What’s Your CEBS Story? George Morin, CEBS

Earning your Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation is a learning journey. Along the way, you acquire valuable employee benefits knowledge and relevant new skills. As you apply what you’ve learned to your work, you can forge a unique career pathway that is truly your own. Here’s a designee’s CEBS story.

A Chat With George Morin, CEBS

George Morin, CEBS, AICB, PFP
Relationship Manager
RBC Royal Bank

Could you share some insight about how pursuing your CEBS designation demonstrates that you are a lifelong learner and an expert in your profession?

“When I introduce myself as a CEBS designation holder, I have instant credibility as an employee benefits expert. This has opened the door to new business opportunities and has plan sponsors more readily accepting my recommendations for member financial advice presentations and individual financial counselling sessions in the workplace for the betterment of the members and overall plan health. The CEBS designation in my email signature line is recognized by many of the plan sponsors I support and has resulted in those sponsors reaching out to me for support with areas of their employee benefits that are delivered by other providers, allowing me to enhance my relationship with them and earn additional business. This instant credibility and seeking me out for support confirm to me the power of the designation, four letters that are so powerful within the employee benefits industry.”

Could you share a story about how you prepared for your CEBS exams and applied what you learned to your work?

“I found preparing for my CEBS exams supported my daily advice to plan sponsors and made my meetings with sponsors more impactful. I incorporated the Study Materials into my strategy of advice for plan sponsors and built my sponsor meeting agendas around the opportunities I had uncovered, utilizing the CEBS key learning to reinforce my advice. This experiential learning of integrating the Study Materials into my daily activities with plan sponsors allowed me to connect the theories and knowledge covered in the modules to real-world situations. This enabled me to retain the knowledge for the exams and made me a better advisor at the same time. Honestly, it did not feel like I was studying because I was actually working.”

Could you describe how earning your CEBS designation has supported you in your role?

“Achieving the CEBS designation in April 2018 has already had a significant impact on my career, differentiating me as a top performer amongst my peers and strongly contributing to a 2019 performance recognition where I attended a nine-day Caribbean cruise with the Group Executive of the corporation I work for, which included stops in Nassau, Bahamas; George Town, Grand Cayman; and Labadee, Haiti. I am thankful that the skills, knowledge and advice capabilities acquired by earning the CEBS designation gave me the tools needed to earn a top-performer award.

“It is also the designation that will benefit me for the rest of my career. When a position became available on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, with the opportunity to live in any community, I jumped at the chance to apply. Roles like mine do not become available very often in my corporation. They are career destination roles, and incumbents typically hold them until retirement. My CEBS designation helped differentiate me from other applicants for the Vancouver Island position, and I now get to live on an island in the resort community of Lake Cowichan.”