The following article is the sixth of a series written for the Crimson by W. W. Daly '14, University Secretary for Student Employment, on the various fields of endeavor in business open to college graduates.

"I do not think I would like insurance; it's mostly all selling, isn't it?" This was the comment of one senior recently when I suggested the Insurance business as a field which offers opportunities. This is one of the illusions which is more or less prevalent and which is based on lack of acquaintance with modern business.

Just as for every soldier "in the front line trenches" there must be three or four behind the lines in training or reserve, so in every business organization, for every man who is actually out in the field selling, there must be other employees in the branch or home office.

Branches of Work

The large Insurance Companies of today have enormous staffs of employees who do the necessary clerical, accounting and office executive work required by the very nature of the business. One has only to stand outside of a building like the John Hancock in Boston, or any of the large Companies in Hartford, to realize the enormous numbers who are employed in the home offices of these great insurance organizations.

For the college man who is interested in mathematics, accounting or work of a semi-legal nature, or, in fact, any of the general office fields, the Insurance Companies today probably offer as wide a range for his activities as any other line of business. Various departments might be mentioned--Actuarial, where the figures are made up on which rates are based; the Underwriting where clauses and contracts for the policies are made up; the General Accounting, where records are kept, as in any large organization--these, and others, divided into the different fields in which the Company may be engaged, which are Life. Fire, and Casualty, present diversified opportunities for the college graduate.

As is true in other businesses, the larger and more progressive Companies have definite recruiting and training policies and are constantly on the lookout for college men who may enter their organization and work through the various departments.

The salary at the start is good and there is every opportunity for men who are genuinely interested in this business.

In the Insurance sales field there are a great many college men who have been selling successfully, and there is a constant call from the insurance companies for more college men for sales work. The methods vary. Some give definite and adequate training courses, paying salary while men are in training; others require that a man work himself into the company and the pay is entirely on a commission basis.

For college men who actually continue in insurance work the rewards have been large. Many college men have become agency managers, and company executives; others find that income from the sale of insurance is high. Like any specialty, insurance offers large financial rewards to men who can really sell consistently.