Expys Awards!

Today I attended the Expy Awards in Cleveland with two members of our Human Resources staff and one of our former interns. The Expys are presented by the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education (NOCHE) and recognizes the best experiential learning programs in Northeast Ohio.

The awards included Best Intern, Best Mentor, Coolest Internship, Best New Internship, Best Overall Internship. Equity Trust Company was a finalist for both Best Intern and Best Overall Internship. While we did not win either we did finish in the Top 5 out of over 200 applicants. That is something to be proud of!

For more information on the awards and a list of the finalists you can visit CBC Magazine Expy Finalists

Welcome Home!

Hello! My name is Eric Groesch and I am also a Leadership Trainee at Equity Trust Company. I am a recent graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College with a degree in Business Management. Upon starting in the Leadership Training Program I began June 21st with a five week investment training where I learned about the types of retirement plans we offer, the kinds of investments that our clients make and our company history. The past five weeks have allowed me to get a good grasp of the company, our values, and our commitment to our clients.

To give you a better idea of what the Leadership Program is I will be posting updates on my experiences in the program. The Leadership Training Program is an 19 month journey through the company. The program is split into three, six-month rotations. The first rotation that I have currently started is in our Client Services Department where I will have the opportunity to assist our clients by educating them on our retirement plans and investments as well as work on different projects. After this rotation I will move to our Service Excellence Department where I will be trained in Lean Six Sigma and learn about process improvement and business project management. The third rotation will be my Leadership Rotation in our Operations Department where I will be able to further develop my managment skills.

While going through these three rotations I will also have the opportunity to take part in many different Passport Journeys, where I will have the opportunity to meet with the managers, supervisors, and the CEO of Equity Trust Company. As a part of my first Passport Journey I have been reading the book From Good To Great by Jim Collins. This book highlights the key findings in what has allowed good/average companies to make the leap to a great company.

I am very excited to be beginning my first rotation here in Client Services and I look forward to the many experiences and opportunities I will have along the way!

Recruiting!

As my last post indicated, I am now involved in the Human Resources Department assisting as a recruiter for both Equity Trust Company and Sterling Trust Company (which is located in Waco, Texas). For the past month I have had the opportunity to work closely with the Corporate Recruiter, Amanda Thompson, to learn the procedures and skills necessary to be a successful recruiter. Throughout the past month I have been interviewing candidates for a variety of positions for both Equity Trust and Sterling Trust. I conduct phone interviews with candidates for different positions on a daily basis. I also have been scheduling in person interviews and sitting in on those as well. I am learning a ton about the questions to ask, answers to look for and how to determine if a candidate possess the core competencies necessary to fulfill the open positions. As both Equity Trust and Sterling Trust continue to grow, there are many open positions that we have been looking to fill. Every day is exciting and fast paced. As Colin mentioned in his last post, I too remember job hunting and sitting in on interviews not too long ago. It has been a fun experience to get the opportunity to be on the reverse side of an interview.

I also have been finishing up on my strategic mapping project that was dealing with fee awareness and our competitor's fees. I have created a spreadsheet which provides an at a glance reference comparing our annual fees and service fees with those of our main industry competitors. I also made a coinciding PowerPoint to possibly be referenced or used for continued education training or new hire training. Fees are something that our prospects and clients seem to have many questions about and knowing how our company compares to others out there can help strengthen our competitive advantage.

Meeting Deadlines

After Rachel’s recent departure from the Client Services Department, I have been focusing heavily on the call volume project to help prepare CST for tax season. Rachel and I had nearly completed the project by the end of November, so I have been working hard to tie up any loose ends associated with it. Earlier today, I sent the final versions of two Excel files with all of the call volume and staffing data requested by the CST Supervisors and Manager. I am confident that our recommendations will be approved and implemented. After three months of analyzing call volume data and staffing models, the work that Rachel and I did will finally pay off!

In addition to the call volume project, Rachel and I have also been delegating our tasks as Equity Trust Company’s Facebook Administrators. We met with the CST Management Team to choose two great Client Service Representatives who can assume the responsibilities of this project. Like Rachel, I will also be moving on to the next rotation of the Leadership Program in the near future, so training two new Facebook Administrators is imperative before I leave the Client Services Department. So far, the transition is going smoothly.

