Within a year, what started as an exciting and promising career transpired into long hours, not enough money and a low sense of fulfillment.

One day I mentioned to a fraternity brother that I was unhappy with my position in New York and thinking about pursuing a new career path - I just wasn’t sure what that would be. He put me in touch with his mother, a seasoned and successful retail insurance agent in Chicago. I had a very enlightening conversation with her, and she assured me that insurance was not the boring industry I had in mind, but an engaging, relationship-based business that drives our entire economy.

I took her advice and began looking into the insurance industry, which led me to my current job as a commercial underwriter at Burns & Wilcox Chicago, the largest independent wholesale insurance brokerage firm and underwriting manager in the U.S.

I know what you’re thinking. I must endure long days of phone calls and number crunching in a stuffy, dreary office, chocked full of middle-aged men with coffee stains on their shirts. It sounds like a scene right out of “Office Space,” right? At Burns & Wilcox that misperception could not be farther from reality.

At our Chicago office, the median age is 29 and the company is brimming with young, ambitious individuals. We work hard, but we play hard too - taking team outings to hockey games, playing rounds of golf, attending both carrier events and agent happy hours, participating in Burns & Wilcox athletic teams, running office charity marathons and enjoying Chicago’s vibrant nightlife. No two days are the same. I am constantly challenged to learn and grow - and not by long hours and cranky hotel guests. The business is stimulating and rewarding, and I never know what types of challenges I will be tackling when I walk through the door.

Two years in, I can truly say that nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment of brokering a deal from start to finish. But back in 2013, I didn’t know much about the industry and wondered how my background in hospitality would translate into insurance.

It turns out my hospitality experience has been invaluable. The skills I learned at MSU’s School of Hospitality Business and at the Sheraton Times Square are instrumental to my role at Burns & Wilcox, where I foster relationships and build rapport with clients and insurance agents every day.

While you can’t major in insurance at MSU yet, classes in communication, hospitality and finance help develop translatable skills that will set you apart in insurance. Additionally, Alan Kaufman, CEO of Burns & Wilcox and Spartan graduate, recently pledged $1 million to endow a faculty professorship in insurance and risk management within MSU’s Eli Broad College of Business. This commitment to insurance education permeates throughout the company, where our senior leaders prioritize junior training and development.

With that in mind, if you are looking for a job with unlimited earning potential, a great work/life balance and an employer who will invest in your success, I encourage you to take a moment to simply consider a career in insurance. Although many people do not like the word “risk,” we thrive on it in this industry. I suggest you take one and give the insurance industry a chance to change your life for the better.

Brad Cocklin is a 2012 MSU alumnus.