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These Stories Will Inspire you
Whether you’re interested in a corporate career at American Family Insurance or want to hang your shingle as an agent, you’ll find useful inspiration in the videos below. And be sure to watch Pursuing the Dream to see positive stories that have remade lives.
Corporate
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[Music]
On screen: Footage of the American Family Insurance campus in Madison, Wisconsin
Jamie Suchomel, Sales Consultant: Being customer driven means putting the customer first; finding out what their needs are and tailoring products specific to our customer base.
Tracy Williams, Diversity & Inclusion Advisor: Customer-driven means that we're a company that focuses on the needs of our customers, and that we understand who they are. Being customer-driven, you're always looking to meet their needs.
Josh Erickson, Owner, Josh Erickson Agency: We spend a lot of time trying to get to know our customers on not just a business level, but a personal level, and really understanding, you know, what they need and how we can help protect those dreams.
Justin Cruz, Vice President of Strategic Data & Analytics: I think it's also a really strong fit for our culture here at Am Fam. We have a very people-oriented, very collaborative, caring culture. I think it's very natural for us to want to do what's best; both for our employees, as well as for the customer.
Alejandro Arango-Escalante, IS Financial Senior Analyst: Whenever there’s requests coming from me from internal customers, or external sometimes, I want to do what American Family’s doing on a day-to-day basis and provide that level of support.
Tracy Williams: I'm customer driven in my role because, focusing on diversity and inclusion, I need to always know who our customers are, who we desire our customers to be, and to be able to focus on a variety of backgrounds that our customers have and the different communities in which they come from.
Jamie Suchomel: There's personal satisfaction in being able to help others and protect their dreams. And so it's really important to make sure that we're putting the customer as a priority in what we do daily.
Allison Mueller, Agency Sales Rep: I think really putting the focus on them and making them know that we're here for them and how can we make their insurance process easier and making them feel that they're part of American Family together with us.
Justin Cruz: For the insurance industry as a whole — and in particular Am Fam — we’ve made some big steps over the last several years in sort of bringing our game around customer — our customer competency, if you will — to state-of-the-art level. So, our strategy, our actions, our technology.
Alejandro Arango-Escalante: Because American Family is so engaged with its customers, it wants to provide the best level of support it knows and, in order to do that, it needs to have the best possible talent on site and it needs to be treating their talent with respect.
Tracy Williams: Many people are mission driven and they want to be at a company that they know means what they say. And by American Family focusing on our customers, making sure we live our vision, we will attract more talent and meet the needs of our employees.
Jamie Suchomel: If you're looking for a place to work that gives you satisfaction that you've done something good at the end of the day, American Family is the place to be.
On screen: Join our team. Bring your dreams.
Amfam.com/jobs
[Music]
On screen: American Family Insurance logo
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Justin Cruz, Vice President of Strategic Data & Analytics: Data science is so critical to the insurance industry because this is essentially a data game. What many people don't realize about insurance is just how rich of an environment this is for data science. We have advanced analytics, or data science, in various areas across American Family. This would include my division, strategic data and analytics, as well as our actuarial groups. We have a data science laboratory that's housed downtown that works very closely with universities and other research venues. We also have data science within our marketing group.
At Am Fam, when we use the word data scientist, we're talking about people that really do what I would call investigative research. They apply math skills, statistics, programming, as well as business and critical thinking skills to solve problems. We have very complex products, with very complex — what are called risk exposures — that we insure, very dynamic risk exposures.
We also have very deep and long-term relationships with our customers, and all of these things create a very rich environment for data exploration, and what this does is really raise the stakes. Raises the stakes for the value differentiation that you can achieve when you are good at data science
On screen: Join our team. Bring your dreams. Amfam.com/jobs
On screen: American Family Insurance logo
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Tracy Williams, Diversity & Inclusion Advisor: I believe that, actually, every person could be considered diverse. So, that's what it means to me in the workplace.
