Insurance Adjuster Interview by Ruth Paget

Insurance Adjuster Interview by Ruth Paget 

When I started high school, I attended a private Friends School in Detroit (Michigan) to learn about my Quaker ancestors from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

The Friends School taught standard high school subjects as well as electives such as non-violence workshop where we read the works of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, non-violent games that promoted happiness for all such as caring for an egg for a week, meditation and journaling for conflict resolution, and the World of Work for vocational training. 

For World of Work, we began our studies by reading Working by Chicago writer Studs Terkel, who interviewed people from all sorts of jobs about job satisfaction and the skills needed to perform them. 

We all took the Myers-Briggs Interest Inventory which tests on which kinds of jobs that are suited for you based on skills and interest. I wanted to be a writer, but my quantitative skills came out first and writing came out second. The best job for me was listed as accountant. I was mortified. However, my Quaker teacher told me, “Just use math when you write.” 

After the Myers-Briggs Interest Inventory, I set up informational interviews. The first one I did was with an insurance adjuster: Mr. H. acts as a liaison between the insurance company and its claimants. He works for xxx, which is an independent insurance adjusting company. Mr. H. settles insurance losses for the company.

He wishes he made more money, but what he receives is fine with him. Mr. H. does not think he would go into another field of work. 

He feels his job is interesting. It is not a get rich scheme. To Mr. H. work should be challenging, rewarding, and something you can get a lot of satisfaction and pride out of. He could have a better paying job, but does not want to sacrifice time with his family. He enjoys working. He likes meeting people everyday, the competition, and the satisfaction of helping people. 

An insurance adjuster position requires a college degree, but most of the training is done on the job. He suggests taking courses in economics and business. 

In his free time, he spends time with friends. He will talk about work, if he is with friends from the office. Aside from that, he talks about sports. Mr. H. likes his boss and thinks that he has his best interest at heart.  

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Accountant Interview by Ruth Paget

Accountant Interview by Ruth Paget 

When I started high school, I attended a Friends School in Detroit (Michigan) to learn about my Quaker ancestors from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

 The Friends School taught standard high school subjects as well as electives such as non-violence workshop where we read the works of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, non-violent games that promoted happiness for everyone such as caring for an egg for a week, meditation and journaling for conflict resolution, and the World of Work for vocational training. 

For World of Work, we began our studies by reading Working by Chicago writer Studs Terkel, who interviewed people from all sorts of jobs about job satisfaction and the skills needed to perform the job. We all took the Myers-Briggs Interest Inventory which tests on which jobs that are suited for you based on skills and interests. I wanted to be a writer, but my quantitative skills came out first and writing came out second. I was mortified! However, my Quaker teacher told me, “Just use math when you write.” 

After the Myers-Briggs Interest Inventory, I set up informational interviews to find out about the world of work. I found some of my write-ups recently and wanted to share what I learned during my teen years, because the jobs still exist with some changes brought about by technology. I had a very good interview with an accountant from Coopers and Lybrand – Certified Public Accountants. This is still a position that exists in the 21st century and might interest readers studying business. I retained my ninth grade English: 

Ms. S. likes her job as an accountant. She has worked at Coopers and Lybrand since last May. She graduated from college in April. She works Monday through Friday. She has been expected to work overtime and accepts that as part of her job. She says 55 hours a week is a lot. 

Ms. S. told me certified public accountants work with facts. They go out and review clients’ systems, document them, and make sure they are functioning as documented by the clients. The accountants perform various tasks to make sure that the clients’ business functions as documented. 

I asked for more details. Ms. S. said accounting is a recording of what is happening at the business. Businesses have cash coming in and goods going out. These activities are recorded. This is where business begins. This is the exchange of goods and services. 

For two years, she was a liberal arts student at the University of Michigan. This course of study consisted of art, history, calculus, chemistry, and French. Then, she applied for business school. At the University of Michigan, you need approximately 21 hours of accounting. 

At UofM, that is 7 classes with 3 credit hours each. These classes involve a wide array of accounting: asset, corporate, cost, and tax. Auditing is included in these classes also. (I though asset accounting sounded interesting, if you got to go through safe deposit boxes.) 

Ms. S. said business law is required to become an accountant. Business law is included on the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) Examination. You must take and pass this examination to be certified. In addition to passing the examination, you must work with a public accounting firm in order to be certified. Business law is essential. An accountant has a legal liability towards the client. There are certain things you can and cannot do. 

