"PLAY (snow) BALL!"

Well, it's almost here. Opening day of baseball season in Colorado. Mother nature is all dressed up for the occasion in her best white coat. First pitch is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 2:10 p.m. and appropriately for the welcoming weather we will be hosting our sun-drenched neighbors the Arizona Diamondbacks. Any self-respecting Colorado rattlers won't be poking their flicking tongues out today. The calendar may say Spring but we do appreciate the Diamondbacks making the effort to visit us in the midst of this beautiful winter wonderland that we have arranged just for them.

Of course if you read this blog tomorrow you may wonder what I'm talking about. The notoriously fickle Colorado weather may throw a curve ball of its own and we could see all this snow melt under rain and even see some sun peeking through the dark clouds of this morning. The weather for opening day is always a little problematic in Colorado. Organized baseball in our state harkens all the way back to 1862 and a gentleman by the name of George Tebeau who organized a team called the Denvers. George went on in 1900 to help found the American League so he must have been quite the fan. He would have probably chuckled to see today's weather. Colorado is one of only a few states that can not only boast of rain delays but true snow delays.

Whether that first pitch gets hurled at 2:10 p.m. tomorrow or not, today is still a uniquely beautiful morning. Despite the hassle of yet another slushy, snowy commute take the time to admire the trees all covered in white and the big fat flakes typical of spring snow drifting slowly across your windshield. You'll likely have plenty of time to soak up the winter ambiance as you crawl through some of the major intersections where the lights aren't working.

We have a very nice office building in a very pretty part of the city. I've often thought our building is especially pretty when covered in a fresh mantle of snow. By this time of the year I  admit I would prefer a little more sunshine and warmer temperatures, but when  Mother Nature throws a surprise party all you can do is put on your best party (winter) hat and try to enjoy!

Business Intelligence Analyst opportunity now available...

Business Intelligence and "Big Data" are being talked about at almost every company out there. We've had a strong Business Intelligence team for nearly as long as I have been with the company (17 years, but who's counting?). This team is instrumental in making sense of the terrabytes of data that are integral to operating our business in today's world. We have a rare opportunity for an experienced Business Intelligence Analyst to join this team.

The ideal candidate will be a great communicator as they will work with teams throughout our organization. They will need the technical expertise to support projects that require heavy analysis and problem solving. Our Business Intelligence Analysts work independently and as part of a team to design and construct BI solutions to effectively communicate findings to management and help devise business intelligence strategies. You'll definitely need to have expertise with reporting tools (Brio, Hyperion, Microstrategy, or the like), expert level problem-solving ability and 3-5 years experience with databases. A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required. Project management skills and insurance experience a plus. If interested in this unique opportunity please apply online!

That's stretching it...

In January Pinnacol was recognized as one of the 100 Healthiest Workplaces in America. It's always nice to receive these awards but I appreciate the time and effort that goes into the programs that make us eligible to even be considered for this type of recognition. Our Everyday Wellness program, ably managed by Vanessa and Paige, offers all sorts of programs to help employees remain active at work. From our now famous Treadmill Relays to our onsite wellness center and fitness classes, we have many options to choose from. I'm an avid cyclist, and we even have two bicycles available for free checkout so employees can go out for a spin. We also host monthly stretching sessions and many of our teams do daily stretching sessions on their own.

Now that the weather is finally starting to turn nice a lot of us are trying to shake those late winter blues by becoming more active. On April 30th we'll again be hosting the 9HeathFair and we'd encourage everyone to take advantage by visiting one of the 9HealthFair locations around town. Wellness doesn't just happen but at Pinnacol it seems that it's become another important part of our culture.

Software Development Manager opportunity now available!

We are looking for a Software Development Manager to manage and mentor the individual performance of the Application Services Developers that are assigned to our product development teams.  

Candidates for this role should be able to apply proven communication skills, problem-solving skills, and knowledge of best practices to guide his or her development team on issues related to the design, development, and deployment of mission-critical information and software systems.  This position leads our developers to establish consistency in software development best practices and standards, in collaboration with and approval of our Architecture Review Board.  The Software Development Manager also establishes and enforces performance standards and skill requirements for software developers across application services product teams and collaborates with other Application Services leaders and teams, and provides recommendations to management. 

Candidates must have proven team leadership skills to lead a medium-sized team of software developers.  A Bachelor’s Degree in any field, management or leadership experience in the information technology arena, and five years development experience is preferred. If interested we are asking candidates to apply on-line.

A quick note to our staffing partners: we are not asking for assistance regarding this position at this time.

Behavioral Interviewing... What's it all about?

Many companies, including Pinnacol Assurance, use Behavioral Interviewing techniques when they meet with candidates. You may be familiar with the term but every company seems to practice their own version of Behavioral Interviewing so I thought I'd share some insights as to how we use it with our company.

The purpose of our interviews is two-fold:

• Allow us to get to know who you really are
• Allow you to get to know who we really are

...with the purpose of determining if there is a close fit. A lot of 'How To' books on interview prep seem to focus on preparing the candidate to manage their upcoming interview to their own advantage. Sometimes this means portraying yourself as the "perfect" candidate and when that happens I think these prep books do everyone a disservice. Ultimately there is nothing worse, from both the candidate and the company perspective, of placing someone into a job they are not really suited for, or into an organization that doesn't meet the needs of the candidate. Employees tend to stay with Pinnacol for many years so fit is really important and the more you help us see the real you the more you help us to determine if there is a match.

