Oswald Companies https://www.oswaldcompanies.com 

Abigail Lewis &  Zoe Brown 

Founded in 1893, Cleveland-based, and employee-owned, Oswald is one of the nation’s largest independent insurance brokerage and risk management firms.

The insurance industry is a growing industry with many opportunities.  The insurance industry is often overlooked by students, but there are opportunities for all majors at companies like Oswald.  To learn more about careers with Oswald check out their website here.

Part of the mission of the Oswald internship program is to educate students on the insurance industry.  Abby and Zoe intentionally planned their internship program for 18 months before it launched.  They used some of the framework laid out in the Talent Management Workshop and Book (see our interview with Dr. Shindell in episode 47 ) by Robert Shindell, a Cleveland Native who now lives in Texas.  

The interview process for the internship is thorough/tough and seeks to help the student understand the industry as well.  Oswald uses a syllabus type approach to planning for the summer internship.  They recognize students different learning styles provides a comprehensive learning environment at this employee-owned organization.  Students have a liaison and mentor assigned to them to keep them on track and assign them work.  They also have ambassadors within the organization that act to help students get socially engaged in the organization.  The senior leadership team at Oswald meets with the interns as well, and truly support the program. 

This was the first year of the Oswald program as a standard program.  They launched it during a pandemic!  10 interns joined them this summer and they have hired at least 5 with some offers pending. Not all were eligible for full time hire but may be eligible to return as an intern.   There are already 10 interns signed up for their 2021 summer program.  Their hard work and preparation paid off with a very successful remote internship program.  

Students with initiative and an entrepreneurial spirit lines up well with the employee-owned company, Oswald.  Zoe “…the spirit of being a go-getter…”

The interns provided feedback on this year’s program and Zoe and Abby used that to tweak the 2021 program.   Here are some of the resources that this great team is looking at or has used to make their program Rock!

Resources

• CIAB – Internship school https://www.ciab.com/the-council-foundation/internship-resources/
• Adulting a Crash Course - https://podcast.interncle.com/266696/3658471-interncle-episode-044-greater-cleveland-sports-commission-and-adulting-a-crash-course 
• WayUp Internship Awards - https://www.nationalinternday.com/top100-2020

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