Insurance, Communication, and Growth by Dylan

Insurance, Communication, and Growth by Dylan - August 2026 Scholarship Essay

This summer, I was fortunate enough to be placed by the city at my local State Farm office as a part of the Summer Youth Employment Program. This job was not my first choice and also not one in which I was too familiar with the job description. I understand that my role had to do with customer service and I wasn’t too sure as to what that entailed. Would I be directly selling insurance to people? Would I remain in a more administrative role? I would later find out that the bulk of my job was taking in calls and assisting customers and/or telemarketing in an attempt to bring in new customers.
My initial weeks were hard, because the prospect of having to call absolute strangers was very daunting, especially people who were interested in State Farm’s services 10 years ago, meaning they were likely to be confused and/or agitated with my calls. As an introvert, who excelled in the subject of English but always found it difficult to strike up conversations, this required a large learning curve that took time to adjust to.
My boss would often intervene after I make a call, offering extensive feedback on my tone, word choice, nuance, message, and demeanor. Every point felt nauseating and I took the quantity of feedback as a message that this line of work may not be suitable for me. I felt discouraged and didn’t want to be a liability. All of this stemmed from an unnecessary fear of rejection and failure that was created by feedback that was otherwise harmless. After my first week, I took a lot of time to reflect on the feedback I was being told. I was being suggested to be more energetic and happy when talking, use more effective sales tactics and avoid asking too many questions, focusing on being direct and acting as though I know the customer. I realized that these things were not an attack on my character, they simply looked to elevate my predisposed characteristics and skillset. After six weeks of working at State Farm, I really felt a personal growth in my ability to render services to my community in a way that's friendly and efficient.
Ultimately, my outcome proved that the way that I approach feedback is critical to my growth as a member of the workforce. Good feedback is always constructive and is never an attempt to personally attack anyone. It’s a given opportunity to further mold your skillset in a way that is beneficial to everyone. I can say with certainty that during these six weeks, I felt myself being more comfortable engaging with people and the same can be true for anyone in any field.