Prudential Reviews

Pros

Great benefits, training is second to none, good management and earnings potential. Prudential has a strong reputation that makes introductions easy for new clients.

Cons

Tough to find leads in this industry. Extensive and expensive use on vehicle. Crazy and long hours often resulting in no income. Managed money system is very weak, strong dependence on selling life and annuity products to meet weekly goals and survice financially.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work: training, benefits, GDR bonus structure is very fair.

Pros

Work and life balance to an extent.

Cons

Promotions are based on who you are friends with.

Pros

The great thing about Prudential is the mentor or manage is helpful and willingly. Other than that its basically isn't a place to start a career

Cons

The downside of working at Prudential is the fully commission background. Some of us do have bills to pay and cant afford that.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide a better base salary for your new recruits. Fully commission isn't the way to go. You'll lose many good work because of that

Pros

Work life balance is big. They are very flexible with the workforce alternatives in terms of telecomuting etc.

Cons

It is an insurance company and still can move slow and be political.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay more attention to talent pipelining. I've seen trends where many talented people leave becuase there were not ample opportunities for growth and advancement.

Pros

Flexibilty
Location of Office
Tuition Reimbursement

Cons

Lack of Growth
Compensation
Lack of innovation

Advice to Senior Management

Learn to recognize talent and stop promoting people based on brown nosing.

Pros

Within certain business units there is opportunity for growth. In addition, certain business areas place great emphasis on work life balance.

Cons

Opportunity for growth is inconsistent. Not all areas adhere to the work life balance motto of the company.

Pros

Management views staff as its #1 asset and you are treated like it. More relax than its New York City counterparts.

Cons

Pay is not up to par with its New York City counterparts. Career advancement comes in the form of lateral movements.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the great job!

Pros

It's a great place to work if you want to be rewarded for your success. COmpensation is fair and based on results.

Cons

It is a place that requires a lot of effort to build a long term successful business. Have to be willing to meet a lot of people.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to listen to your people in the field to make the right decisions about compensation and benefits. Don't make the decisions based on input from someone who hasn't ever been in the field.

Pros

It is truly your own business. You are responsible for making money and finding clients to grow your business. You schedule appointments with family and friends and the day is very flexible if you want time off you just don't scheduled an appointment.

Cons

First of all understand that there is a very low retention rate within the industry and know that there is a reason for that. When you start at PRU you start with an unpaid training program that coutld last up to 26 weeks. They tell you that its up to you how long it lasts but count on at least 18 weeks without a paycheck. Then you go full commission with some help along the way. As long as you hit certain sales levels you will get bonuses early on to help. These are pretty easy to get. However your last bonus will come in week 16 after that you are on your own. They tell you numbers like the average associate earns 35k first year and 50-60k in year two. That's just not true at all. There is no one that earns that amount or even close to it especially if you take away all the business expenses which for me amounted to about 4k in my first year. The other con at least for me was that whether you want to be or not you will be the life insurance guy. It's very tough to do investments when you work for an insurance company.

Pros

Prudential has wonderful benefits, medical, dental, pension, and 401K. Great training on the products and overall good products. Good bonuses.

Cons

Disconnect from upper management and poor local management. Poor guidance from management and 100% commission, which makes is difficult to get started in the business. High turnover.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire quality people for local management positions and give them the training and resources to help new hires entering into the business.