Curtis Nilsen
- Participant Account Representative
- Mutual of America Financial Group
School Information
School: University of Washington
College Major: Business
Years at College Works: 2016-2017
Career Information
Working For: Mutual of America Financial Group
Title: Participant Account Representative
Industry: Finance
Brief Description of Duties / Responsibilities:
Financial Participant Account Representative with a demonstrated history in employer-sponsored plan administration, spanning 3 states and over 40 organizations, responsible for generating account growth, retention, and relations. Skilled in sales, Mutual Funds, Series 6, Series 63, Life and Health Insurance Licenses and Defined Benefit.
What Has Been Your Proudest Accomplishment Post-CWP?Placing 2nd in state and breaking that 100k mark.
College Works Career Impact
In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?
My most empowering moment.
How did your CW experience impact your career? Immediately after graduation? Now?
The skill set learned was directly applicable and translatable to The Sherwin-Williams company. So much so I received the job offer 8 months prior to graduation. Having experience in the production side of the painting business makes my selling ability more effective than my peers.
What do you want to tell your clients about what it meant to work with them and how it has helped you get to where you are today?
Jason Reichart. His easy going nature widely set him apart from other homeowners in Sammamish. His job went over nearly without a hitch. Was super cool with letting me come back at a later time to finish low priority touch ups.
What was the greatest lesson you learned from your CW experience?
You are only as good as your word.
How have the friendships and networks you built during CW affected you?
My best friend and roommate in College I met at College Works Painting.
If you had to come up with a one line slogan for CW, what would it be?
Trial by fire, burn or be burned.
Advice
What advice do you have for potential CW participants? Current CW participants?
You need to love the grind. Or learn to love the process of the grind. There is no magic formula, you??e only going to get out of the internship as much as you put in.
Many college students struggle to choose between an internship specific to their target industry or doing CW. What advice would you give them on this subject if they wanted to enter your career field?
Tangible sales experience, and more so management experience, is highly sought after by employers of all fields. They can teach you their business, but not work ethic or responsibility. College Works Painting is a great measurement of those abilities.
What’s your best advice for someone interested in entering your career field?
You need to be vested in your clients??business. You will only be as successful as their business material demands.
What’s your favorite memory from CW?
Collecting on the job that put me over 100k produced.
Last words of wisdom?
Do what you say you are gonna do.