Job Responsibilities
Initially, I was mis-cast as a tester for the data processing
unit that develops the application sales staff use to sell auto
insurance. People did not know that I have a graduate degree
eventhough it was on the resume and the application form. At
Geico, the testing is performed manually by typing into the very
old IBM mainframes that the company still uses. The test scripts
were totally out of date and the job was merely a clerical job. I
turned the position into an advisor position by writing to the co-
COO of the company, Louis Simpson who works under Buffet. I told him about the
problems I had getting a job there and the type of responses I did get from some
pretty short-sighted high school graduates. The position could have been filled
by merely promoting one of their secretaries.
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Job Requirements
The job required a high school degree. Apparently, when the HR
person suggested it, she thought only about my work experience.
However, she missed the 21 years of financial experience I have
and she did not understand that I had managed Geico's account at
Riggs Bank. There was no career ladder out of this type of dead-end job, so I
left after unsuccessfully trying to transfer to the unit I should have been
working in previously. The Gecio environment is typically one of overwork.
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Uppers
When I came, Geico had almost no college graduates in its workforce. All the
managers I met in data processing were high school graduates. Today, Geico has
several training programs for college graduates and I think this will eventually
move the company in the right direction.
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Downers
It was unclear to me why the many resumes I sent to hiring
managers and executives over the years had been ignored. I told them that since
Riggs was the
company's main bank, people should have called me in for an
interview in 1987 when I left Riggs. When I worked at Geico, the
quality of the employees was poor in general. The company
does hire disabled people like me, but works all staff very hard
and overloads all the staff. I hope this will change over time. I
created a lot fo change by reporting what I saw to top management
because I knew who these people were. One time, the company
created a video of their sales process to help all employees
understand the sales function. They profiled one of their best
sales people, a female from India.I said to them that
they reinforced the poor image the company has of women in general. I
said "did you proofread the close captioning - did you have to
show this woman hiking up her bra straps to all 17,000 employees
of the company including all the executives. I said, how would
you feel if someone did that to you? Ok, we know that women hike
up their bra straps, but is it necessary to put it in
a video and then show it to all 17,000 company employees?" I told them, every
day I come into Geico, I am reminded of how many employees were short-sighted. I
said, is the next video going to show a guy hiking up
his jock strap? The company needs more college graduates in
its workforce. I don't recommend it for college graduates of Ivy
League schools like me. They mostly hire from the University of
Maryland and the University of the District of Columbia which is not accredited.
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Lifestyle
Employees are routinely overworked at Geico. The company understaffs and uses
totally out-of-date technology. The technology does not automate their work or
help them do their work faster or better. The lifestyle is such that you feel you
are dealing with people who are much younger than you mentally. Too much Sat. and
Sun work for out-of-date technology that should not need any Sat. or Sun. care.
Unrealistic deadlines for unnecessary work like expanding the sales application
to permit the sales staff to sell insurance for 9 cars owned by one owner. They
can just as well write two separate policies since they had the ability to write
one policy for 5 cars owned by one person. Really, few families own 9 cars and it
is more cost-effective to have separate policies for certain types of cars. Some
cars cost more to insure than others.
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Compensation
The base pay is low. The bonus program has a odd twist: to keep the bonus
payment, you seem to have to work there three years or you have to pay the bonus
back. The company took my $6,000 bonus away from me when I left and I still can't
figure out why so I guess it is a "vested" bonus policy.
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Advice to Jobseekers
College graduates from top schools should avoid this company.
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