We know what our job is and we also know what the key competencies (skills and abilities) are that would make someone successful in that role. Our goal in the interview is to determine if candidates have those key competencies. We do that by exploring what candidates have actually done in their prior jobs. Behavioral Interviewing is based on the premise that what people have actually done in their past is the best predictor of what they will do in the future.

The questions we'll ask you basically have four parts:

1. We'll ask you to describe a particular situation or task that you have faced at work
2. We'll then ask you to describe what you actually did - what actions you took and why
3. Outcomes matter - we'll then follow up by asking what was the result or outcome and what impact your actions had. We'll also likely ask what you learned from that situation or task

You can go out on the internet and find lots of practice questions and many of the 'How To' books encourage you to come to an interview with prepared responses. My recommendation is different. You can and should prepare for an interview but I'd recommend that instead of practicing for specific questions (which we may not even ask) you spend your time getting familiar with giving concise answers that follow the flow described above -

1. Describe a specific, real-life, job-related situation or task you have dealt with
2. Describe what you actually did in this real-life, job-related situation or task and why you did what you did
3. Tell us what the outcome was and how what you did made a difference. Then tell us what you learned from the experience

We don't expect you to have an automatic instant reply to our questions. In fact, candidates who respond too quickly are telegraphing that they are giving us a canned, prepared answer. Our Behavioral Interview questions should make you think, and that takes time, but by giving thoughtful answers you really are sharing the type of information we need to determine a match for our position.

Quick update on our current openings...

If you visit our jobs list you'll see we have several current opportunities so thought I would give everyone a quick update on where we stand with these openings.

• Claims Representative: this is geared towards entry candidates interested in pursuing a career in claims adjusting. We are still reviewing candidates so it is not too late to apply. A minimum of a Bachelor's degree is required for candidates not having substantial claims experience.
• Nurse Case Manager: We are still actively accepting applications for our Nurse opportunity. This is a great opportunity for those with a clinical background to explore a career option they may not have thought of. 
• Staff Counsel: While still considering additional candidates, we have been actively interviewing for this position so if you are still interested we would recommend getting your application in quickly!
• Underwriter: This position is open to those with direct, and substantial, experience as an insurance underwriter, preferably with direct exposure to workers' compensation. 
• Safety Consultant - Grand Junction/Western Slope: For our out of state candidates interested in relocating to Denver, this is not the position for you! Grand Junction is located in western Colorado about a three to four hour drive from Denver (on a good day). We need someone who wants to live and work in this part of the state as it is too long of a commute from our Denver office. The good news is that we have a brand new office in Grand Junction and from the pictures I've seen it looks really nice! And if you've never been to Grand Junction it's a wonderful place to live (more info on Grand Junction here)
• Bilingual Customer Service Representative: We are still actively reviewing candidates for this position so if interested we would encourage you to apply. This position also serves as the backup to our front desk receptionist. Fluency in both English and Spanish is required for this position.

Just another day at work: May 6th 1944

Anyone familiar with the insurance industry knows that it runs on records and documents of all kinds. From claims to policies everything  is documented. In today's world more and more of that documentation is digital and our records team is still in process of digitizing some of our older documents.

When I interview candidates most guess that Pinnacol is between 20-50 years old and they are often surprised that we are actually approaching our 100 year anniversary  next year. We do have customers who have been with us every day for our nearly one hundred years of service. Recently one of our Records staff, Jose, brought to my attention a document he was scanning that was older than most. This particular document was being processed by our company between May 6th and June 16th 1944. One of Jose's peers, Diane, asked me if I was with the company then. I respectfully assured them that was not the case!

The time frame between May 6th and June 16th 1944 saw events unfold that changed the course of the world and that have an impact to this day on everyone that calls planet earth home. Most will clearly recognize that the world was at war during this time, and the history buffs won't miss a beat by recognizing the key event during these days in May and June. In what has become known as D-Day, June 6th saw Allied forces land on the coast of France and by the end of the day German positions in Normandy would be bombarded with more than 175,000 troops, 600 warships, and nearly 10,000 bombers and other aircraft. By the end of June nearly a million Allied troops would be fighting on French soil. Allied leaders in the Pacific theater were planning a similar invasion of Japan for October of the following year. Peyton Manning recently brought new fame to the term "Omaha" but 70 years ago Omaha and Utah beaches on the Normandy coast were seeing some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

When our company received this paperwork on May 6th very, very few people had any inclination of what would be coming in the next several weeks. By the time we had finished processing it in mid-June Hitler had unleashed his long-promised "secret weapon" against England. Over the next 80 days, V-1 rockets would kill 5,500 civilians and cause widespread destruction.

And as is always the case with the cycle of life while death and destruction were raging in Europe and the Pacific some very famous people were being born  in the U.S. George Lucas (May 14th) and Gladys Knight (May 28th) were born while we were processing this paperwork, and Tim Rice, Danny DeVito, Diana Ross, Joe Frazier, Tony Orlando, and Barry White were born this year. And if you have a tendency to apply liberal amounts of sunscreen during the summer months you might be interested to know that Benjamin Green was trying to invent something to prevent soldiers from sunburn. He went on to create the Coppertone Company.

We tried to read the signature of the employee who first signed off on the paperwork but it was illegible. What we do know is that when they went home on that afternoon of May 7th 1944 if they stopped for gas they would have paid 15 cents a gallon and if they ran to the store for a loaf of bread it would have been an additional 10 cents. Doesn't sound like much but bear in mind the average annual wages in 1944 were $2,400, rents averaged $50/month, and the price of a new home was $3,450.

And the policyholder whose paperwork we were processing those 70 years ago? Jose looked it up and yes, they are still with us.