Interview with New York Life

TheCaspian

Expert
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I know its come up a thousand times in the forums, but I figure I'll write down my own first interview experience with New York Life so that future newbies who want to know about NYL will at least have this anecdotal evidence to go by.

BACKROUND: So one day, I get an Careerbuilder from a Senior Partner/CFP asking me if I'd be interested in a career opportunity. (My resume is about as far from selling life/annuities as one can get) It piques my interest, but I ignore it.

Three months later, I had since quit my non insurance job, so I decided to go in for the interview. This forum had good things to say about NYL and the training so I figured why not.

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THE INTERVIEW: Put on my suit and tie, grab a copy of my resume and head on off to the NYL office. Show up fifteen minutes early, the receptionist says have a seat, he'll be out soon. Another guy walks in, asks the same question, and is seated. This happens 2 more times. Turns out it is going to be a group interview.

We all get put in a conference room, and the Senior Partner says hi and starts out asking each of us our background. The 4 of us are from a variety of different backgrounds from me (4 years out of college) to someone approaching 60. I think only one person had previous financial experience.

One person was asked how much money she ever made, and then income numbers about the 10% of the salesforce get made and they are HUGE....Approaching 500k a year (which I'm not sure I believe)

We are then told that his team sees about 6000 resumes a year, interviews 250 and hires 8-9 (not sure what to make of these numbers)

The next part he quickly describes commission and to his credit warns everyone that if you are afraid of the word 'commission' that the job isn't going to be for you. He basically says that you can expect to make 10x the monthly payment of a life policy and 4% on an annuity. Goes over the mechanics of the breakdown.

All the while, our Senior Partner was being colloquial and trying to get a feel for each of our personalities and asking basic financial literacy questions. He was selling on us life insurance itself too, describing a scenario about a friend who passed away in his 40s. He basically pitched life insurance to us without actually offering to sell it, and his presentation was very sincere and convincing. (no doubt a good salesman)

We go over the basics of NYL life products a little more and how they are sold. We were allowed to ask one question of our choosing, and he would answer it completely truthfully.

We are told that we have to pass an aptitude test that would take about 15 minutes and that only 50% of the people who take it pass. He got the scores immediately and had people go into his office one at a time.

The SP said I passed although he was a little worried that I have a fairly small natural market, because I've only been in MD for a few years. Scheduled the second interview this week.
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By the end, he and I had a pretty good repertoire, even though some of the other interviews were stiffer and didn't really open up or field too many questions. Having had a little knowledge of insurance previous to the interview (THANK YOU FORUM MEMBERS) I interviewed well and asked intelligent insurance related questions. I know at least one other person passed the aptitude test.

I'm a little skeptical of the numbers that were thrown out, especially where even not top 10%ers were into the 6 figure mark but I know NYL is serious about training and wants its agents to do well.

I will follow up this post with a breakdown of the second interview when it happens.
 
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I wouldn't discount those numbers. The top agents at NYL do well. But I wouldn't focus on those numbers either.

The only number that matters is what you make. Focus on what you need to learn to succeed. What will they teach you as far as prospecting and selling.
 
"We are then told that his team sees about 6000 resumes a year, interviews 250 and hires 8-9 (not sure what to make of these numbers)"

So ask how many of those 8-9 hired last year, are still there? Do the same for 5 years out and you'll get an idea of the office environment. I was NYL back in the day... This is something I didn't do... but later over time found that nobody 4 years back to me were still in the business. And I time went by nobody 5 years behind me were there either.

NYL is an outstanding company... but that doesn't mean every sales manager (or associates ;) ) is outstanding or every office is. Look around the office, ask questions. Realize you're being courted. After they bag you, will they still love you.

If you have a good trainer, you will get the best product education the industry has to offer. The key will be how many agents are around for year 2,3, 4 &5.

And yes, even 25 years ago, there were agents making 7 figures. It's possible. I don't know the new contracts but back in the day if you lasted, you made over-rides just getting out of bed for that company. After 20 years you were golden. But that was the old contract.

Good luck, don't let me scare you off. Had my office had the manager they do now rather than 10 years after I entered NYL, I'd probably be there still. It's a great company but it all depends on the office you work from. cheers.
 
LGilmore Thanks for the advice! I used several of your questions in this thread and others during my 1 on 1 interview.

So my future sales manager was with John Hancock for 9 years, NYL for 11. Of the 224 agents out of the regional office 48 have been there for 20+ years (which is crazy! My last job had more turnover than that)

I asked about the retention rate; He gave me figures of 11% for the industry (took a ding at AFLAC too lol) 23% for NYL company wide and 40% for this particular office. It seemed like the average agent was an older professional who had been with the office a while, although I saw 2 or 3 just out of college guys like myself.

After the all my questions were answered he asked me for a realistic first year salary goal (I said 75,000). He then broke down how to get to 75,000 dollars. With average commission and subsidy, I would need to get 53 clients to close, set 106 appointments.

All in all it seems like a really good office environment; the front desk guy was friendly, agents were smiling, and my direct sales manager is pretty high on the food chain and a ten year vet with a lot of hardware on the wall.

I'm pretty optimistic! getting the background check, other stuff and started the L&H pre licensing course an hour ago
 
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I'm excited for you! I'm currently in the beginning interview stages with them as well. I put myself through the l&h courses and got licensed last month. They told me I should also familiarize myself with a series 6.

Love the great advice I'm reading here!

Best of luck to you! :-)
 
good for you. You may have found a good office to work with. It doesn't seem like they bull sh ited you at all. It was nice to break down the how to get to X dollars.

Best of luck to you. Remember keep working good or bad, keep working. One of the biggest killer's of new agents is bagging that elephant early on. It isn't always slow sales that does an agent in, it's the one Big sale too. Think like you're running a marathon.
 
good for you. You may have found a good office to work with. It doesn't seem like they bull sh ited you at all. It was nice to break down the how to get to X dollars.

Best of luck to you. Remember keep working good or bad, keep working. One of the biggest killer's of new agents is bagging that elephant early on. It isn't always slow sales that does an agent in, it's the one Big sale too. Think like you're running a marathon.

I agree with Lgilmore, this sounds like a good office and manager.
 
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Meet the big hitters and ask them how they do it and for their advice. I did this 33 years ago and did lots of joint work with these guys and learned the business quickly. People buy from people they trust and their perceived value. We always stayed focused on their objectives and goals. You will need to get your series 6, the agents I know with NYL sell lots of VA.
 
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