lived with congenital back issues that impact her comfort while sitting and standing, requiring workplace accommodations.
“I spent over a year in physical therapy wearing back braces on pain medication. It was a lot. This kind of thing doesn’t just go away – it stays with you for the rest of your life. And then it still impacted me once I got into the working world.”
Even before joining Travelers, Kathryn built her career in disability services, where she often advocated for accommodations and accessibility for others. Despite this, she found it challenging to advocate for herself and ask for the chairs or desks that would make her work day more comfortable.
“It made me think that how sad is this? That I’m creating this environment for others, and I don’t believe in it for me. So, it made me think a lot about stigma and the stigma that we have around disabilities and asking for the support that we need as individuals with disabilities.”
When Kathryn came to Travelers, she faced the same personal challenge of asking for accommodations, and initially found workarounds. However, when her manager became aware, she advocated on Kathryn’s behalf, ensuring that getting the right chair was a priority.
“It wasn’t just me advocating for myself anymore – it was my manager and she followed up with everyone required until a new chair was sitting at my desk. It was an amazing experience to have somebody else advocating for me so strongly.”
Kathryn’s experience emphasized the importance of being open about her needs and asking for help without fearing stigma.
“Self-identification is the first step in receiving accommodations. In this case was not just me checking that box for H.R. saying, yes, you have a disability. It was also talking to my manager about it and having her on my side,” Kathryn said. “Finding that I had that support not just in my organization but in my own unit and with my direct manager made me feel like this is a natural part of being part of the Travelers community.”
Through her work in digital accessibility, Kathryn embodies the Travelers Promise. She’s also experienced it firsthand through the compassion and support of her team and the broader community.
“I love having time carved out of our day to day to go engage with the people around us. Travelers isn’t something that just separates itself from the whole rest of the community. Travelers really takes time to invest where we are,” said Kathryn.
“We’re trying to develop this community where people can feel comfortable sharing any part of their identity. So, in my case, sharing that I have a disability and finding such strong support to get what I needed to thrive in this environment.”
Watch the video to hear more of Kathryn’s story.
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WHO WE ARE.
Creating Career Opportunities For Military Spouses
Military families often face unique challenges, including frequent relocations, disrupted careers, and the need to rebuild support systems. For many military spouses, these challenges also include difficulty in maintaining stable employment.
“When an employer knows that you are part of a military family, they understand that you’re not going to be staying there long,” said Vicky Egli, Regional Director, Claim Account Executives. “So, they’re hesitant to hire you, which means that the good jobs, the ones that develop into a career, aren’t always available.”
At Travelers, we recognize the unique skills that military spouses bring—such as problem-solving, decision-making, and empathy—qualities that are invaluable in roles involving customers and brokers. Since launching our robust hiring efforts in 2020, Travelers has provided more than 300 military spouses with portable and lasting career opportunities.
Our latest video follows six Travelers military spouses as they share how they have found opportunity, stability, and community across the company.
“It means so much to have a company that cares enough about this community to create a home for us in a world where otherwise we’re kind of just left out on our own and forgotten,” said Lauralee Lambert, Personal Insurance Underwriter.
Travelers’ commitment to military spouses goes beyond providing jobs; it offers the connection of a supportive community of military spouses, fostering camaraderie and understanding both professionally and personally.
“It’s been a privilege to connect with other military spouses throughout Travelers,” said Jordan Reynolds, Senior Insurance Service Representative. “Having that support system has been the best.”
Watch the full video to hear firsthand from Travelers military spouses, Jennifer, Lauralee, Vicky, Ebonii, Jordan, and Maria.
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Life at Travelers Podcast Ep.1 – Tips from a Recruiter
Kim: Welcome, everybody, to our first Life at Travelers podcast. I have my guest, Brianna Sacerdote, here with me today. She’s a recruiter at Travelers. Bri, thanks for being here.
Brianna: Thanks for having me.
Kim: Of course. I’m going to be, kind of, picking your brain. A lot of questions that we’ve gathered from social media, from our potential candidates, real candidates. So, we’re going to dive deep. You ready?
