Accidental Internship Creates Success For Baltimore Insurance Owner
Eric Silverman is the principal and owner of Silverman Benefits Group. Located in Bel Air, Silverman Benefits Group is a full-service employee benefits firm specializing in supplemental health insurance products to fill the gaps left by traditional major medical healthcare. Silverman says that his career success was completely accidental. As a college student he was seeking out an internship in hopes of gaining some valuable real world business experience and saw a flier for an internship with an insurance agency. So began what would become a fulfilling and lasting career.
Silverman graduated from Towson University with a bachelor's degree in marketing with a concentration in public relations and advertising. He has been working in the insurance industry for 15 years.
What are the responsibilities of your current role?
"I own and run the Silverman Benefits Group. I am in charge of all aspects of the business, from recruiting, training and development, to day-to-day operations, sales, marketing, management, new business acquisition, client retention and customer service. I have been very fortunate to be able to surround myself with the most talented staff in the business."
What is your favorite part about your daily duties?
"I actually enjoy all aspects of my daily activities. I go out of my way to put specialists and managers in charge of various departments and projects where I know they'll prove to be a better fit than me personally. I always want to do what's best for the client, my staff, and ultimately the growth of our firm; often times, that means trusting and allowing someone besides myself to take the lead and do what they do best."
How has your education and training prepared you for your current role?
"I certainly learned a lot while studying business and marketing at Towson University."
What do you do to continue your education and training?
"The insurance industry is regulated by the state and federal government. By law, insurance industry professionals are required to obtain continuing education credits every two years to remain licensed and active. We are constantly training throughout each week, all throughout the year. Training isn't a one-time thing; it's a process and culture that must be created whereby all team members are held accountable to bettering themselves."
Do you have any advice for others looking to enter this field?
"I recently wrote an article for a nationally printed and online industry trade publication where I titled it 'Millennials Need Internships… but Insurance Just Isn't Very Sexy.' In it, I described the reasons behind why not only college students, but also society in general, never thinks about the insurance industry as a viable career. In fact, I would have never even considered this industry or given any thought about the insurance world had it not been for that one day in the late fall of 1999 where I accidentally happened upon an internship description that would forever change my life."
Laura Catherine Hermoza has a lifelong love for writing. In addition to serving as a contributor to various media publications, she is also a published novelist of several books and works as a proofreader/editor. LC resides in Baltimore County.
