Pros
- Flexible schedule (kind of) - Established market (public school 403b) to sell to if you either don't have a deep natural market or do not want to sell to them. - Great, yet tireless, training program. - Salary option if 100% commission is unsettling (not a recommendation) - "unlimited income potential" (notice the quotations) AXA is a decent place to start a career in Finance if you can't land a job in institutional finance right out of college but don't get to comfortable. Know that if you do not plan to stay in one geographical location or with AXA for your entire working life that this not a job where you can pick up and move.
Cons
- "Flexible schedules" that are not really flexible. Yes you do make your own schedule on a day-to-day basis but that schedule will be riddled with "mandatory" trainings (both local & regional), evening call sessions and Saturday morning work hours. Generally you can take a day off here or there but it is more or less expected that you don't take any time off for the first 3 or so years. They won't tell you no but you'll know they aren't happy in the most passive-aggressive ways possible. - The 403b market is completely saturated with financial salesmen who, because of a minority of past/present advisors, have gained a reputation of distrust and skepticism by the very market you will be selling to, public school employees. The current climate of access to school buildings to prospect for new clients is not good and getting worse. - Compensation. It sucks. That is unless you have an extremely juicy natural market you can sell expensive, underperforming financial products to without feeling that lingering sense of screwing over you family and friends. P.S.- the salary option is a joke. what they don't tell you is that there is a whole list of expenses that they take out of it and put back in their pockets. I.e.- Liability @ $250/month, Brokerage fees ~$40/month plus others I can't remember. Just don't expect that $2k/month salary to actually be $2k. Commission get cut in half when you're on salary as well. - Trainings are often boring, repetitive and more times then not feel like a drain on your time to get actual work done. The trainings consist SOLEY of selling techniques. Think you're going to be learning about actual finance? Nope, not a chance. They teach you how to sell for better or for worse, depending on how you look at it.