Brianna: I’m ready. I’m looking forward to it.
Kim: Alright. Awesome. So first, I would just want to, you know, have you explain your role here at Travelers and how you got here.
Brianna: Yeah. So, I’m currently a Senior Recruiter, and I recruit for the Upper Midwest Claim Center. So, all positions within Claim, ranging from trainees to experienced claim representatives. And I started in the PI (Personal Insurance) Call Center back in 2016, networked and held another role in Employee Relations, and ultimately started job shadowing in Talent Acquisition. So, that’s how I got where I am, and it’s been great ever since.
Kim: How long have you been at Travelers?
Brianna: Since 2016. So, eight years?
Kim: Eight years? Yeah. Wow. That’s awesome.
Brianna: I know. It’s gone by so fast.
Kim: So, getting into the nitty gritty of recruiting and your day-to-day, what are the first things that you look at on a resume?
Brianna: So, for me, a resume needs to be visually appealing. So, without even looking at their experience, I want to make sure it looks visually appealing. I look at format, neatness, make sure all the verb tenses are in the right tense. So, if your current job, we want your current job to say all current and present tenses and all prior jobs to say past. So, I look for that, if you have periods, we want to make sure all the periods are there throughout the resume. But I’m not that, I’m not picky if it’s not that consistent. I really want to get to the nitty gritty of what experience they have, and if they could be a good fit for the position that we’re hiring for. Especially if it’s an experienced role.
Kim: So, formatting-wise, if it’s over a page, are there any kind of, like, you know, details you’re looking for there? Should it be one page? Are multiple pages okay? How short should it be?
Brianna: Yeah. That’s the common misconception is that resumes have to be a page. And that’s, that’s not the thing. I mean, people have a bunch of experience
that they want to include on their resume so, I usually recommend anywhere between 2 to 3 is a good, sweet spot. Sometimes five is just way too long and like, you know, we’re clicking back into the resume pages to really see what, where they’re coming from. So, I think 2 to 3 is the sweet spot, but also, tailor it, you know, tailor it to the job you’re applying for. If it’s, if you have experience on there beyond ten years, maybe start to take things away. That’s not always necessary to include.
Kim: So, my camp counselor job from ten years ago could probably go.
Brianna: Yes, that can definitely go.
Kim: Okay, okay.
Brianna: But it could be a skill. That’s cool that you did something like that. Like, we like to see cool skills as well.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: Yeah.
Kim: And, and at the top, you know, that objective statement or summary that some folks include, is that important because we’re also submitting a cover letter, you know, what pieces are important there?
Brianna: Yeah. So, the summary I usually recommend it’s not, it’s not important or required unless it’s a very specific, unique job that you want to call out a certain experience level then fine, but I want to get to right to the experience and see what you’re coming with. So, typically it’s not required.
Kim: So, work experience and skills are really top of mind.
Brianna: And education.
Kim: And education. Got it. Okay. And, you know, for the cover letter, because a lot of the time when folks are applying for jobs, it’s required. Is it required at Travelers and, you know, how is it weighted? How important is that?
Brianna: It’s not required to submit an application at Travelers. So, the majority of our applicants do just have a resume. Cover letter is really important for me to see, like, if you’re relocating and you want to let us know that you’re relocating, or if there’s gaps in employment, that gives us an opportunity to see why there’s gaps. If you want to call out, maybe you moved back home for family reasons or something like that, so that’s helpful. Or if you have very specific experience, you want to call out in your cover letter, but otherwise that could be used for your resume, so it’s a hit or miss. It’s not required. I don’t ever, I’m not ever searching for a cover letter when someone submits an application.
Kim: Got it. Okay, so we can use a cover letter for those more personal details.
Brianna: Exactly.
Kim: Okay. Got it. Now, a tip that I’ve heard, from a former recruiter was, you know, talk about accomplishments on your resume versus what you do, right? I remember them saying, if I read your job title, right, I know what you do mostly. So, talk about how you do it and talk about those accomplishments. What is your opinion on that? Should we be putting accomplishments or talking more about our day-to-day?