A fun and exciting part of my job over the last three weeks has been interviewing candidates for open positions in CST. After spending time as a job applicant during college internship searches and job searches after graduation, it was interesting to be on the other side of the desk as an interviewer. Rachel and I were recently trained on Equity Trust Company’s Topgrading methodologies, so the recent interviews have been excellent opportunities to learn how Topgrading practices can be applied. Not only were the interviews great learning experiences, but they served as reminders that I work for a growing, successful organization. I hope to learn the results of our hiring process before I move on to the next rotation in the Service Excellence Department.

Welcome to CST...

My name is Rachel Cain and I, like Colin, am a Leadership Trainee at Equity Trust Company. I started on June 22, 2009 after graduating from Ohio University with a degree in Finance. The first five weeks were dedicated to an intense training program. Within this training I learned about everything from retirement accounts and investments to information about our company and the mission that Equity Trust strives to achieve.

Since training, I have been in the Client Services Department. On a daily basis I take incoming calls from our clients and their representatives to go over procedures for investing and maintaining their self directed retirement accounts. Being on the ‘front lines’ of the company and interacting with our clients has been extremely beneficial to furthering my understanding of what Equity Trust offers and the investments in which clients are currently pursuing. While in this current rotation, I have been working on numerous projects with the CST supervisors and manager in hopes that some of the ideas brought to the table are implemented within the department.

As a leadership trainee, we are participating in a program referred to as the ‘Passport Journey.’ Throughout my first couple of months with the company, I have had the opportunity to meet one on one with many of the members of our executive team. I had the unique opportunity to go out to dinner with the CEO of Equity Trust, Jeff Desich. It is nearly unheard of to find that type of individual attention to a leadership program within a growing company. Along with the CEO, I have met with additional vice presidents and mangers of numerous departments. Through these meetings I have had the chance to learn about specific departments and find out about the vision that these leaders possess. We were even able to go out for a happy hour with some of the executives. Events like these weren't only fun, but they gave me a chance to interact with our company’s leaders outside of the workplace.

Throughout this blog, Colin and I will provide updates in relation to projects we are working on, events that we attend and the every day experiences of a Leadership Trainee at Equity Trust Company.

The First Two Rotations: Investment Training and Client Services

It’s been a fast-paced six-month period in the first two rotations of the Leadership Program, and this blog is our newest project. I’m Colin Trimble, one of the first two Leadership Trainees at Equity Trust Company. My first day of orientation was April 27, 2009, and I spent the next five weeks in investment training. After learning a lot about self-directed IRAs and non-traditional investing, my training class and I moved on to the Client Services Department.

While working with the Client Services Team (CST), I’ve worked closely with our Supervisors and Manager on projects to improve our services to clients, identify areas for improvement, and get a solid grasp of CST’s role within the company. An essential part of my learning experience has been answering clients’ calls about their retirement accounts and investment options. This has given me a thorough understanding of our clients’ experiences and how Equity Trust delivers exceptional client service.

Since the beginning of my experience at Equity Trust, I’ve received great support from people throughout the company. The Human Resources Recruiter who first interviewed me continues to be a helpful resource today, and I meet with the CST Supervisors and Manager on a regular basis to discuss new project ideas and push current projects towards implementation. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet with executives from each department of the company to learn about how they lead their teams and what their staffs do on a daily basis. From discussions with our CEO, Vice Presidents, and Department Managers such as my mentor, the Operations Manager, I’ve developed a good understanding of what it takes to launch a successful career as a leader at Equity Trust.

On the lighter side, I’ve enjoyed the fun activities that Equity Trust hosts on a regular basis. Within a few months of my first day on the job, I joined my co-workers at a Cleveland Indians game, spent an afternoon racing go-karts and hitting baseballs, and enjoyed potlucks, birthday celebrations, and pizza parties. The people here work hard to deliver on Equity Trust’s mission, but they also make a commitment to have fun at the same time.

I’ll follow up soon with more details on my previous and current projects. For now, I’ll pass the baton to my fellow Leadership Trainee, Rachel, to tell you about her experiences at Equity Trust.