Jamie Suchomel, Sales Consultant: Diversity at American Family is important because our customers are diverse. Everybody has different needs and, you know, we're in multiple states. It's important to make sure that we tailor our products and our services based on a diverse customer base.
Justin Cruz, Vice President of Strategic Data & Analytics: To be able to tackle, creatively, the problems that our customers face, I think requires many different perspectives to come together.
On screen: Two people, wearing purple shirts, hold an American Family Insurance banner during a parade that reads, “Proud to support the LGBTQ community & its allies.”
Tracy Williams: One of our core components to our diversity efforts are our BRGs — which are business resource groups — and those groups are full of very talented employees of different backgrounds. And, I believe, those groups are central to our diversity and inclusion strategy moving forward.
We also have marketing efforts that show that we are celebrating dreams of all people. We're also poised because we are looking at different trends throughout the nation and we want to be sure that we are supporting those organizations and companies and making strategic partnerships with those who also support our values. And, most of all, I’d say our leadership is committed to diversity, and that's central to any company or business. And with that support we'll be able to do anything.
For those considering a career at American Family, I believe this is a very exciting time for us. We're not looking at it traditionally, we are looking to transition to the time we're living in right now. And whenever there's a company that wants to learn, wants to grow and do better, I'm confident that we will, and this is a place where people will want to be.
[Music]
On screen: Join our team. Bring your dreams.
Amfam.com/jobs
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[Upbeat music]
On screen: Footage of the front of the American Family Insurance campus in Madison, Wisconsin
Alejandro Arango-Escalante, IS Financial Senior Analyst: My name is Alejandro Arango-Escalante, and I'm a senior financial analyst in within the IS division. I'm a former Marine, not an ex-Marine, because “once a Marine, always a Marine,” that was an aviation ordnance technician. So, my job was, I was, the weapon systems expert on the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter and the UH-1 Huey. In my job at American Family, I'm a finance guy. And I'm dedicated to that. And that's the mentality that you have in the military, especially in the Marine Corps, is that brotherly love. And that, to me, I carried that into my day-to-day life, you know. I do what I can, to help who I can, whenever I can.
Honor, courage, commitment — that is the values that was ingrained in me in boot camp in Parris Island. In terms of honor, we want to honor our customers who want to make sure that we do right by them. We want to be courageous when we see things that aren't right. We want to be committed to our customers.
We do a lot for our veterans. The veterans group that we have is growing. We're going to continue to do more and more events. We want to, you know, bring awareness not just to veterans of past wars, but our current veterans. This past memorial day, I was able to participate in something where we set up a fallen heroes table, which was a table to pay homage to our soldiers — men and women and civilians — who have lost their lives in service of this country throughout the years.
When you're in the military, you can't wait to get out. But when you get out, you almost can't wait to get back in. So, to me, coming to an organization that really values that, and knowing that a company would want to take time and pay tribute to that — and not just lip service, but actually mean it, and actually want to do it — that, to me, you know, really hits home.
[Upbeat music]
On screen: Join our team. Bring your dreams.
Amfam.com/jobs
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[UPLIFITING MUSIC PLAYING]
On screen: American Family Insurance logo
Deena Driese, Customer Care Center Branch Manager: The claims customer care center is a great place to start your career. You are helping people every day that are facing some sort of a loss or inquiring on their claim. We have various locations, in order to service our customer in their time of need, regardless of where their location is.
On screen: Dustin Schultz at his desk, working.
Dustin Schultz, Claims Customer Care Center Rep: They give us the tools here to do whatever we need to do to be able to help whoever is on the phone. Sometimes there's some pretty bad situations that people are in and it gives you a sense of accomplishment.
On screen: (Agent answering phone call) American Family Insurance, this is Ashley. Yeah, we can definitely help you today.
Ashley Plac, Claims Customer Care Center Rep: They call us on their worst day of their life, probably, so it makes us feel good to just be there for somebody and to have them have somebody to talk to.
