Northwestern Mutual Financial Services Representative Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – I submitted my resume and got a call back a week later. They scheduled my interview and sent me an email asking me to think about where I'd want to be in 3-5 years. I went through the first interview without a hitch, but they wanted a second interview. Before the second interview, I read up on Northwestern Mutual and found out that they essentially ask you to sell insurance to your friends and family. I hinted at this in the second interview, after I got the position, by asking what exactly it was that I'd be doing for them, and they verified this. Although I appreciate the interview practice, I don't appreciate being misled.

Reason for Declining – They ask you to sell insurance to your family and friends.

Interview Details – There were a series of getting to know you "mutual fit" interviews that lasted for about an hour. I was asked to complete a series of confidential questionnaires, and a Project 100. The conversation was mainly about the company their prestige.

Interview Details – Applied through college's career site, was given call to schedule interview a couple of weeks later. Showed up to preliminary interview, asked a few questions about my educational background and resume. Once they told me it was a sales position and that I would have to pitch their products to my family and friends I was out.

Reason for Declining – It was a sales position

Interview Details – There were 3 interviews, I was first contacted over the phone and was told to go to their center city office for their first interview. I then had to do market surveys which interviews that asked questions about people's reaction and experience with financial services representatives.

Reason for Declining – There was another offer

Interview Details – Long interview process but very thorough and worth it. I submitted my application/resume electronically and literally within 5 minutes I received a phone call from the local office recruiter. Very professional and friendly person. We scheduled our first meeting and I shared all about me, what I was looking for, why I was interested in the company, 5 year goals, you name it and then the recruiter shared with me all the information they could about Northwestern.

From that point over there were several online assessments for me to complete at home which I did and about a week later I went back in for another interview, this time to meet the firm director, go through an interview with him. Great guy, liked him a lot. Very down to earth yet very professional and on the ball.

The next Monday I met the recruiter bright and early for a trip to the Regional Office to have "Career Day". Here they go into training, compensation, benefits and retirement in high detail. It was a good opportunity to see the regional office and meet some of the people there too. Again, very professional and everyone was very personable.

Next - Market Surveys, 15 of them. The name of this business is getting in front of people and that is what this exercise is designed to do - see if you can do it. If you can knock out 15 in a week, you're a super star. Make sure to get them done in at least 2. Oh yeah, don't forget to ask for references from those you meet with to do the market survey! Very good experience for me overall. I think this is a valuable piece to the hiring equation.

During this process you attend a Monday Morning Meeting at the local office. There you can see what it looks like as all the reps gather for a meeting to go over last week's performance and set the up coming week's goals. I like the accountability.

Next, a meeting with the firm director once again to review your 15+ market surveys and dive more deeply into what's next. All the while, it's been about 3 weeks to a month to this point. You should have learned a lot about the business and about the company by now. Reading this is proof you're doing your homework. Good job :-)

Next, the "spousal close". If you're married, they want to meet your spouse. I like that. Who you're married to says a lot about who you are. Plus they want to make sure you've got the support from your spouse to step into this career...let's face it, it's going to take 100% support from them.

Next meeting, pre-hire contracts and training outline. Without going into too much detail, there are 4 payout groups of licensing, training and projects to complete. Completion of each one of those 4 pays out $1000 for each group. There is a 4 week sales school and 2 more licensing, training & project groups to complete during the training school. Completion of each one pays another $1k each. There is also $1113 of licensing reimbursement to be paid to you once you sign full-time hire contracts.

So for the next 10 weeks, that's what you're looking at above. You'll attend the Monday Morning Meetings and be given office space during that time to work on you task list. Complete sales school and you're off to the races. From the research that I've done, in the first year, do as much joint-work as you can. You'll cut your learning time down significantly and you'll still make a great income your first year.

--- side note --- I've interviewed with several other companies in the area and all are fine companies. Northwestern just seemed to have it together the most. There are several reasons I choose Northwestern: 1) I like the people and the atmosphere that I have experienced there, 2) The training is polished and from what I have learned/been told, the best training in the country for this business, 3) The upfront compensation structure to help get you going, 4) The commitment to helping you be as successful as you are willing to make yourself. --- pay looks great too compared to the other companies.

I'm excited for the opportunity! Hard work ahead but it will be well worth it!

... Everyone want's what you've got, just not everyone is willing to do what it takes to get there ...

Negotiation Details – Lengthy process but well worth it in my opinion.

Interview Details – First was contacted by a recruiter for Northwestern Mutual while they were on my campus. Met with the recruiter and learned more about the company. They invited me into their office next and I met with the same recruiter for another interview. Then I was asked to complete an online questionnaire. I was then invited back in to interview with a current financial rep. to talk about the results on the test and was asked a few questions. After that I was called back in for another interview with a new person, they discussed compensation. Then I met with the Manager of the branch. I was called and offered a job.

Reason for Declining – Other job interested me more

Interview Details – Very thorough process. Consisted of 4 meetings in the office, each with different people, in different roles in the organization. The first meeting was with the recruiter, who gave an overview of the role and the office. The second was with the managing partner, who asks some challenging questions, but got me really excited. The second and the third are about compensation and benefits and I also got the opportunity to meet with some reps.

Negotiation Details – No negotiation.

Interview Details – I went through three intensive interviews before I was offered a contract. The first interview is very personal and they really get to know you as a person and a potential employee. The second interview is more focused on allowing you to get to know the company, the culture, and the specific office. Finally, the third interview is a presentation that you develop and give to the senior leadership of that office. This is by far the hardest part of the interview process, as you must develop a powerpoint presentation and basically "sell yourself" to the company. All the questions asked in all three of the interviews were pretty standard and fairly easy to answer. Make sure you do your research on Northwestern before going into the first interview!

Negotiation Details – There is no salary, just a stipend, so the contract negotiation did not really exist.

Interview Details – This process was very low-key and was simply intended to get a feel for the desires of the candidate. There was little emphasis on complex questions. Most of the questions were about past experiences. I determined that the job was clouded under the "financial services" tag, but was simply a glorified insurance sales position.