Structured

► The periodic payments can't be borrowed against, deferred, accelerated or changed once set up,

► Default risk, meaning the life insurance company that is selected becomes unable to make the payments. However, this risk is small due to the well-capitalized life insurance companies that are used for structured settlement annuities. Additionally, there are state insurance guaranty associations for every state that guarantee annuities up to a certain value (this excludes workers' compensation reinsurance). Finally, settlement proceeds can be spread among several different life insurance companies to lessen default risk.

Some tips for writing structured interview questions include ensuring the questions are:

► Reflective of the job,

► Tied to competencies identified through a job analysis,

► Open-ended,

► Clear and concise,

► At an appropriate reading level,

► Free of jargon or "Governmentese", and

► Written with superlative adjectives (e.g., ask for the most, last, worst, least, or best experience or example that demonstrates the competency).

The defendant or its insurer may transfer the obligation to make future payments through a "qualified assignment" to a financially secure and experienced institution - a life insurance company, for example. The assignment provides the injury victim with strong financial security, and the defendant can close its books on the case.

This process relieves the defendant of further responsibility for the payments and transfers the administration and record-keeping responsibilities. The assignment company specializes in these activities and may offer additional financial security to the claimant.

The academic qualifications are quite important in any job profile that you might be looking at today.

Almost every job that has responsibility attached to it will have several qualifications required. There are several cases where a person has not been hired because they did not have the required academic qualifications. Therefore, make sure that you have the required academic qualifications before applying for a job opening.

Asking a set of questions of each and every candidate in a one-on-one interview.

Having each and every candidate fill out a questionnaire form.

A structured interview is sometimes called a pattern interview.

When it comes to evaluating the advantages of structured interviews as compared to unstructured ones, the main advantage is that all the applicants have an equal opportunity to prove that they have the required skills and experience for the job.

Additionally, as an initial selection process, the structured interview questions are basically set up in a manner which allows the interviewer to obtain all the initial data as well as professional details that he or she would want to know about every applicant.

The disadvantages of structured interviews are that the company has to interview a sufficient number of applicants in order to begin the comparison - it is time consuming and requires designing questions and intensive resources.

Secondly, the structured interview is basically data-collection; as such it lacks the feasibility to assess the candidate's communication skills.

This is a kind of SWOT analysis that every interviewer would want the person to prepare for even before they join the company.

The very fact that a person knows his/her strengths and weaknesses tells the interviewer that the person is mature and knowledgeable enough to handle the job.

As a general rule of thumb, structured interviews typically assess 4 - 6 competencies unless the job is unique or at a high level. However, the number of questions must be balanced with the amount of time allotted for the interview.

► What are your career aspirations?

► Why do you want to work for our company?

► What interests you about our product or service?

► Of your previous jobs, which did you enjoy most and why?

► How have you managed conflict in the past?

► Describe what you have done in your career that shows your initiative

► What are your weaknesses? Your strengths?

► What style of management gets the best from you?

► What have been your major achievements to date?

Some of the questions may even be targeted to your family and personal life.

These questions, though they seem harmless, play an important role in deciding whether you will be hired by the company or not.

There are some companies that would prefer a single man over a married man and vice versa. For example, a company that is hiring traveling salesmen would like to hire bachelors, while a company that intends to hire a senior manager, would like to hire a person who is well settled in life, which translates into marriage. Some questions that are asked are:

► Are you married?

► Do you have kids?

Before 1979 in Canada a plaintiff was compensated for personal injuries with a one-time lump-sum payment representing the sum of all damages suffered by the plaintiff. Whether awarded by a court, or paid as a settlement by the defendant's insurer, a plaintiff received one lump sum.

It would then be up to the plaintiff to spend the money wisely.

The participation rate (PR) is a coefficient that determines how much an investor can expect to earn on a structured product for a certain amount of price movement in the base asset. This coefficient is determined automatically based on the parameters of your investment.

Product maturity refers to when a structured product will expire. A product with a "Product Maturity" of 60 days, for example, will expire in 60 days. A product's return on investment is determined on the date it reaches maturity. The earnings from the product will be returned to the investor's transitory account within 3 business days of this date.

An American life insurance industry study found that after receiving a large sum of money from a lump-sum settlement or judgment, a lottery windfall, or an inheritance, 25% of recipients had nothing left within two months. At the end of one year 50% had nothing left. After two years 70% had nothing left; and, within 5 years 90% had nothing left.