Brianna: I think a mixture of both is helpful. Like accomplishments as far as if you’re excelling in key metrics in the job you’re performing in, we recommend putting those in your resume. We love numbers, percentages, so definitely include those if you’re excelling in a certain area. But I think a mixture of both is really helpful. You don’t want it all to be accomplishments, you know?
Kim: You don’t want to be too “boasty.”
Brianna: Save that for the interview.
Kim: Yeah, there you go. Okay. So, speaking of interviews, or maybe even a step back before the interview, right? We get together our resume, fill out the application, maybe a cover letter, maybe not, and we send that in. Folks on social media, we see it all the time, you know, there’s memes about it, there’s Reels about it, that the application just goes into a black hole, right? And they’re ghosted or they never hear back. What actually happens at Travelers when somebody submits an application?
Brianna: So, when someone submits an application at Travelers, they are reviewed manually. We don’t have a system where it automatically rejects applicants based off of a word they have or don’t have on their resume. We’re looking at your experience manually. So, a lot of factors go into play. It depends on how long the job’s been posted. If you apply right away, the chances of being considered might be a little bit higher. But sometimes you don’t know if, how long the job’s been posted. Even if it says ten days, it could, that could be inaccurate. It could have been unposted then reposted. So, it is really based off of timing and we try to prioritize as soon as possible, but unfortunately, if you apply late to the game, that’s what might lead to that misconception of a black hole. But we do try to reach out to people as soon as we can.
Kim: Okay. And what is the first step? So, when you do reach out to somebody, kind of, what’s the process look like for them?
Brianna: Yeah. So, we’ll conduct a first initial phone interview. So someone would connect with me, another recruiter on our team and it’d be a lot of those behavioral-type questions. So, definitely recommend folks to come prepared for those. Or we also do more talking about your job. So we just want to, not your job but your experience. We want to hear about your experience, your interest in the position, you know, why? Why Travelers? What about Travelers excites you to leave, to come here, but then to leave your current company? So, it’s more of a ‘get to know you,’ but then also, why are you the right fit for the position as well?
Kim: Okay, so that’s that first step and past that, do they start to meet with the actual team they’d be working with?
Brianna: Yeah. So depending how that goes the team and I will collaborate and then we’ll determine next steps. Usually interviews are on video but a lot of teams are now incorporating a lot of in-person interviews. So, you might go to an office and meet with the hiring team. A lot more behavioral-type questions would be asked during that conversation. So, we really, I try to prep my candidates a lot with those behavioral-type questions because there’s a plethora.
Kim: Okay. Okay so Travelers allows for both in-person interviews and, like, virtual video interviews.
Brianna: Yes.
Kim: Okay. Awesome.
Brianna: And I guess depending on the office and what, you know, it’s dependent across everywhere. But yeah, most offices are incorporating in-person interviews again since COVID because that’s all we used to do.
Kim: Sure. Yeah. I know, life changed so much since then.
Brianna: Yeah.
Kim: And after the interviews, a question we got from social media was, how often do you receive a thank you note, or does a hiring manager receive a thank you note after interviews? And is that important?
Brianna: Yeah, that’s a great question and I actually preach about thank you notes to everybody I talk to. For recruiters, it’s not, I don’t take it as a bad or good thing. If you don’t thank me after a call, it’s really what matters next. So, if you meet with the hiring team and you want to send them a thank you note, we really think that it’s critical. You know, it makes you stand out to the hiring team. You highlight 2 to 3 sentences on why you’re the right candidate for the position, maybe call out a certain level of experience that you have to offer, and it just goes a long way. You might not always get a response from the hiring team, that’s totally normal, but just going that extra step to put yourself out there, let them know you had a great conversation, it does go a long way.
