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Amy Gigilio, Recruiting Manager, Aflac (Columbus, Ga.)
Amy Gigilio, Recruiting Manager, Aflac (Columbus, Ga.)
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Aflac Empowers IT Professionals as Trusted Advisers

By treating IT professionals as trusted advisers to the business, Aflac provides them with more career opportunities and improved job satisfaction.

Amy Gigilio, AflacInsurance companies must compete with other industries for a diminishing supply of skilled workers. What role does carriers' IT play in attracting and retaining top talent, and how can companies leverage Web 2.0 tools to recruit qualified workers?

From the recent graduate seeking his or her first position to the veteran technology expert, a job within the insurance industry can be a viable career choice for IT professionals. There are various career opportunities that help the IT professional develop skills and perfect software knowledge by working on initiatives and upgrades that provide better customer service interactions.

At Aflac, the information technology division has a seat at the business table, which can lead to greater career longevity as opposed to being a typical service provider. Being a good partner to the Aflac business leadership means that IT had to shift from being an "order taker" to that of a trusted adviser, which can improve job appeal and satisfaction for IT workers.

One of the top goals in Aflac's IT department is to empower the sales force and staff in using technology to help make them successful, faster and more efficient. Empowering our agents and employees through technology not only helps them to deliver more efficient customer service to our existing policyholders, accounts and prospective clients, it can help them in their efforts to further build their own sales operation.

The use of emerging technology has been a critical piece in recruiting and retaining top talent. The use of professional and social networking sites -- such as LinkedIn, Ziggs, MySpace and Facebook -- has been a very important part in recruiting talent to Aflac. Wikis and blogs also are another area that we specifically started utilizing last year and in which we have had some great success in recruiting IT professionals.

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