On screen: Adam Schuetz at his desk, working.
Adam Schuetz, Senior Claims Customer Care Center Rep: Right from the beginning, there's a very supportive culture at American Family. From team level all the way up to a management level.
On screen: Brianna Demoss walks with two others down a hallway in an office building.
Brianna Demoss, Claims Customer Care Center Policy & Procedure Admin: I would describe the culture at American Family as being very inclusive; a culture that truly thrives on everyone's differences.
On screen: Interchanging shots of Peter Alcauter talking to the filming crew, then to coworkers around the office.
Peter Alcauter, Claims Care Center Manager: What motivates me to come to work every day is my team. Just making sure that I'm here to support them; get them through the day so that we're delivering on the customer experience.
On screen: Footage of Deena speaking to the film crew, mixed with shots of the American Family career fair.
Deena Driese: Each year, American Family Insurance does group hires into the Claims Customer Care Center. We have a career fair and it's a great opportunity for people to come in from the community and to decide if American family is a good fit for them. We offer tuition reimbursement, we have a great benefit package, there's allotted time each year to go out into the community and to volunteer.
On screen: Video footage of the Community Action Coalition building, inside and out, with volunteers working and hanging coats.
Peter Alcauter: This year we decided the best way to make an impact was all get together and join the Community Action Coalition and give coats to kids.
On screen: Brianna Demoss speaking to the film crew.
Brianna Demoss: The best part of my job is the people I get to work with.
On screen: Footage of Christine McKenna speaking to the film crew, mixed with shots of Christine with her team at a table during a meeting.
Christine McKenna, Workforce Analyst: Everybody is completely dedicated to doing a really good job, and we keep each other challenged, and our boss always listens to our opinions.
Peter Alcauter: It really is a family.
On screen: Footage of Ashley Plac chatting with a coworker, leading into a shot of her speaking with the film crew.
Ashley Plac: Oh my gosh, there's just so many different things you can do here, so this is just the first step.
On screen: Leah Krueger speaking to the film crew before a subsequent shot of the whole team walking in front of a wall, filled with sticky notes, with the words “Staff Shout Outs!” created from colored paper at the top.
Leah Krueger, Claims Customer Care Center Rep: If you want a place where you can come, you know you're safe, you know you can be who you are, help people and work together as a team, this is the best place to work, in my opinion. And I will never leave. American Family’s just one of the best companies I've ever worked for.
On screen: Quick video glimpses of each interviewed team member smiling throughout the office, accompanied by soft, inspiring music.
Christine McKenna: I would greatly encourage anyone to work for American Family.
On Screen: American Family Insurance logo fades in.
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[Upbeat music playing]
On screen: American Family Insurance logo
Mary, Care Center Technical Rep.: American Family Insurance is a great place to work because my work schedule is flexible, the benefits are great and the people that work here are just super.
Eddie, Care Center Administrator: When I worked in the call center, it was exciting because every day you never know what was going to come across the phone, and it was always changing.
Stephanie, Care Center Team Manager: We're all a big family here. We all work together towards the same end goal of helping our customers and striving to be the best we can.
Eddie: American Family Insurance has given me opportunities to advance my career, and it's allowed me to expand my knowledge and grow by going into management and working projects. So, it's gotten me where I am today.
Stephanie: The training at American Family is unbelievable. When you first come into the company, you start off with one-on-one training, and then there's some group training, and really helped me get to where I am today.
Mary: The thing that really gets me excited about coming to work is I'm able to do a lot of different things. I get to mentor my co-workers and our new hires.
Stephanie: The culture at American Family is very unique; everybody's very friendly and I think it's just overall very empowering to work here.
Eddie: It's a coaching culture. They develop you, they help you on a daily basis to make sure that you're going to be the best that you can possibly be.
Mary: I think, when I come in, I see that it's very diverse; but people are very friendly.
