This is an offshoot of the company AIG, so they are a little smaller, but hold to the same principles as AIG.
They found my resume online somewhere, I didn't apply. I am looking for work though so I welcomed the phone interview. I had interviewed with the same gentleman over two years ago in their office. I told him this and he didn't seem to mind that. From my past interview, he came from another city, to interview me with another man. He did most of the talking, and I asked a few questions. He said the process would take two weeks to a month. I will wait to see if I get called for an interview and update from there.
Their work structure has changed since they had laid off employees over a year and a half ago. There used to be more assistants in their, but now there is only one. but I am used to this though. The thing that changed was now the work is sent to another branch to be issued, then sent back to this office for approval. I suspect that this is because there is now only one UA, and to help with workload. This may slow things down and get complicated. I have done this kind of thing before, but in a different capacity, where it was done in another country!
There are 4 underwriter for the UA, and it sounds like a lot of work. If you feel you would be overwhelmed, then this isn't for you. He was also frank, telling me that the u/ws can be demanding at times. No big news there for me. They do have someone to train in the computer applications used. There is also travel involved for training. Most big companies have the trainer go to that office to train others, but if there is only one person, I guess the person would go their for to train, which is less costly. I would assume this person giving the training is an actual underwriter there who would train. My question is, why wouldn't the underwriters in the office where you would work can't train you? Perhaps they aren't good at it or not the expert.
The UA's work is monitored from a computer application from the gentleman I had the phone interview with, who resides in another office, so he can see the progress and contact you with any questions or updates. He would expect you to tell him if you needed help in any one area. .
They have normal hours, which they don't want much deviation from and expect the UA to not stay overtime. Most UA's these days are non-exempt, so welcome the overtime pay. This may not be the case here.
The office is located in a beautiful area in a high security building. I have been there before, and the office looks like a typical office, except I gather now they don't have as many on staff as when I went there to interview.
As I interviewed there before, be prepared to fill out an application and bring your paycheck stub from your last job. They would also do a background check. Companies do things differently. I would expect companies to do this if they are serious about hiring you, say in the second interview.
One thing is for sure, and that is they expect a lot of the UA, and arming them specialized training, which helps. Be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get busy.