Kim: Now if you don’t hear back, right, on your thank you note, is that because they’re trying to maybe hold back bias or is there something along those lines, or is it more just, right, thank you notes come and go and, you know, what is the response rate and why might they not answer?
Brianna: Honestly, I see more non-response rates. It’s probably because they just don’t want to give any indication. Like if they were to say something like, ‘Oh yeah, it was great meeting you,’ that maybe someone would take that as, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to get the job.’ So, I think they’re really just trying to keep it very high level and neutral.
Kim: Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. That makes sense. So, regarding the interview, some of those hard questions, hard for the candidate to ask, usually around negotiations for salary, benefits. How should a candidate go about asking those questions or can they find that information publicly?
Brianna: Yeah. So, it’s a good mixture of both. So, Travelers I like to think we’re very transparent about putting our benefits out there, what our salary is. Benefits you can find on our Travelers website, so, careers.travelers.com. You can go on there under Life at Travelers, then Benefits tab, all the way at the bottom you’ll see a brochure that you can open up and see all the benefits we have to offer. There’s also a benefit rate calculator that’s on there. So, if you wanted to play and plug and chug information to see how much they’d cost you on average, that’s available.
Kim: Okay.
Brianna: Salary expectations, those are posted on all of our jobs. So, we have a nationwide range, a low all the way to a high number, but it’s not including where any of our candidates are located. So again, it’s nationwide, but you don’t know where your number could fall because we haven’t chatted yet.
Kim: Right.
Brianna: So that comes when you talk to us. One of us recruiters will narrow that down for you a little bit more on what salary we’re going to offer and if it’s in, not exact numbers, but kind of like a range, and if it’s in their range. If it’s not, we ask you to be transparent with us because we would hate to make an offer to you, and then it’s not the number you want. So, we set those expectations very clearly on that initial phone call.
Kim: Okay, so that’s not a taboo subject.
Brianna: No. We’re very transparent and open. It’s a question that we, that we ask you.
Kim: Okay. So other questions outside of salary, benefits, what other questions should a candidate be asking a recruiter? What’s important for them to know that they might not think of?
Brianna: Yeah, those are good questions, too. So, I’ll start with ones that, maybe to avoid with a recruiter. I recommend staying away from the technical kind of questions about the job. Like anything that is very specific about the job, save those for the hiring team. What I do recommend you ask the recruiter, is anything about Travelers, like the culture or career growth, networking opportunities, volunteer opportunities, anything like that is really helpful. If you wanted to talk about the team environment, the team make-up, you know, work flexibility, we will have all that at our fingertips.
Kim: Okay.
Brianna: We feel like we could do every job that we talk about because we talk about it so much but, you know, we’re not that skilled in it. So, we do recommend to keep it more high-level or ask the recruiter, you know, how we got started here, what’s our career journey look like. Same with the hiring team, you know, put the questions on them and what they like most about Travelers.
Kim: Okay and then for the hiring team, it’s more the nitty gritty of the day-to-day of the role.
Brianna: Yeah, because they’re the experts. You know, most managers on the team have done the role themselves. Most. So, you know, I would definitely Save it for them for sure.
Kim: So, from personal experience, I remember people mentioning working at an insurance company. Right? I live near Hartford, insurance capital of the world. Travelers was mentioned and I thought, ‘I’m never going to work for an insurance company,’ right? Sounds boring. Sounds like paperwork. Sounds like there’s just not a role there for me, right? I’m not an underwriter. I’m not in claims. You know, it’s not for me.
Brianna: Right.
Kim: So, you know, we obviously both found our way here, you know, what would you tell folks about the roles we have here? What would people not expect to find as a role at an insurance company?
Brianna: Yeah. And it’s crazy because I didn’t have that idea either that I would work for an insurance company. My dad worked in insurance his whole life, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m not going that route.’ And here I am and, like, loving it, obviously.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: So, a few roles that you wouldn’t expect that we have to offer at Travelers are pilots, we have a couple of private jets, so we would need to hire a pilot for that.
Kim: Right.
