Three Job Opportunities which Do I Take?

[insuremeplz]

I've recently moved to the bay area and am finding myself with three job offers. I'm torn and unable to make a decision. I'm trying to consider salary equally with long term growth and opportunity.

Job A: State Farm team member (producer)
$16/hour + Bonus. 3% 401k & Health Insurance paid. The agency manager claims that her top producers make $60k+ a year and I will have the opportunity to move into owning my own agency in two to three years. One consideration is that the job is only two miles from home and there won't be a commute.

Job B: Group health service person
$48,000/year. Life/Health/LTD/3% 401k. Mostly handling day to day service work for a small life and health agency. They have many local small group and medium group health clients. I worry about the future of health insurance and my chance to grow with this agency but a guaranteed salary is nice. There is also a 40 minute commute.

Job C: Progressive claims adjustor.
$52,000 a year. Life/Health/6% 401k. Gainshare bonus every year of around $2,000. More of a corporate environment, room to grow into middle management. I have no experience with claims but there is a training period. Hours could be longer than the other two positions, and I also work Tuesday-Saturday. I would also have a 40 minute commute to this position.

Any advice?

 

[WinoBlues]

I've recently moved to the bay area and am finding myself with three job offers. I'm torn and unable to make a decision. I'm trying to consider salary equally with long term growth and opportunity.

Job A: State Farm team member (producer)
$16/hour + Bonus. 3% 401k & Health Insurance paid. The agency manager claims that her top producers make $60k+ a year and I will have the opportunity to move into owning my own agency in two to three years. One consideration is that the job is only two miles from home and there won't be a commute.

Job B: Group health service person
$48,000/year. Life/Health/LTD/3% 401k. Mostly handling day to day service work for a small life and health agency. They have many local small group and medium group health clients. I worry about the future of health insurance and my chance to grow with this agency but a guaranteed salary is nice. There is also a 40 minute commute.

Job C: Progressive claims adjustor.
$52,000 a year. Life/Health/6% 401k. Gainshare bonus every year of around $2,000. More of a corporate environment, room to grow into middle management. I have no experience with claims but there is a training period. Hours could be longer than the other two positions, and I also work Tuesday-Saturday. I would also have a 40 minute commute to this position.

Any advice?

Only you can answer your question.

However, my thoughts are. If you are talking about the San Francisco Bay Area you can not rent half a garage conversion on (opt A) $16 an hour. Their top guy is making enough to rent a two bedroom apartment and live in the East Bay.

Opt B) I would look at that as a starting job with a salary while learning insurance. Not a career job.

Opt C) that could be a career job or a path to a career job. There are a lot of claims offices in the Bay Area.

If you have a working spouse and no kids it is infinity easier of course.

Great area to live. I lived in the tri-valley area.

 

[indienoise]

Also, I really wouldn't consider the opportunity to "own" a State Farm agency a perk whatsoever. Search for some threads on the subject if you don't already know why. I would politely decline option A. Between the other two, which lines up better with your long term goals? I would be more concerned with that than the negligible pay difference.

 

[harveenx2]

I've recently moved to the bay area and am finding myself with three job offers. I'm torn and unable to make a decision. I'm trying to consider salary equally with long term growth and opportunity.

Job A: State Farm team member (producer)
$16/hour + Bonus. 3% 401k & Health Insurance paid. The agency manager claims that her top producers make $60k+ a year and I will have the opportunity to move into owning my own agency in two to three years. One consideration is that the job is only two miles from home and there won't be a commute.

Job B: Group health service person
$48,000/year. Life/Health/LTD/3% 401k. Mostly handling day to day service work for a small life and health agency. They have many local small group and medium group health clients. I worry about the future of health insurance and my chance to grow with this agency but a guaranteed salary is nice. There is also a 40 minute commute.

Job C: Progressive claims adjustor.
$52,000 a year. Life/Health/6% 401k. Gainshare bonus every year of around $2,000. More of a corporate environment, room to grow into middle management. I have no experience with claims but there is a training period. Hours could be longer than the other two positions, and I also work Tuesday-Saturday. I would also have a 40 minute commute to this position.

Any advice?

Isn't the training period for a claims adjuster like 12 weeks? And are you taking her word on the 60k+, on job A? Is it possible you could get stuck making less than 40k a year?

 

[kgmom219]

Where do you want to be in 10 years?

Do you want to be an employee or a business owner?

Figure out those answers first, then decide.

But based on your post...go with B.

 

[AlTheGud1sRtakn]

Keep in mind that sales positions overall have about a 90% fail rate in the first year. Her top producers making $60k a year doesn't mean much if there's a 90% chance you won't be there in a year. Given that you're looking at non-sales jobs I'm thinking that sales may not be for you. I'm also making a whole lot of assumptions based off of very little information so I could be way off base here.

B sounds the easiest to get started in. C has slightly more pay and sounds like it offers better benefits (both of these seem negligible) but the big difference is that C sounds like it offers more upwards mobility. Can you handle a 40 minute commute for a few years while getting your career on a good path? You'll likely switch agencies eventually so the 40 minute commute may not be permanent.

 

[insuremeplz]

Thank you all so much for the advice. I ended up going with option C. It seems much more like a career path and has much more room for growth than the other two options. I was initially swayed by the opportunity to own my own State Farm agency, but through reading here it seem as of late it's not as big of an opportunity as it once was. Thanks again!

 

[indienoise]

Best of luck to you!

 

[PhilL]

Good choice of the three. My Son started his career in claims a few years ago and is now a Team Leader, supervising six people throughout the US. Good solid background and lots of claims jobs available for you in the future, as companies are looking for motivated adjusters, with a year or two of experience.
All the best!