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Hancock past In 1862, as the Civil War dragged on, a group of Boston businessman founded the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. Led by co-founder Albert Murdock, the company innovated in insurance, notably by becoming the first insurer to offer industrial insurance in 1879. A century later, John Hancock began to expand beyond insurance in 1968 with the formation of John Hancock Advisers, a unit offering mutual fund services. Expansion continued throughout the seventies and eighties, notably with forays into equipment leasing, real estate, even credit cards. Good times came to a halt, however, when the downturn of the 1990s brought the company considerable losses, forcing it to reorganize through the sale of key units including credit card and property/casualty. As the decade wore on, troubles continued with fraud investigations and a $350 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by policyholders. Hancock present Despite its troubles, in 1999 John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. remained one of the nation's top 15 life insurers, managing over $120 billion in total assets. The company's business divides into three main areas: Insurance Products, Investment Products, and Institutional Products. On the insurance side, John Hancock offers annuities, long term care insurance (payment of expenses in case of extended illness), survivorship insurance (or "second-to-die life insurance"), Term Life Insurance (protection in case of death), Variable Life Insurance (insurance with opportunity for cash accumulation), and Whole Life Insurance ("death protection with cash values"). On the investment side, the company offers mutual funds, funds for institutional investors, and Individual Retirement Accounts. Finally, John Hancock offers institutional investors products and services dealing in equity, fixed income, real estate, project finance, and employee benefits, among others. Hancock future While John Hancock can boast a long and storied history, the company certainly doesn't dwell in the past. In May 1998, it announced plans to "demutualize," or to convert from a company held by policyholders to one held by shareholders. The decision was ratified by Hancock's board in September 1999. The IPO took place in January 2000, helping the company get exactly what it wanted: shares to use as currency to buy up competitors. The company's new name is John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. Acquisition binge With all that fresh capital, John Hancock has been licking its chops and getting ready to acquire. The company has established a Strategic Acquisitions Unit to coordinate acquisitions that fit within overall plans to demutualize. Company insiders have indicated a general program to start small, and then to move to larger, multi-billion dollar deals. Many informants speculate that John Hancock and BankBoston may pair up. In comments to American Banker, Peter Mann, head of Hancock's financial institution's group, wouldn't confirm merger plans, but noted that "we're looking on the New England marketplace with renewed vigor, and we definitely want to have a strong relationship with BankBoston." High tech Hancock John Hancock has been recognized for the high tech features of its workplace, notably in business-to-business e-commerce. Roy Anderson, John Hancock's purchasing director, recently told The New York Times that the company planned to conduct $150 million worth of purchasing using the Internet in 1999. In doing so, the company anticipates savings of $20 million. Anderson notes that "you'd have to sell a lot of life insurance to make $20 million." Getting the IOC to come clean Early in 1999, president David D'Alessandro shocked the sports world by canceling John Hancock's TV advertising for the Atlanta Olympic Games in the wake of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal. He then threatened publicly to cancel Hancock's sponsorship, which would have meant a loss of millions of dollars to the Olympic committee. The move was risky - none of the 10 other U.S. corporate sponsors followed suit - but it proved to be a public relations triumph: D'Alessandro and the International Columpic Committee came to an agreement in February 2000 containing an ethics clause that gives the company the right to withdraw at any time if another scandal arises. D'Alessandro became CEO in June 2000.
The careers area of www.jhancock.com provides job seekers with a chance to browse opportunities on both the corporate and sales sides. The company recruits extensively on campus and at job fairs. Resumes may be submitted by mail, email at employment@jhancock.com, or by fax to (617)572-4539. Note that John Hancock's resume tracking system requires that all resumes adhere to the following conditions: white paper, laser quality print, a standard font size of 10 or larger, and no bold, italics, shading, underlining, borders, graphics, bells, or whistles. Our insiders tell us that interviews at John Hancock follows a fairly routine pattern: an interview with a human resources representative followed by an interview with a hiring manager and a varying number of department personnel. As for the content of the interviews, techies should expect "detailed questions." On the sales end, one insider stresses being able to communicate "people skills and communications abilities."
Formal, friendly, and about to seriously change Our insiders characterize John Hancock as a "formal company" that is "loosening up" - but slowly. One informant notes that because "John Hancock is in the process of demutualizing, the company and its culture are changing." Nevertheless, the same contact adds that "it has been a good company to work for - one that has managed to grow its traditional life business as well as to expand into new distribution channels with new products." Others agree, citing "friendly" colleagues and a generally "team-oriented" culture. Oh, lovely Hancock tower If nothing else, John Hancock is architecturally distinguished, and Boston employees say they enjoy working in one of the city's "most recognizable buildings" - the 60-story glass John Hancock Tower. While work schedules "vary by department," most people work "8 to 4:30 every day" and enjoy their "competitive" salaries. Regarding diversity, one insider in sales notes: "It is pretty much what you make of it. Some very successful agents sell almost exclusively to their own ethnic community. Others, who are just as successful, sell almost exclusively outside their own ethnic community."
A. Page Palmer Recruiting and Staffing1 PO BOX 111 Boston MA 02117 (617) 572-4539
Life insurance;Financial Services
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