Brianna: Nurses, we have nurse case managers mostly in claim. We have architects. We have fitness and wellness instructors, event planners, forensic scientists.
Kim: Wow.
Brianna: Chemists in Risk Control.
Kim: Yep.
Brianna: So, yeah, it’s a wide variety that you wouldn’t think of.
Kim: You just think of, you know, underwriters and claim reps. So, yeah, very interesting.
Brianna: It’s awesome.
Kim: And recruiters.
Brianna: And recruiters for sure. Yeah, the opportunities are endless. It really does not matter what you went to school for. You can find a place for you here.
Kim: Yeah. And is there a lot of movement internally in the company? I know you joined via the call center, right? And now you’re a recruiter. Does that happen a lot?
Brianna: I think it does. And it’s also what you make of it. So, that’s what I tell candidates, too. It’s like, you know, where can I go here? Well it’s really where you want to go. You make the most out of your career. You make that career path for you. You make your own networking opportunities. So, if you wanted to do whatever you want to do, you have that opportunity here. We have so many different people and departments to work with.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: So, yeah.
Kim: We got a question from social media regarding being an undergraduate, right? You’re not currently applying yet. How can folks who are in college now, prepare for a role at Travelers?
Brianna: Yeah, so, there’s a couple different ways that I recommend. I mean, number one, and it’s the most convenient, is attending your college career fairs. I think that’ll give you a wide variety of different companies, maybe what areas you’re interested in, or might not even be aware that you’re interested in yet.
Kim: Right.
Brianna: So, definitely start there. Set up your LinkedIn profile. I’m sure you can talk a lot about LinkedIn.
Kim: Yeah, we talk a lot about LinkedIn.
Brianna: LinkedIn is so important. You can network with people. Start there and you never know who you’ll be connected with. We have tons of internships here, so, just browsing our careers website, seeing if there would be anything you would be interested in after college is helpful. We have so many trainee and entry-level job opportunities so, checking out our website, seeing if they ring a bell to you, and if so, have that be your way in when you graduate or before. Start applying like a month before or something like that.
Kim: Yeah. And I’ve heard you mention networking a lot. Would you say networking is a big part of it?
Brianna: Yeah, networking is huge. I mean, I don’t think I’d be where I am without networking, so, I try to advocate that for everybody else and I try to be that network for other people as well.
Kim: Yeah. So, for folks who are getting ready to, you know, come to Travelers or they’re currently interviewing.
Brianna: Yes.
Kim: We talk about the culture and that sort of thing, but, some of those specific questions, right? Is there a dress code at Travelers?
Brianna: Oh, yeah. So, I think, I think you and I started around the same time in Talent Acquisition. So, it was somewhere around that time they changed the dress code to ‘dress for your day,’ where you were now able to wear jeans and just like, you know, dress for your day. What’s on your calendar that day? Do you have all virtual meetings? Do you know you’re not going to be on camera? Just dress appropriately. If you are meeting new clients or a new team or anything in-person, have an interview, then dress appropriately for that. So, that’s the guidance that we do tell our candidates.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: When they ask about dressing appropriately for work. But there’s no defined, like, you have to wear a business attire every single day. There’s nothing that outlines that.
Kim: Again, it’s just that insurance, kind of, stigma. Right? It’s suits and, yeah, the whole deal.
Brianna: I wear jeans every day.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: So, I mean, yeah. It’s awesome.
Kim: Yep. Okay, awesome. Bri, any cool recruitment stories? I mean, you’ve obviously talked to so many people. Have you had interesting backgrounds or folks, you know, come from, you know, different places and end up where they didn’t think they were or?
Brianna: I have. So, one of them actually, I, someone reached out to me on LinkedIn. I wasn’t even searching for anybody.
Kim: Okay.
Brianna: He reached out to me and told me he applied to a position within Worker’s Comp. So, I spoke to him and we had a great conversation. He ended up getting the job for that position and, before that, though, he’s an ex-police officer, which we do see a lot within claim.
Kim: Wow.