Stephanie: The company has invested in me as an employee, you know. They've set me up with all the support that I need for the roles that I've had within the company, as well as preparing me for where my career could go in the future.
[Upbeat music]
On screen: American Family Insurance logo
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[Soft rock music]
Bryan Stein, Casualty Claim Desk Senior Adjuster: To me this company means an insurance company who really wants to help their insured.
Dana Laufenberg, Casualty Claim Desk Manager: I mean, I think we play an important role in a lot of people's lives.
Peter Wegger, Casualty Claim Desk Manager: You're dealing with a wide variety of people, and circumstances, and trying to provide the customer service that they need.
Jennifer Shless, Property Claim Desk Senior Adjuster: I love my job. It's very rewarding being a team at American Family
Delsia Hughley, Claims Care Center Manager: The thing that I like about American Family Insurance is, it's just, like, working with the people. Because, with the people, you do tend to learn something new every day you're on the job.
Bryan Stein: This job has a lot of challenges each day. Whether it be a fender bender, or a major three or four car accident.
Dana Laufenberg: A desk adjuster is going to get mostly auto liability claims.
Jennifer Shless: We handle fact claims, we handle vandalism claims, and guiding people through a difficult time.
Bryan Stein: A lot of things that you have to bring to the table are a great amount of empathy.
Dana Laufenberg: It definitely can be an emotional circumstance for some people, depending on the severity of the claim.
Peter Wegger: I think that communication skills are the most important aspect to this job.
Jennifer Shless: Most of our clients don't understand their insurance policy. It's my job to help them through the actual claim.
Peter Wegger: You have to act as an educator and can put things in simple terms for people.
Dana Laufenberg: And, if we don't owe a claim, you have to be able to present that to someone in a way that they understand.
The culture of American Family, and claims, is a group of really fun people
Bryan Stein: There's a camaraderie here of people. We all like each other.
Peter Wegger: The people genuinely care about you.
Jennifer Shless: And I got to the point where I'm at today because of people that I work with now.
Delsia Hughley: Everyone's from somewhere else, and they have something new to offer.
Bryan Stein: I can go to a co-worker, I go to a manager in another area, and they're always glad to answer that question for me.
Peter Wegger: Your supervisors, your co-workers, they'll take an interest in you.
Jennifer Shless: Every year, a manager will ask you what you would like to do, where would you like to go, what do you want to do to further your career.
Dana Laufenberg: I do feel that the company is invested in us as individuals. We do have lots of opportunities for training.
Delsia Hughley: I came to American Family Insurance with no experience, but I can say now that I definitely have a vast amount of knowledge. Not only of American Family Insurance, but insurance as a whole.
Jennifer Shless: Any job that you want here, you could go for.
Dana Laufenberg: Even outside of the claims handling, there are different departments all over that there could be potential opportunities to go to.
Peter Wegger: I think that if you're looking for challenging and diverse opportunities to actually help people, claims would be fulfilling and fruitful for you.
Dana Laufenberg: I would say American Family is a great company to work for, as an adjuster.
Jennifer Shless: American Family is fantastic; there's no other place like it.
On screen: American Family Insurance logo with the American flag waving in the background.
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[Acoustic guitar strumming]
On screen: Footage of the front of the American Family Insurance campus with the phrase, “Dream big. Work hard.” overlaying; accompanied by text at the bottom reading, J.J. Watt, NFL defensive end & American Family Insurance brand ambassador.”
On screen: American Family Insurance logo above the words, “Internship Program.”
George Anim, Information Services Student Intern: I feel that interning at American Family Insurance has given me that platform to practice whatever I have made through my undergraduate, and my graduate program.
Kelsey Tempas, Marketing Student Intern: I'm a math major in the marketing internship, so this has been a really neat opportunity to kind of see what's out there. I've got to do a lot of job shadows, a lot of meet and greets with different areas of the company.
