Esurance Espress Representative Interview

Interviewed Dec 2011 in Tampa, FL (took 4+ weeks)

I applied to Esurance via their website and I also applied on Career builder. About 2 months later I got an email about a job fair they were having. I went and interviewed with one of the mangers. I did a good job. I came prepared with my performance evaluation, examples of work I do and information about out rewards and recognition program. The lady was impressed. She told me that they would call me in a week after all the manager calibrated about the applicants they interview. The next Monday, I was sitting next to my phone. I was scared to use it waiting on a call back. Nothing. So the rest of the week, I was checking my phone.- Nothing. Week Two- nothing. Week 3- nothing. On the fourth week, Kendra, the claims recruiter called me to say, that she got my application from the job fair, there was 2 openings for the express rep position, and would I like to come in and interview for it.
I scheduled my interview for 2 days later @ 2pm, which ironically was exactly one month after the job fair. I did a lot of preparation. I stayed up late for two nights looking up claims reps do and looking for question they may ask me in the interview. I put together a huge portfolio with examples of my work, like I did for the job fair. I left work early to mentally prepare. I was thinking, I was a shoe in for the job and was not going to go back if I was extended an offer.
SO I get to the interview 20 minutes early, but the interview still started at 2pm. 2 people interviewed me, a man and a woman. They took me in a little conference room near the entrance, I did not get to see the inside of the office.
They interviewers were nice, but not very chatty like most managers are. They had a copy of my resume and some questions stapled behind it on another sheet. They went down the resume:
How long have I worked there, what do I do, do I like it, why was I not interest in a claims rep at the company I work for…then they asked me about a stressful situation? Describe a time I had to conform to a procedure I did not agree with? How do I deal with conflict? Describe a time I dealt with an upset customer?
They told me about the position, they pay ($15.60 an hour) , the hours Tuesday, through Saturday)
I thought I did a good job. I was making them laugh and providing a lot of information.
Then I asked them my questions. I asked if they have overtime. They said yes, but once they are staffed 100% they may not.
I asked how long you have to stay in position before posting out. They said a year.
I asked about working from home? Not for claims
I asked how many people get promoted? Out of 7, 2 got promoted. They only have 15 people in their express rep position which was impressive to me. My company has over 400 people in my department. And when they post a job, they only have 2 positions available. Do the math. They competition sucks.
Then the interview ended, they told me they would call me after the Christmas break. I was really disappointed. I thought I had the job in the bag. They said they needed to interview the rest of the applicants. But I felt, if they liked me, they would let me know right then. My husband applied for the cancel save position and he was extended an offer right there. Maybe they have different procedures in the express rep position that the cancel save. But I feel very saddened and anxious. I hate waiting. But I will continue this post whether I get the job or not. I wish someone had posted their experience so I would have had an idea what to do. I invested a great deal of time in buying stock paper for my resume and hours and printing out documents for my portfolio and they didn’t even care to look at it.
I’m really confident there is still hope for me. It looks like a great company. And its small right now, only 1700 reps total. Which means I can be a big estimator by the time the business grows. All State just joined with them, so I know the business will get huge soon.