Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 4, 2015, at the 9th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesā successes.
These are their stories.
IIN: You were a long-time intern with Modern Woodmen of America and worked your way up to a full-time position. Can you tell me more about your career path so far and how the internship helped you get to this point?
LH: I interned with Modern Woodmen in Greenwood during the spring of my junior year in 2013. Then, I interned in a Modern Woodmen branch in the Chicago area during the summer of 2013. My senior year, I worked at a local bank. Then, I decided to go back to Modern Woodmen full-time after graduation.
I studied finance and always knew that I wanted to get into a career involving money management. In general, there are two sides to finance: personal finance and banking.
After exploring both, the choice was easy for me. The internship opened me up to the industry of personal finance as a whole. Then, the culture, values and leadership that we have with Modern Woodmen are very appealing.
IIN: What motivated you to do your best and go above-and-beyond in your internship?
LH: I took this internship seriously and treated it as if it were my job. Deyman took time out of his day to teach a college kid about finance one-on-one. Deyman is a great teacher, and the best mentor Iāve ever had. He truly cared about my future career success, whether that would eventually be with Modern Woodmen or not.
IIN: What do you love about being a financial advisor?
LH: First, is the flexibility. Although I truly am a āfinance junkie,ā the last thing I want to do is sit in an office from 8-5 every day. I get to be around the city, meeting with different people and helping them achieve their financial dreams and goals. Also, Iām an assistant coach on the menās soccer team at Franklin College. Iām able to attend practices and games because I can create my own schedule at work.
Secondly, I love that I get to take on as much responsibility as I choose to, and therefore I āearn what Iām worth.ā I had other job offers out of school, but I felt as if I wasnāt being given as much responsibility as I could handle. The average age of a financial advisor is 51 years old. Only 11% of advisors across the country are under the age of 35. I just turned 23. I canāt think of many corporate environments where a ākidā like myself has the same responsibilities and expectations of someone in their 50ās. Itās neat, I love it.
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The average age of a financial advisor is 51 years old. Only 11% of advisors across the country are under the age of 35. I just turned 23.
–Lucas Hill
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IIN: You are now a full-time Financial Representative with Modern Woodmen Financial. I understand you are being mentored to be a managing partner in the Greenwood firm ā when do you expect that transition to take place?
LH: Modern Woodmen has a well-defined Pathway to Leadership program. I have been involved in that since Day 1. Managing Partner is the next step. The transition has already begun, as Iām the Internship Coordinator for our summer internship this year. That will be a great experience for me. Iāve been involved in the selection process of interns, and Iāll be running the internship. That will include teaching them about the world of personal finance, taking our interns into the field, and helping them through the very beginning stages of building their own financial services practice. Iām very excited about it. Being a Managing Partner is a realistic possibility as early as the beginning of next year.
