1. Employee Matters 11
When it comes to being responsible
for your own success, Tamara Saunders
has been there and done that. Her
success story is one of dedication and
commitment to learning and leveraging
a strong internal support system with
Aflac’s Career Success Center.
Tamara credits her success to these
top-four things she learned from her
visits to the Career Success Center:
BE DEDICATED.
Tamara began her career at Aflac in
2004 in the Mail Support department
as an indexing support specialist. She
took classes in what was then called
Corporate Training and Development
to further her skills. In 2006, she moved
to the Field Force Training and Devel-
opment department. While in FF&D,
she was promoted two times and is
now in her current position of Busi-
ness Process Analyst. In 2015, Tamara
celebrated her 10-year anniversary
with Aflac. Over the years, she has
taken nearly all of the classes offered
through LL&D, from learning more
about Aflac products to learning about
technical programs and professional
development.
BE A STAKEHOLDER IN YOUR OWN
CAREER.
After the Career Success Center opened
in 2014, Tamara visited the center on
several occasions to receive career
coaching, resume consultation, career
assessment testing and to attend mock
interviews. On one of the visits, she
received a mentor referral.
ALIGN YOURSELF WITH MENTORS.
She learned about the TEACH program
through the Career Success Center.
This program provides opportunities
for employees to connect with mentors.
Tamara was connected with her
Aflac mentor who passed on important
values, expertise and experience. The
TEACH program established open
communication between Tamara and
her mentor and helped her focus on
long-term goals – setting the stage for
professional success.
VOLUNTEER TO GIVE BACK.
Tamara is always the first to volunteer
not only to help her co-workers, but
the community as well. From volun-
teering with the Aflac Cancer Society,
the American Cancer Society, Christmas
is for Kids and Habitat for Humanity
to being on the Employee Appreciation
Week committee in past years, Tamara
volunteers not only to give back, but
to help her network with employees
throughout the company.
Most recently, Tamara attended the
first annual Aflac Career Awareness
Expo. At the event, she heard career
tips from Aflac executives, received
résumé writing tips, learned interview-
ing skills and met with representatives
from various Aflac departments. She
was one of the seven lucky attendees
to receive the grand prize: the opportu-
nity to attend a Real Talk session with
Teresa White.
In each position and department,
Tamara takes the opportunity to learn
all she can not only about her job, but
others in the department. She attributes
much of her success to the guidance
from the Career Success Center.
Currently, there are two Aflac locations
with Career Success Centers – Columbus
and Columbia. Locations in Albany and
Omaha are coming soon.
Spotlight on
TamaraSaunders
Aflac has a strong culture of being at the forefront of developing talent.
Since it opened its doors at Columbus’ PSA campus, the Career Success Center
has conducted more than 1,020 sessions to help clients grow their Aflac
careers to new heights. Here’s one story.
CAREER SUCCESS CENTER:
Learn how to make the Career Success Center
and TEACH work for you by visiting
myAflac > Employee Services > Career Success Center
or myAflac > About Aflac > TEACH.
by Brande Carden