Career Path Stories

From Co-op to Dream Job

When reflecting on his internship experience at TMNAS, Henry Russell shared that the company gave him the opportunity to hit the ground running. It was this sense of ownership and responsibility that made him love the job and drove him to pursue a full-time position at TMNAS following his time as a Drexel Co-op.

TMNAS has been hiring Drexel Co-ops for more than 12 years, starting in the Accounting department, and now has five to six co-op positions across multiple departments, including Accounting/Finance, Internal Audit, Information Technology, and Corporate Communications.

Carl Gaines, Charles (Henry) Russell, and Jason Liang are previous participants of the program at TMNAS who were transformed by their experiences and eager to share their stories. They are among numerous full-time employees who started at the company as interns. In fact, TMNAS converts 25-30% of its interns to full-time employees.

Carl Gaines started with TMNAS’ sister company, Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY), back in 2000. Due to this being the start of the Co-op Program at PHLY, he recalls being in a very undefined role. Most of the work he received was centered around customer service, including filing and similar tasks. However, Carl gradually gained more responsibilities in different areas by asking questions and taking initiative. After this internship, he continued with PHLY part-time while he was back in classes at Drexel. He stayed at the company for his next co-op as well and was hired full-time after his graduation. After TMNAS was formed in 2012 to provide shared services to PHLY and other Tokio Marine Group companies, Carl became part of the new company with the IT department. He is now a Senior IT Manager and manages Drexel Co-ops himself, even having hired one full-time on his team.

Charles (Henry) Russell joined TMNAS as a co-op in 2017, having done a previous co-op at the University of Pennsylvania. He started off doing profit share analysis, and then moved to a more general accounting role. Henry graduated from Drexel in 2019 and was hired full-time with TMNAS as an Accountant. He is now a Financial Analyst.

Jason Liang completed a co-op with TMNAS on the Accounting team after an experience in a fully remote position with a larger organization. In his co-op with the other company, he recalls not receiving much guidance due to the size of the company and its limited resources to invest in an intern. Jason was looking for a more collaborative experience, and he says that’s what he found at TMNAS. He remembers choosing TMNAS because it offered him the opportunity to work in person and have a more hands-on experience with a team that made him feel welcome. Jason is now a full-time employee at TMNAS, as part of the Financial Reporting team and sits exactly where he did during his Co-op.

Below are some of the questions we asked these previous Co-op Program participants and their responses.

How did your Drexel co-op experiences (both at TMNAS and any other organizations) prepare you for your career?

Jason: The co-op experience gave me a much better understanding of what the job market is like. It was very different than just a regular internship. I felt like I was given a lot more responsibilities than a regular intern would be given. I felt like I was placed into what a full-time employee would do, but just with more guidance from my fellow team members. So, I would say that's the biggest edge, just being able to get more real-life experience compared to if you were to intern at a bigger company, you might not have as much one-on-one experience with your team or as much guidance, it'll be a lot more self-learning compared to guided learning.

Carl: It prepared me by being given the opportunity for someone to come in and say, we’re going to give you six months of specialized work experience. It was not as if it was only grabbing coffee type of position. They gave actual work-related tasks, even though at first it was just filing. It was more department specific work that I had to do. Giving me more specialized work was kind of how it prepared me for my future. It was an eye-opening experience and reality check that I was no longer in school and a part of the real world.

Henry: Responsibilities. As interns, a lot of the times we were given the responsibilities that I think interns don’t usually have. Also, the summer internship project. It taught me a lot because I was presenting to all the executives to bring up new ideas, talking with them, getting to know how they see the company. Having that experience as an intern kind of helped me say "OK, I've done this before. How did the different departments see everything?"

What made you want to work full-time at TMNAS?

Jason: Honestly, it was the environment and the team I was with. Everyone was extremely friendly. No one had any problems with me asking as many questions as I did when I was interning here, and I had a lot of questions. I still do. I felt like everyone wanted to see me do well rather than just focusing on themselves. So, I always felt very welcome wherever I went, and they always encouraged me to do more things to improve my career.

Carl: If you learn one thing and you ask for more, people trust you and you're given the opportunity to do more. So while doing the mundane work in the beginning may not seem that challenging, asking for more led me to think, “OK, that’s interesting. I want to know more about this.” The more you are here and you are ambitious, the more you learn about the business, you will never get bored. That same perspective is what I had and how I went through several different departments over my career because I thought, “I’ve kind of learned all I can. I want to learn something new.”

Henry: One of the things that really stood out to me is that I was given interns to be responsible for and checked their work while I was an intern. During busy season for profit sharing, there was a time where we had to do a lot and I was able to check over the interns’ work. Being given that responsibility and freedom made me feel like I was ready to go. I did a previous Co-op, but I feel like TMNAS is one where I had the opportunity to hit the ground running. That was something that made it feel like a real place and I loved it. That’s kind of what drove me to be full-time here.

Why do you think students should consider TMNAS for their co-op or internship?

Jason: At TMNAS, I felt like I was less of an intern and more of just an employee on the team. I feel like I got to experience a lot more. I was involved in a lot more projects and work assignments compared to my internships at previous places, and I felt like communication was also a lot better at TMNAS. I was able to talk to my manager a lot more, and they weren't always unavailable or only reaching out when there were certain projects I needed to do. I could communicate with them on a daily basis as well. So that really helped to create a bond there, which is why I would recommend TMNAS.

Carl: It’s an opportunity where you can learn as much as you’re willing to learn. If you come here and your thoughts are that you want to be a System Administrator, we're going to show you what it takes to be one and provide you with the information. But that information isn’t worth anything if you don’t ask why and how or want to learn. If you want to learn and grow in your career, it definitely helps you succeed at TMNAS.

One of our previous Co-ops wanted to know more and we shared the information with him and trained him. Then we said, “rather than having you leave after six months, would you like to stay and work part-time?” Then he stayed for his next co-op. Later when he learned the skills and how to complete the tasks and then get to the end goal and was very good at it, I asked, “would you be interested in a full-time position?” Realizing his potential, I worked with my Manager and our VP to get him a position here.

Henry: It's much more hands on. I learned a whole lot more interning for TMNAS than I did at school. Honestly, I think one of the benefits of Drexel was the Co-op Program because again, I probably learned more here than I did in classes and everything. And I think TMNAS does a good job of providing that to every intern.

Through the Drexel Co-op program, TMNAS provides students with six months of valuable full-time work experience in their chosen field. Carl and Henry are examples of the transformative power of this program, having transitioned from co-ops to esteemed full-time employees. The Co-op Program allowed them to explore their interests, make meaningful connections, and jumpstart their career during their college years. To learn more about the culture and career opportunities TMNAS has to offer, visit: https://careers.tmnas.com/