Brianna: A lot of ex-police officers or ones that are retired, want a change in career, they’re interested in Claim because there’s a lot of transferable skills.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: So, he ended up getting a job and then let me know that he got another job in TIS, which is, like, our investigative services.
Kim: Yep.
Brianna: So, it just goes to show that a background in being a police officer can translate to Claim, but then also the investigative team. And I’m sure he never expected to work at an insurance company during his career. So, that was pretty cool.
Another one, one person I hired, he applied for, I believe, a Property Trainee position, which are very common entry-level positions. And he, the day I called him to extend the offer, he got told that his job was getting, like, eliminated or realigned. Something along those lines.
Kim: Yep.
Brianna: And it was going to be effective on our start date. So, he was like really emotional that we offered him the job effective the day that his job was going to change and it was just a really cool opportunity.
Kim: Yeah, that eased his mind there.
Brianna: Yeah.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: It really eased his mind and you just, it makes you, like, really appreciative of the work that we’re doing and, you know, it goes a long way.
My last one is cool. I went to this local gym in town and the woman I worked out with, I never knew that her husband applied to a job that I screened him for, and it was a great conversation. He ended up getting the job. I never met him, but I saw him at a local grocery store and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the guy I hired.’ So, it was really cool, full circle to see him.
Kim: Yes.
Brianna: In person. And he’s thriving and he’s been here for a couple of years but, like, you would never expect someone you work out with to now have their husband working at the same like, so.
Kim: There are just folks from Travelers in your local community.
Brianna: Yeah, just a small world. You just realize how small of a world it is.
Kim: Totally.
Brianna: So, so many opportunities is the main point.
Kim: Yeah, during COVID, I had signed up to grocery shop for an elderly couple.
Brianna: Oh yeah, I remember that.
Kim: Yeah, and, I think I had been delivering groceries to them for maybe a month before we talked and the woman I was literally giving groceries to was a Travelers retiree.
Brianna: That’s crazy.
Kim: It was just a wild story. And, yeah, so, we bonded pretty hard over that, after that point.
Brianna: Oh, that’s awesome.
Kim: They still email me now and they’re like, you know, ‘How’s Travelers? It’s been five years but, you know.’ So yeah, I agree, it’s a small world.
Brianna: It is.
Kim: It’s a tight network.
Brianna: It really is. And everyone knows us. So it’s awesome.
Kim: Absolutely. So, personal question for you.
Brianna: Yeah.
Kim: You’re sitting here with me. You are seven months pregnant right now?
Brianna: Yeah. Six, seven.
Kim: Six, seven months. Okay, so, and you already have a little one at home.
Brianna: I do, my daughter.
Kim: And you had her while you were at Travelers? Is that correct?
Brianna: I did.
Kim: So this is your second time, going through a pregnancy while working at Travelers.
Brianna: Yeah.
Kim: What is it like, you know, being a mom at Travelers? What support do you have? And your maternity leave, your team, all that sort of stuff?
Brianna: It is. It’s truly awesome. I never feel like I’m not supported. My management, leadership, I just feel so supported and I cannot imagine being in this situation anywhere else.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: You know, obviously with kids, things come up, they get sick, daycare closes. We have to be flexible, so, the work arrangement, the flexibility, is amazing for us. The three days in the office, two days from home, it’s super nice. We just implemented, I think within the last two years or so, a new diversity network called Working Parents and Caregivers (& Allies) and I’m a part of that, which is awesome, but you don’t have to be a parent or a caregiver to be a part of it. It’s just for you to come to and be supported.
Kim: Be an ally as well.
Brianna: Yeah, and be an ally. We have speakers come from the hospital, Hartford Hospital, to talk about just daily things parents go through and ways to cope with it.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: So, I just feel really supported in that sense because we have another group here who is focusing in on that now.
Kim: Yeah.
Brianna: I think we need that.
Kim: You have your village at work, too.
Brianna: Yeah you have your village, other other moms on my team, obviously dads, so, we’re all going through the same stuff and it’s so nice to be a part of it here.
