ING Financial Advisor Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – The man who interviewed me in the Jersey City office was not friendly and had difficulty speaking coherent english.

Interview Details – 1st interview: Group informational session. Broke down pay structure and outlined job description etc. If you are interested for the job, you are invited back for an interview
2nd Interview: Bring Marketing Plan and discuss more in detail what's expected of you with the partner that overseas/trains the financial advisors. It seems they are looking if you are personable, passionate about sales and finance, and can show them with you rmarketing plan that you can bring in the minimum clients.
3rd interview: Revised marketing plan and talk to the other partner.

Interview Details – looking to add some clarity to the interview process on here, due to the fact it seems most don't really know what they're talking about. applied for the job on career builder and received a call from the recruiter a couple days later. set up a time for the career preview and was really impressed with the presentation. "it's the best job for the right person" was a common theme throughout. I later had an initial interview w/ a manager and then a final interview with the VP of the office. For the final interview, I needed a marketing plan and a system of how I would go about growing my business.

Now to comment on some of the misleading posts below me regarding the interview process and the job. The career preview is there to tell you more about the position, just because Financial Advising/Planning in general is much different than other financial jobs out there (analyst, i banking, etc) The VP tells you if you are a hard-working self-reliant individual, and can take rejection early on, you can make it in the career and the results will be rewarding. I can at least speak for the office I'm at... roughly 20-30% of first round interviews get passed, and then about the same % of the second round candidates receive the job offer.

The fact you have to bring a marketing plan to the final interview felt a little weird to me at first, but during that time I was also in the interview process with Prudential and they asked me to do the same thing. I would later find out after my offer from Ameriprise that they also do the same thing (after you start the job). It's commonplace in the industry because there are obviously struggles early on, and natural market has a much higher conversion rate. It's also known throughout the industry that you can have someone with all the potential in the world, but since it is a commission job, someone can only go so long putting in 50-60 hour work weeks without getting paid. (there is a draw/bonus of $31,200 for the first two years at ING but not a true salary). A decent natural market isn't necessary but can play a big part starting off your career.

What's important to know is that you are an INDEPENDENT financial advisor being affiliated with ING, so there are affiliation fees. This is typical of any INDEPENDENT financial advisor job, but with this there's obviously major advantages. Since you're not technically an employee, every client you get is yours to keep, no matter if you were to move to another firm down the road or open your own shop as you get more experience. The second major advantage is that you're not limited to just ING products, you can use anything out there. ING has great LI and a few good annuities, but they'll be honest with you that they're other products aren't the greatest. It's a huge advantage when dealing with clients who currently have an advisor who can only use proprietary products. For ex. an advisor at Chase would be limited to J.P. Morgan investments/products, even if they aren’t best for the client. Being to pick and choose from the best investment vehicles is not only a big advantage for you but more beneficial for the client Also, all the clients that advisor at chase has are not his actual clients, they are clients of chase. If he were to leave to work somewhere else, or want to open up his own firm, they'd all stay with chase.

yes they make you pay for all the study materials up-front, but as long as you pass the tests on the first try you get reimbursed and then some. Also something to consider is that other firms that offer a salary, your cut on commissions will be much lower, you'll have a quota to reach by the end of the year or you're fired, and you'll be cold calling all day. There is NO cold-calling at ING. They just don't believe in it. There are better things to be done during that time like train you as an advisor/planner. You market during the week/weekends which is paid for by ING, then call those leads at certain times throughout the week (usually in the evening).

At the end of the day, if you're a hard working individual who is interested in finance, want to make more than all your friends w/ salary jobs and help people out along the way... it's a great job for you.

Interview Details – First interview consists of a career preview where you are told a highly glamorized description of the job. Next you can sign up for an interview with a manager and if you pass that you have a final interview with the branch head. If you can speak coherently you have a very good chance of getting an offer.