Every accountant who comes into the firm must have a college degree. Ms. S. has many bosses. Each time she goes to a different client, she is on a different auditing team. Each new boss evaluates her work in the field. She chose to be an accountant, because she reached a decision point in college where she asked herself, “Do I need a French degree? Do I need a degree in painting? Shouldn’t I develop something practical with my degree?” If she had not become an accountant, she would have looked for a job with languages. Ms. S. noted she would probably still be looking for a job. (Note: 1979 was not the global era.) She has seen many people with anthropology degrees have a hard time finding a job. She said 15,000 people graduate with anthropology degrees and there are 15 job openings.

In business school, there are a few choices of what job you can go Into: 

-Marketing – this is basically salesmanship, but it is not sales work. An example, would be IBM. At IBM, you sell computer systems. They send you through training courses to learn everything about computers. You go through training for 1½ years. You have to be extremely confident, know your stuff, and have a quick memory.

-Retail Sales – sales management 

-Actuarial – I was very interested in this. Their function is very mathematical. They analyze life insurance tables. These tables estimate how long people live on the average and what kinds of risks they are running with different factors in their lives. An example of these factors would be old age and sickness. They also deal with pension plans. Actuarial work is very challenging. 

I asked her to explain the promotion system at Cooper and Lybrand. Promotions occur in January and July. Personnel looks at employee evaluation forms that various supervisors and managers filled out. These people observe your attitude, leadership, maturity, how well you get along with other people, how well you work on teams, technical competence, and assertiveness. Ms. S. explained to me that with 4 or 5 years of experience at Coopers and Lybrand, you were eligible to be a supervisor. 

After the supervisor level comes manager. You need more talents to become a manager. Some people are not born leaders. If you do not attain manager in three tries, that is a subtle clue to look for another firm. Personnel does executive searches to help people find other jobs.

Becoming a partner is an entirely different ballgame. The partners do not have to promote anyone to partner, if they do not want to. A special kind of politics comes into play. If a manager is up for partner twice but does not make it, they should look for another job. 

Night school is discouraged, because employees are expected to work overtime. Courses are offered in the office and self-study materials are available to employees, so that they can keep up with the times. They are expected to read the Wall Street Journal and other magazines dealing with business. Ms. S. said, “Studying for the annual Certified Public Accountant Exam will occupy your time.

Many of the client systems are computerized, so it is wise to know at least one computer language. A group of computer specialists always accompanies the audit team, but if you do not understand how a computer system works, you cannot tell the computer team what results you need. (Note: I first used a desktop Apple computer in my senior year of college.) 

Coopers and Lybrand takes up 3½ floors of the Renaissance Center. I got to go on an office tour. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about accounting. Later in life, I worked for two major accounting firms (EY and Deloitte) in Chicago and Paris using math in my writing. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Newspaper Columnist Interview by Ruth Paget

Newspaper Columnist Interview by Ruth Paget 

When I started high school, I attended a private Friends School in Detroit (Michigan) to learn about my Quaker ancestors from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

The Friends School taught standard high school subjects as well as electives such as non-violence workshop where we read the works of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, non-violent games that promoted happiness for all such as caring for an egg for a week, meditation and journaling for conflict resolution, and the World of Work for vocational training. 

For World of Work, we began our studies by reading Working by Chicago writer Studs Terkel, who interviewed people from all sorts of jobs about job satisfaction and the skills needed to perform the job. 

We all took the Myers-Briggs Interest Inventory, which tests on which kinds of jobs you are suited for based on your interests and skills. 

I wanted to be a writer, but my quantitative skills came out first and writing second. The best job for me was accountant. I was mortified! 

However, my Quaker teacher told me, “Just use math when you write.” 

After the Myers-Briggs Interest Inventory, I set up informational interviews to find out about the world for work for jobs I would like and those that used a lot of math. I found some of my interview write-ups recently and think much is still relevant today. I have left the interviews in most of my ninth-grade English. One of my first interviews was with Detroit Free Press columnist JF: 

JF likes his job. He says it is fun to be making a living doing something you like. He finds ideas for his columns everywhere. His is constantly taking notes and reads a lot. JF works in the city room at the Detroit Free Press. 

He spends 25 hours a week typing his column. JF said he is actually working all the time. When he thinks of an idea while he is sleeping, he gets up and immediately writes it down. 

Before coming to the Free Press, he worked on a weekly newspaper – the Lapeer County Press. He worked there for 25 years. The last 15 years, he was the editor. 

JF was an advertising salesman when he got out of college. He wrote a column for the paper entitled “My Customers.” Gradually, it became a general interest column.  Eventually, he became a reporter and, then, editor. JF still continued to write his column while he was editor. Other papers caught on to his column. He was at one time in all the weeklies in Michigan. 