Kim: That’s awesome. I’m so glad to hear it and congrats on the upcoming baby.
Brianna: Thank you. We’re so excited.
Kim: We’ll miss you while you’re on maternity leave.
Brianna: I know, I’ll miss you guys.
Kim: But, we’ll be excited. We need pictures, so, send them our way.
Brianna: Alright. Definitely will.
Kim: Bri, anything else that, you know, we didn’t cover today? Kind of, like, more informally that you think we should, candidates should know? Or do you think we, kind of, covered the gamut?
Brianna: I do, I think we covered everything, but, Travelers is, the opportunities truly are endless. And I say that all the time on LinkedIn, like, to check out this job. The opportunities are endless. It’s true, I’m an example of that. I’ve started in the call center and here I am recruiting. You would never think that those two correlate, But, if you’re looking for something or you just want to grow and have a lifelong career, I mean, this is the place. So. Yeah, I have nothing but good things to say.
Kim: Well, thanks for being here and, for our listeners, can they connect with you on LinkedIn if they want to know more? Okay.
Brianna: It’s under Brianna Sacerdote, so.
Kim Okay.
Brianna: I look forward to getting a bunch of requests.
Kim: Alright. Awesome. We’re going to make you an influencer.
Brianna: Thank you. I hope so. Thanks for having me.
Kim: Thank you.
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WHO WE ARE.
My Travelers Journey – Anna Daley
A Path of Perseverance, Leading to Cybersecurity Excellence at Travelers
Anna Daley, AVP, Data and Application Security at Travelers, took risks to find her place in the world, then found her career home protecting others from risk.
When Anna immigrated from Poland at age 20, she put herself through college by waiting tables. “America was seen as a place where opportunities are endless, and all you need to do is work hard and persevere to be successful in life and have a bright future.”
Although Anna had never seen a computer growing up in Poland, she instantly discovered joy in technology and found great reward in writing programs that helped people do their jobs. She was hired to write a data loss prevention program for a friend’s company – her first foray into cybersecurity. She took to it instantly, and from there, Anna was hired to create the entire security program for a local start-up company.
When Anna joined Travelers in claim – she has never looked back. In fact, she only wishes she had found Travelers sooner.
“I love the work I do. We are using tech to simplify our cybersecurity, making it easier for people to do their jobs. And I love that Travelers is a very caring company, generously giving to the community and invested in employees’ growth and happiness. Diversity is highly valued and supported here, and Travelers puts a lot of energy into developing and promoting women.”
After creating and implementing a risk and security program for a large Travelers business unit, including a multi-year strategy, she went all-in, earning a master’s degree in cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity is what truly captured her interest, and her wealth of IT knowledge gave her a unique advantage in understanding and avoiding cybersecurity pitfalls. Fully understanding risks requires an understanding of how web applications are built, how information travels through systems, and how everything is connected and works together.
“Cybersecurity and technology are evolving at a rapid pace. It’s really intriguing to me – there is always something exciting to learn about. Travelers enables my professional development by providing the latest technologies and tools, whether it is for application development or security concepts.”
As a leader in Travelers’ Cybersecurity team, Anna is implementing new cutting-edge product development tools that will be used by the entire engineering community to both identify and repair vulnerabilities while simplifying the engineering experience.
“It’s a great opportunity to make an impact on a large scale, on something very important: preventing security issues. It feels wonderful to give people a tool that they can use every day, to make sure that the product is sound from the time they start writing the code to the time they push it to production.”
As Travelers transitions more technology to the cloud, enhancing its service offerings, Anna is making sure that its systems and information remain secure.
“The cloud brings in new areas of focus from a security perspective, but also provides a powerful functionality.”
To supplement her on-the-job learning, Anna studies tech trends in her spare time and stays closely connected with peers.
She is also an active member of T200, a national community of women in tech that was co-founded by Mojgan Lefebvre, EVP and Chief Technology & Operations Officer at Travelers.