Interview Details – 3 step process
1)group presentation where the "VP" comes in and tells you how hard the position is and how you will have to sell financial plans to friends and family.
2)one on one interview where they go over their system of compensation. No salary, all commission. They write it down on a piece of paper and I get the feeling that they do not even understand the system.
3) final interview with the VP where you have to bring in a marketing plan for yourself and identify all the people you are going to target to sell to. Then you ask a bunch of standard interview questions. Come prepared for questions of your own.

NOTE: Beware that you also find out that to work there you need to pass your series 6, 7,66, LAH or combination. They also say you will be compensated for the exams but only if you score a 98% or better on them (not easy) or you bring in a certain amount of business in the first few weeks of employment. You also find out that as an "independent contractor" you have to license the ING name personally, pay for their office space, and your own insurance (they pay the first year of insurance) in any case you are looking at starting the month owing ING several hundred dollars! Plus as a contractor get ready to contribute more to social security/taxes/ and pay your own health insurance.

Reason for Declining – Not the kind of system I wanted to get into. If you do not have a large pool of people to sell to, be prepared to struggle.

Interview Details – Interview Process-

An information session with a regional manager outlining the potential client acquisition path.
First round interview with another adviser (mostly behavioral stuff)
Final interview with manager asking about your potential to acquire clients

Reason for Declining – Too much pressure to acquire clients in your first year out. Don't get paid until you get some business and very little at that.

Interview Details – 1st- Information session with up to 12 others
2nd- 1 on 1 interview
3rd- If you make it to the final interview you will need to provide 30+ names of people you know that make $100,000+ that you may have to approach

Interview Details – ING Recruiters attended my colleges Career Fair. After talking with them they asked for my resume and a few days later called to set up an information session.

Information was in Philadelphia with about 20 others. They gave a whole presentation led by one of the "Vice Presidents" (Practically everyone is a VP, it is a designation you get if you bring in a certain amount of assets under management in your first 3 yrs)

The goal is to bring one new client per week. Starting with your "Natural Market" Basically hitting up your family and friends. You pay for all study materials and are unpaid while studying for your series 6, 66, 7 ect. After you pass they will reimburse you and you can start working.

After information session anyone still interested was invited to sign up for an initial interview. In this interview they basically tell you the same thing they did in the information session. Ask you why you want to be a financial advisor, how you thing you would be successul. The big thing here is that "You are running your own business". Talk about building relationships, I had a "lawn business" when I was in middle school and high school so I talked about that.

At the end of this interview they might ask you to schedule another interview with the "VP". They asked me to come up with a presentation about

- "Why I want to be a financial advisor"
- "Why ING?"
- "Why should we hire you?"
- They want you to come up with local events where you live where you could "table" and solicit clients
- The last thing was to come up with 20+ people in your "Natural Market" who would each hand you $100,000 to invest for them.

They offered me the position following my presentation. I made a powerpoint and just printed out the slides. VP said he was impressed with the time and effort I put into it.

I called a few days later and turned it down. I felt as though they aren't taking a risk in new hires. If you fail it benefits them, they would just get what ever clients you have.

There is no base salary when you start. You get nothing until your first commission.

Interview Details – The interview or "preview" is something that "ING" invites you to after they contact you by phone. This preview has a recruiter present to a group of around 8 people and lay down what "ING" actually is and what your role will be working there.

Process:
1) Recruiter boasts about his own accomplishments
2) Recruiter explains greatness of ING Financial Partners
3) Recruiter boasts about compensation scheme
4) Recruiter forces idea of how leads are very important and he will need your family and friends to buy financial plans

Analysis:
The entire process is essentially a scheme attempting to get your money to make those above you a profit. There are no prerequisites for the position, and all that really matters is that you know people who have money. The company pays a fee to use the "ING Financial Partners" name, when really they are called "McAdam Financial Group." They make you pay for your own training and it thereby puts zero risk on them and all the risk on you.

Although it is possible to make money in this scheme, it is not something that you should get involved with if you are worried about a solely commission based salary.

The preview process is exactly the same as the Vector Marketing process which has notoriously been identified as a pyramid scheme.
Careful getting involved with this company.

Reason for Declining – It is a pyramid scheme