Jacob Weissburg, Sales Student Intern: You're not just sitting there reading a book, reading research, going over presentations; you are doing, doing, doing, and you are learning while you're doing it.
Justin Lang, Marketing Student Intern: A part of my internship is actually presenting to some teams on Millennials’ perspectives on shopping for insurance.
Kelsey Tempas: Since we are part of that generation, they kind of wanted our thoughts on, you know, what we're doing, what's working and what we could be doing better.
George Anim: At American Family, it's a very good place for you to grow as an individual and also as a professional in your chosen career.
Jacob Weissburg: I feel that I'm working on projects that are contributing to the company, contributing to the success of our team, and even impacting our customers too.
Justin Lang: I can definitely say that the campus here at American Family is a very motivating campus. If you need to get a little time away from your desk, go for a quick walk around the pond. That’s the nice flexibility and the atmosphere that I really enjoy.
George Anim: For intern activities, we were taken on a trip to Dream Bank.
Libbi Chapin, Human Resources Student Intern: They do a lot of, like, resume building events. They do career opportunities. They have their crafting nights. So, they just have a lot of variety in the events that they hold.
Phyllis Dere, Commercial Farm/Ranch Student Intern: We all do have dreams. We all dream about having something, owning something, being somewhere. And, through that experience, I realize that you do dream, but then you need to protect that dream, which is what the Dream Bank experience is all about.
Libbi Chapin: American Family holds volunteering so highly and gives us time to do that.
Olivia Rush, Human Resources Student Intern: It was great to interact with the people in our community who really needed that extra assistance, and to interact with them and get to know all the people who come in.
George Anim: Not only am I getting that professional experience, I'm also getting that soft skill that’s you being able to care for the community in which you're working.
Jacob Weissburg: It’s a great company. The people who work here are amazing. They're all very dedicated to their jobs.
Justin Lang: I would highly recommend an internship here at American Family. Absolutely.
Libbi Chapin: It's been, just, such an eye-opening experience. I've been so welcomed here. And, I’m really learning more than I ever thought I would in a three-month time period.
Phyllis Dere: I come to work every day being happy. I'm actually excited to get out of bed, get dressed and get to work. I just love my job here because its environment is very welcoming. People are great, so it's a great place to work.
[Music continues]
On screen: American Family Insurance logo with the phrase, “Insure carefully, dream fearlessly” written below.
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On screen: Footage of Brooke Widward standing in front of an aircraft in a hangar.
Brooke Widward, Maintenance Intern with American Family Insurance flight operations: Hi! My name's Brooke Widward. I'm the summer intern here at flight operations for American Family Insurance. I actually am interning for maintenance and I think the coolest part about this entire internship is the fact that I actually got to come out and touch the airplane.
Like, I actually got to help with changing out components and see everything and touch everything, as opposed to, you know, sitting back and looking at a two-dimensional schematic on a piece of paper. I actually got to experience it and know what's going on. And it has been invaluable. And it's been an awesome experience. And I would totally do it all over again.
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My name is Curtis Rochette. I'm an investment intern at American Family Insurance, and I'm an MBA student at UW-Madison.
Here in the investments division, we manage the investment assets for American Family Insurance. My project this summer has been to assist the director of risk and portfolio management to assess the risk of our portfolios. So, this involves a lot of statistical analysis and spreadsheets, and the work that I do here is relevant and actionable research that helps to shape the investment portfolios at American Family holds.
One of the highlights of my summer has been a trip to New York. The other intern and myself were able to go, along with the directors and the chief investment officer, on the company jet to a trip to New York where we met with various investment managers who are our partners in helping us to manage our investment portfolios. So, it was an excellent opportunity to meet New York investment managers, to mingle with them and network, and these also, as partners, are invaluable sources of information and knowledge for us in helping us to do our research.