“It is amazing to work with a team of truly talented individuals who gel together – our team is really close. We genuinely like working with one another, and there’s a level of professional comfort that we have with each other. We can have transparent discussions, give each other feedback and ultimately come up with the best solutions.”
Anna’s family – her husband and two children – enjoy “outdoorsy” activities year-round; especially snowmobiling, skiing and hiking, which means lots of vacation time in Vermont. You’ll also find Anna outdoors at home, tending to the backyard garden oasis she created – where there are no risks; only peace, tranquility and relaxation and a world away from it all.
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WHO WE ARE.
Discovering Common Purpose: Veterans and Military Families on the Rewards of Civic Engagement
America’s military veterans and their families have a unique perspective on how service helps create a sense of common purpose in our nation. How can their experience and example help us strengthen that purpose to build a more unified democracy? Ellen Gustafson, Executive Director and Co-Founder of We the Veterans and Military Families, and Cory Johnson, Co-Chair of the Travelers Military/Veterans and Allies Diversity Network, joined Janice Brunner, Group General Counsel and Head of Civic Engagement at Travelers, to explore the rewards of civic service and engagement.
What did we learn during the webinar?
Here are the top takeaways from Discovering Common Purpose: Veterans and Military Families on the Rewards of Civic Engagement. Watch the full webinar replay here.
Military life can create a culture of unity. Gustafson was inspired to found We the Veterans and Military Families after a challenging experience raising three young kids during a pandemic while her husband was deployed: “My best assets were my fellow military spouses, many of whom I had nothing in common with on paper. We were not from the same places. We didn’t have the same backgrounds. We didn’t have the same politics.” The unity that emerged from such a disparate group got her thinking, “What else could happen if this community got together in the way my small unit did?”
Military service is a natural bridge to civic service in communities. Johnson noted that people join the military for many reasons, but no matter why you join, the military helps create common ground surrounding service to your community. “Something that is amazing about the armed forces is that regardless of the reason why you joined the military, when you’re done, you’re always going to have this innate sense of patriotism. That’s actually one of the reasons I joined my local school board,” Johnson said. “I got out of my 14-year career in the military, and I still had a need to give back.”
Veterans and military families offer a unique skill set. “Skills that you learn in the military, like being able to listen and talk with people regardless of their background, can really be an asset when you’re moving into a civic engagement role,” Johnson said. Veterans and military families also often need to be adaptable. “I think an amazing skill is the ability to bloom where you’re planted and see what’s best in different areas of the country,” Gustafson said.
Community is key. In the Travelers Military Veterans and Allies Diversity Network, employees with many different connections to the military come together with a common goal. “We support military veterans, military-connected employees, spouses and family members. What’s interesting is 60% or more of our members at Travelers are allies, or what we consider maybe not a directly military-connected employee,” Johnson shared. “One thing we do as a diversity network is to help veterans and military-connected families in the community.”
There are many ways to make a positive impact. If you’re looking to strengthen a community, Gustafson suggested that helping to support and connect with military families can be a great place to start. “No matter what sort of things you’re interested in or passionate about, there are military family and veteran groups connected to them,” Gustafson said. “The other thing is cross-cultural collaboration. I think the bridging of the civil/military divide is just as important.” Johnson said that offering an individual perspective can also be very helpful. He added, “There are many opportunities to give back to your community. School boards, counties, cities, townships and states all have advisory councils where they need input from people that want to donate their time to talk about real issues.” He also shared some advice: “If you’re out there right now thinking: I want to give back. I want to be more civically minded. Should I do that or not? I would say yes, you should, and you can start now.”
This dialogue is part of the Travelers Civic Conversations series in which Citizen Travelers – Travelers’ industry-leading, nonpartisan civic engagement initiative – and the Travelers Institute are teaming up to host discussions examining critical questions among leading thinkers in civic engagement and learning. We look forward to showcasing more fascinating and important convenings in the months ahead. Stay tuned and thank you for supporting the important work of the Travelers Institute and Citizen Travelers.
Learn more about Citizen Travelers.
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