[Miguela]

I am an insurance professional living in a Midwest city. My husband and I would love to live in VT for many of the positive reasons posted on this site. We have no love of city life, and mainly enjoy being outdoors, which is extremely difficult and time consuming for us to do here. However, the job constraints in VT are an issue. National Life of Vermont would be my likely option. Does anyone have any insight about working there, the future of the company, its viability, etc? Could anyone share their knowledge and/or experiences regarding life in Montpelier?

[MRVphotog]

They have been downsizing for the last few years. I was told they have around 3,000 emplyees down from 5,000. Vermont laws are not very insurance company friendly.

[vter]

I'm not an "insurance expert" by any means, but from what I understand, VT has become somewhat of a captive insurance(whatever that is) state. It has quite an industry here I guess. Maybe something to look into?
Other insurance companies that I know of in Vermont that are fairly large are Vermont Mutual (not sure where they are located) and Co-op in Middlebury.

[harry chickpea]

National Life has a website that provides some history. I have a friend who works there. The company is very solid, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to get in. Computerization and other factors have cut into the work force.

[leds]

I have worked at the company for the past few years and enjoyed the experience. The only cutbacks there have ever been were when they made the decision to outsource much of the IT functions three years ago (about 150 jobs). They got a lot of negative local press and it tarnished what was a stellar reputation within the community. That said, they are always hiring - there was an on-site job fair today. They are one of the largest employers in the state at roughly 1000 employees. A few of the nice perks are the view of Camel's Hump from the building (gorgeous), summer hours (7:45-3:45pm), and the on-site subsidized cafeteria managed by the New England Culinary Institute (yum). The company overall is very strong with record profitability last year and improving growth (albeit somewhat sluggish but still improving). Montpelier (or Montpeculiar as many refer to it) is a quaint and quirky little town with many amenities not found in towns 3 or 4x its size including a fair amount of good non-chain restaurants (low to high end), an art theater, a theater company, and more.

[MRVphotog]

Originally Posted by leds

I have worked at the company for the past few years and enjoyed the experience. The only cutbacks there have ever been were when they made the decision to outsource much of the IT functions three years ago (about 150 jobs). They got a lot of negative local press and it tarnished what was a stellar reputation within the community. That said, they are always hiring - there was an on-site job fair today. They are one of the largest employers in the state at roughly 1000 employees. A few of the nice perks are the view of Camel's Hump from the building (gorgeous), summer hours (7:45-3:45pm), and the on-site subsidized cafeteria managed by the New England Culinary Institute (yum). The company overall is very strong with record profitability last year and improving growth (albeit somewhat sluggish but still improving). Montpelier (or Montpeculiar as many refer to it) is a quaint and quirky little town with many amenities not found in towns 3 or 4x its size including a fair amount of good non-chain restaurants (low to high end), an art theater, a theater company, and more.

Thanks for the info, I heard it way wrong. Certainly dominates the view as your coming into Montpelier on Rt 2. I always wondered how tall the letters are for the sign on the building.