Through the years, the Free Press made him several offers while he was editor. Finally, he decided it was time to make the change and went to work at the Free Press. I was interested in what an editor does, so I asked more about this subject. An editor works 50 to 60 hours a week. It is a time consuming and boring job. The editor takes care of the day-by-day business of running a newspaper. (I thought he was being sarcastic.) 

The Lapeer County Press had 10 people working at it. You only needed the editor to run the newspaper. A newspaper the size of the Free Press has many assistant editors and department editors. It is more fragmented. 

JF wanted to write since high school. There was no doubt in his mind about what he was going to do. He majored in journalism at Michigan State University. He learned more on the job than he did at school. 

JF says he hits dry spells when he just cannot write. It is all a matter of being a professional. You just write your column. It just takes longer. He turns his columns in early to avoid deadline pressure. 

If JF were not a columnist, he would be in some field of writing. If writing were ruled out, he would probably be a postman. In his free time, JF and his wife go to restaurants, nightclubs, movies, and live theater. 

Note: I was one of JF’s regular column readers. He was one of Detroit’s men-about-town. I learned from him how important it is to create a town for yourself to support your life needs and lifestyle in a large city like Detroit. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Interning with a Dutch Accountant by Ruth Paget

Interning with a Dutch Accountant by Ruth Paget 

When I moved to Detroit (Michigan) from the suburbs (Royal Oak), I attended a private Friends School (Quaker) my freshman year. 

The Quakers wanted Detroit’s nomenklatura kids (“We’re going to live on the parents’ auto stocks”) to do vocational training that would lead to jobs. We first took the Myers-Briggs Interest Inventory to find out what kinds of work skills we already had. 

I scored highly in quantitative and analytical skills with accountant listed as a good profession for me. I was mortified. I wanted to be an anthropologist, travel writer, and art historian. My smart Quaker teacher said, “Use math and analysis when you do all of those.” 

We next did informational interviews with people doing jobs we thought we like to do. One of the people I interviewed was an accountant at Coopers and Lybrand, who worked in the Renaissance Center downtown. (I liked the office location and wanted to live in the hotel there.) The accountant’s job was very busy, but interesting. She noted that communication skills were just as important as math skills to be an accountant. 

When it came time to do our internship, I worked for the school accountant, who was Dutch. I wanted to be compatible with a Dutch boss, so I put on my anthropologist’s hat and did some research. 

One of my friends in Royal Oak was Dutch, so I did know some things about Dutch culture: 

-The Dutch eat lots of casseroles made with sliced vegetables, shredded cheese, and cream. Casseroles are a delicious food $ hack. 

-The Dutch also eat pancakes at any time of day. These are made with eggs and milk for a hidden source of protein and calcium. 

-My friend’s mom worked part-time selling Amway cleaning products. 

-My friend’s dad was an engineer with Wayne County and was probably waiting to get a job at an auto company. 

-The family’s religion wad Dutch Reform. I went to vacation Bible School with my friend several summers and won Bibles for memorizing Bible stories. 

-The kids and I all went ice skating after school like little Hans Brinkers. 

That was my ethnographic survey of second-generation Dutch in Michigan. I also read about the importance of maintaining dikes to keep below-sea-level Netherlands from flooding in a Time-Life book about the country. 

I thought my Dutch boss would be a stickler about maintaining order given her cultural background for my analytical part of internship preparation. 

My boss told me I would be helping her organize “Accounts Payable” – bill or invoices the school had to pay. The “Accounts Receivable” – tuition payments and other sources of income – were private. She had a stack of bills piled up on my desk. She showed me a legal date stamp and told me to stamp areas on invoices with no printing on them to not cover up numbers. 

Once I went through those, she gave me a chronological journal to write up the bills I had stamped with the following information: 

-date received 

-creditor name 

-invoice amount 

-creditor invoice number 

Once I had the chronological file done, I was to assign payments to budget accounts. The accountant showed me the Chart of Accounts, budgets allocated for payment. She cut up strips of sticky notes and had me write the account number of which account I thought the invoice should be paid from along with the name of the account to help me memorize the Chart of Accounts. 

Then, I was to put the invoices in order by account number. Once, the invoices were in numeric order. I had to put them in alphabetical order within the account number. 

The accountant reviewed all my work before entering it into the IBM computer. 

I also used a business correspondence reference book to help draft business letters for the accountant and did inventory control (newest items in back of older ones). 

At the end of the internship, I told my teachers I had learned the value of maintaining systems, especially financial ones. 

(Note: I met my Dutch boss at a Youth for Understanding host family orientation several years later where I was volunteering as a former exchange student to Japan. She was going to host a student. I knew she and her family would have a happy, well-organized time.) 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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