ILS CAIB Video Exam Preperation Course

Pay as little as $500* for everyone in your office to have unlimited access to any ILS online video CAIB Exam Preparation course for 1 year. *Up to 24 employees can have unlimited access for one fee of $500. 25-200 employees can have unlimited access for $1000.

Your 5-star Celebrity Millennium Cruise Awaits!

Due to the popularity of the first CE cruise, ILS Learning Corporation is excited about the Second Annual ILS Caribbean CE Cruise in January 2008.

This time, we'll be sailing through the Eastern Caribbean, leaving from Florida and visiting Puerto Rico, the British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic and Haiti along the way.

Still unsure if you should join us on this exciting cruise? Consider these points:

• Receive up to 12 CE credits towards your mandatory licensing requirements while on board
• Spend your days at sea or on land as you wish or take part in optional group events
• Talk to your financial advisor about the tax benefits of the CE cruise
• Escape the Canadian winter for a week
• Meet with other insurance and financial professionals

As an added bonus, when you attend our seminars on the cruise, you will also receive a free one-year online ILS subscription to either our General Insurance or Life and A&S courses!

With our exciting credit courses on board and access to hundreds of courses online, complete ALL your mandatory CE credits with ILS!

Steve Hawrishok, President of ILS Learning Corporation says, "Cruising with fellow insurance brokers is a great way to meet new people, see new places, get lots of pampering and of course, get your CE hours at the same time. Laurie and I have been doing this for the last half dozen years and we're already looking forward to next year's ILS cruise!"

We hope to see you on board from January 27, 2008 through February 3!

For more information or to book your cabin now, visit: http://www.ilscorp.com/cruise/

Identity Theft Still a Major Problem Across North America

While some forms of identity theft have been around for decades, the use of Internet technologies has made identity theft even more prevalent in our society.

A recent study found that roughly 15 million Americans were victimized by some sort of identity-theft related fraud from mid-2005 to mid-2006. This is more than a 50 percent increase from 2003, when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that 9.9 million Americans were victims of such theft.

The study found that the average loss was $3,257 in 2006, compared to $1,408 in 2005. During this same time, the percentage of funds that consumers managed to recover dropped from 87 percent to just 61 percent in 2006.

Identity theft is unfortunately common in Canada, as well. In 2004, the PhoneBusters National Call Centre received more than 10,000 identity fraud related complaints which translated to a loss of over $18 million. The following year, over 11,000 cases of identity theft were reported in Canada, though estimated losses were less, at about $8.5 million.

Thieves are using all sorts of techniques to get an individual's personal information, from phishing to spoofing to shoulder surfing and more. Often all that is needed to take over another person's identity is a couple of pieces of identification, such as driver's license, SIN, or even birth date.

For more information on identity theft, take "Identity Theft and Risk Management Techniques", an online course specifically written for ILS Learning Corporation students. Receive two General Insurance CE credit hours while learning about how to manage your risk of identity theft.

The results are in!

Last month our On Track poll asked readers a question that's been on the minds of many industry professionals lately: Do you find that there is currently a shortage of skilled workers in our industry?

Exactly 200 people responded and the results were overwhelmingly one-sided: 184 people – 92% - said yes, they find that there is currently a shortage of skilled workers in this industry. That left only 16 people, or 8%, who believe that there is not a shortage.

Whether or not your brokerage or office is facing a labour shortage, the poll results may be sobering for some and show that a large part of the industry is worried about the number of skilled workers.

We thank you very much for taking part in our polls!

Have you ever had a question about ILS?

Have you ever wondered why you might not be able to print out a certificate after completing a course? Or maybe you wondered if you even need to print out your certificate. Have you wondered what time we're open or encountered a technical issue that needed attention?

Now you can check out our new Knowledgebase to find the answers to these questions and more. Start looking and learning here: http://www.ilslearningcorporation.ca/kb/

The new Knowledgebase replaces our old FAQ section and is constantly being updated to ensure that no question is left unanswered.

If you would like to submit a question, send it to us at info@ilscorp.com. Of course, we're always happy to help you via telephone or email, as well.

Did you know...

April is Stress Awareness Month?

How much do you really know about stress? Undoubtedly we've all felt stress at one point or another, but can you easily define what it is?

According to Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, stress is "the result produced when a structure, system or organism is acted upon by forces that disrupt equilibrium or produce strain." In more simple terms, stress is the result of any emotional, physical, social, economic or other factor(s) that require a response or change.

Work is one of the most common stressors. Whether it stems from a single incident or multiple origins, workplace stress can have a serious and detrimental effect on not only work performance but a person's health, as well.

The Canadian Mental Health Association says that workplace stress affects employees and employers alike.

"Fear of job redundancy, layoffs due to an uncertain economy, increased demands for overtime due to staff cutbacks act as negative stressors. Employees who start to feel the "pressure to perform" can get caught in a downward spiral of increasing effort to meet rising expectations with no increase in job satisfaction. The relentless requirement to work at optimum performance takes its toll in job dissatisfaction, employee turnover, reduced efficiency, illness and even death. Absenteeism, illness, alcoholism, "petty internal politics", bad or snap decisions, indifference and apathy, lack of motivation or creativity are all by-products of an over stressed workplace," they say.

You can take control of your stress. Some of the following actions might help you to reduce and manage your stress:

1. Get organized. Take some time to plan out your day and create reasonable chunks of time to get your work done.
2. Prioritize. Determine what activities absolutely must be done and which can stand to be left until later. If you try to do everything all at once, you run the risk of becoming burnt out.
3. Know your limits. Trying to push yourself further than you can actually go is a sure stress trigger. No one expects you to do everything yourself, so you shouldn't expect yourself to, either!
4. Know your stress signs. Maybe you're becoming quicker to anger. Maybe you are having problems sleeping. Maybe you can feel your heart beat rising. By recognizing your own symptoms of stress, you are better prepared to take a step back – and a breather.

ILS Learning Corporation has created a two-part online course entitled "Surviving Job Stress." For more information on workplace stress, how it affects an individual and more tips on dealing with stress at work, we highly suggest this course. Each part is worth three CE credit hours towards your General Insurance requirements. Unfortunately at this time, this course series does not qualify for credit in Saskatchewan.