Bison Bellows – Connor Santoni

Connor Santoni, from Harwich, Massachusetts, will graduate in the spring of 2022 with a degree in Finance with a focus on Investments. He worked for Northwestern Mutual as a Financial Planner Intern. Connor started his internship virtually during COVID but stated that when in the office, everyone had to wear masks and all meetings were held virtually.

Connor was required to get licenses for the right to sell life, health, and disability insurance. After hours of studying and passing two state-mandated exams, he was able to start a typical workday. When asked about the day-to-day experience, Connor staid “My day-to-day experience included actively finding new prospects to reach out to, setting meetings with these prospects. After the meetings were set, next was finding the prospects financial goals and analyzing information to find the best way to reach these goals through different strategies.

Connor felt interning during the pandemic was beneficial and stated “Honestly, I felt it was very beneficial, working in the insurance world there were a lot of barriers about in-person signatures, etc. With Zoom and training hours on end, the ability to reach new clients and talk with more prospects was much higher.

One takeaway and advice Connor would give to others is that “you never know how hard of a worker you are until you are faced with adversity. In everyday life, there are going to be conflicts or hurdles but the way you respond to them shows how bad you really want to succeed. Keep your nose down and grind through the hard work and the job can be very rewarding.

We would like to thank Connor for taking the time to talk about his experience interning through the pandemic. The CPDC wishes you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

By Deegan Eggleston
Deegan Eggleston