One of my favorite things about American Family is that this has been such a comfortable and laid-back atmosphere. That I work with a group of individuals who are extremely knowledgeable, experienced and supportive. And they are concerned not only with how I can help American Family, but also that I'm getting an education here and that the work I do is relevant for school.
And, while I've been here, I have made friends and had experiences that I'll take with me to my academic career as well as my professional career in the future.
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Hi, my name is Will Jury. I've been working for the last two months here at American Family as the summer intern. I've been working in the human resources department and it's been a pretty good summer job.
Typical day as the summer intern in HR, I really don't end up having to do any coffee work or do a bunch of copying or anything. Nothing like that. Mostly what I do is I will schedule interviews all day. I will get a sheet of all the candidates to call from the staffing specialist who'll be doing the hiring and I get to call people throughout the day and try to set them up for interviews. And that's, you know, that's kind of a good job because no one's ever disappointed or angry to hear from you. You encounter, you know, pretty happy people when you're calling and telling them that you want to have them come in for an interview, so that's definitely a plus.
The work environment at American Family is definitely an adjustment. In the past, I've worked at fast food restaurants and had been a lifeguard at an outdoor pool, so this was really my first job where I had to dress up and wear, you know, it was a real job. So, that was an adjustment coming in. But that also came with some perks, you know. For sure, one nice part is I have a set schedule, you know. I don't go in at the beginning of the week and, like, turn in the sheet of the hours I don't want and wait for later in the week and figure out what I'll be working. At the beginning of the summer, I could plan something for the second weekend in August and say, well for sure I'm not working.
But then, at the same time, that set schedule is also kind of a, you know, it's got its pros and its cons because there are many days that, you know, my friends who work evenings at restaurants will go and have, you know, adventures during the day and I'm in the office from eight to five. But then it's nice that every night, after five o'clock, I'm done and I know I won’t have to come in for extra work, or it won't be really busy and I'll have to come in. So, that's nice.
Why should a student consider working at American Family Insurance? Other than the set schedule, which is real — which I said it was nice, working in America Family is pretty nice because it gives you a different look on life. I had never, you know, been involved in the corporate lifestyle — really at all, in the business world — and coming into American Family gave me another look at something that I may not have encountered during my time at school, you know.
You don't really pick up a “on the side” job in the human resources department at the, you know, at a large insurance company during school on the weekends or anything. So, having a look at what it would be like to work full-time and to work, you know, in a business setting was — I feel like that was very beneficial to me because it gave me a chance to see whether or not it was exactly for me and, you know, what it was like.
The experiences in college, or in prior, that have helped me for this job — I would definitely say, going through my freshman year, you had to really get organized. Because, unlike high school, there wasn't someone constantly telling you get your homework done and do this; you had to know what you had to do. And the internship is a lot like that, where there's not — it's not as much someone babying me through everything. More like, at the beginning of the week I'll be given a bunch of — a bunch of requisitions, a bunch of people to call, and it's really — it's up to me to call them, and up to me to pace myself and, uh, I think — feel like that's — that's really good because it still teaches me more, you know, pacing myself and knowing when to do the work, but it's al— it's nice because the ball is, kind of, in my park, and it's really my job.
For a student, if you're interested in applying for one of these internships — or really any large internship — the most important thing is, I would say, to just apply. Like, I when I applied to this job, this was a far, far back up, you know. I didn't even think that I would get called. And, you know, I’m like, ”there's probably thousands of people applying for this; people who are studying to work in human resources, or studying to, you know, work in insurance,” so I never thought I would have had a chance. But my parents convinced me — just try it; send an application — and I got a call a couple months later.
And I was very surprised to get that call, and I'm very glad I did it because it's a great opportunity to be working, you know, somewhere where you wouldn't have had a chance to work if they didn't have this kind of internship. I never really would have guessed, for a summer job, I'd be working at an insurance company, but it was probably a good call that I did, and it was a great experience.
Agency
Pursuing the Dream