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In the last 2 days, I've gotten e-mails from both State Farm and Aflac about working for them. This happened just after I put my resume on Career Builder. Below is the e-mail from State Farm, the Aflac one was similar but a bit more specific in terms of location:
I just reviewed your online resume and I see that you have experience which transitions well into our opportunity. I am a Corporate Agency Recruiter for State Farm and I am looking for someone that would like to operate their own State Farm Agency. We have existing agent opportunities and anticipate several more opportunities in 2012 throughout New Jersey. Depending on the market area, You will have the opportunity to either take over an existing agency or start your own new market agency.
I am interested in someone with leadership experience that is entrepreneurial, and comfortable managing, coaching, and training a small team of their own employees. Leadership ability is the key to this small business opportunity. Industry experience is not necessary and we will help you achieve the necessary licensing requirements. State Farm offers a paid 6 month training program prior to opening the Agency. No prior insurance experience is required.
Our companywide track record of placing new agents is fantastic. Over 80% of our agents make it to the 5 year mark. There is great stability, independence, and income potential.
Please reply today by e-mailing me at and be sure to attach the most current copy of your resume.
Thanks!
Name removed
Northeast Agency Recruiting Department
State Farm Insurance
I've received emails and calls from Farmer's, AllState, Aflac, MetLife, and a couple of other smaller insurance companies.
The emails are legit. They all came through Careerbuilder. I've talked to Farmer's (since they were the most persistent), the smaller company whose name I can't remember, and Aflac. The companies seem to be either expanding or trying to replenish agents that may have left - not really sure, just speculating.
If you are interested in the insurance industry, go for it. I would do a lot of research in how they operate their "pay". Farmer's and Allstate, for example, had a system where you get "guaranteed increasing pay" for the first 3 years, but in researching further, there are strings attached meaning you have to hit certain numbers at certain times and if you leave, you may have to pay some of that money back because its actually a draw on future sales.
Other companies will look for you to have so much cash reserve because of the money you will put into the business in the beginning. You will need good credit and a clean criminal background as well.
Anyway, the emails are legit - at least the ones I had received were.
In the last 2 days, I've gotten e-mails from both State Farm and Aflac about working for them. This happened just after I put my resume on Career Builder. Below is the e-mail from State Farm, the Aflac one was similar but a bit more specific in terms of location:
I just reviewed your online resume and I see that you have experience which transitions well into our opportunity. I am a Corporate Agency Recruiter for State Farm and I am looking for someone that would like to operate their own State Farm Agency. We have existing agent opportunities and anticipate several more opportunities in 2012 throughout New Jersey. Depending on the market area, You will have the opportunity to either take over an existing agency or start your own new market agency.
I am interested in someone with leadership experience that is entrepreneurial, and comfortable managing, coaching, and training a small team of their own employees. Leadership ability is the key to this small business opportunity. Industry experience is not necessary and we will help you achieve the necessary licensing requirements. State Farm offers a paid 6 month training program prior to opening the Agency. No prior insurance experience is required.
Our companywide track record of placing new agents is fantastic. Over 80% of our agents make it to the 5 year mark. There is great stability, independence, and income potential.
Please reply today by e-mailing me at and be sure to attach the most current copy of your resume.
Thanks!
Name removed
Northeast Agency Recruiting Department
State Farm Insurance
Is this for real?
Yes they are real jobs with a high turnover rate because they start you with a base salary and then wean you to 100% commissions. I get them all the time from Farmer's. I kid you not over a 2 year period my wife and I independently received 50 + calls from Farmer's. In fact I just had one this week.
Yeah, I got the Farmer's email. I initially thought it might be ok to do but to live on 100% commission is rough. Guess I won't be good for that.
It depends. I know 2 insurance agents, one a good friend. If you have a book of business, are well like in the community, go to church, and other social events then you could convert some of them to clients. My insurance agent, not my out of state friend, found me when I sold him telecom services. He was on the fence, my insurance co. sucked, so I said let's make a deal I got his biz and he got mine. 8 years later he still has my business and get residual commission that entire time.
You really have to be really good at self promoting in your community to be insurance sales, edward jones, and the like. Me I prefer to kind of keep to myself after such a long day so I don't know enough people to do insurance sales.
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They are legit and everyone gets those offers, it's how they get people to sell their insurance, and most give it up after a year or two once they have sold policies to all of their friends and relatives. Those add up, several thousand failures selling a few policies a year that they wouldn't otherwise sell add up for the company's profits. You'd be better off working as an office admin at an established office, unless you are a hard nosed salesman.
BTW my good friend took over the company business his mom built up so I don't give him the same credit a regular insurance agent would get. He never cold called or sent mailers. His mom did that and on day she won the "lottery". A large hospital, whom she had give great service to their elderly patients inquiring about ins., said we want to refer everyone to you because she did such a good job. She went from making good money to over 6 figures overnight.
I have had many members of my family who worked all their lives in the insurance industry. My uncle is a millionaire many times over from his work in this field. I have a couple of comments to make here. First off, if I were to work in the industry I would only consider working for a really good company. A company that treats it's clients very well. State farm would not be one of those. When I was in the reno business I would not even quote on jobs that were statefarm or allstate claims. They are just brutal. There are enough resourses and stats online to be able to get a good idea on insurance companies. Secondly, if I were interested in being "an agent" I would only be interested in being a broker and not a captive agent of any company. You canserve your clients way better and offer products that fit your clients needs. This you can not do as a captive agent. You can only sell what your company has and one size fits all doesn't fly in insurance. Another good idea for someone considering insurance for a career is to become a Life insurance agent. It's not even too bad to be captive in this field. A friend of mine who was a good salesman in construction related products, he sold direct to contractors on site, got a job as a rep for a large life co. After a paid training period they assigned him to an area that had 5000 existing policy holders. Most of those people had not had a sales call for years and years and in life insurance the clients needs change very much from year to year. So, my buddy just started going through the list, made appointments with these people and sold them new policies and products as they needed them. Of course he also gathered new prospects from these contacts. The thing about a lot of life products is they pay residuals for years. Well Dana worked really hard for 5 years and built a client base that paid him about a $100,000 a year without even leaving the office. That was almost 30 years ago and he is still with that same Manulife company making piles of dough.
The thing is, you HAVE to love sales, meeting new people all the time, giving your clients the best service you can and believe in your products.
I have had many members of my family who worked all their lives in the insurance industry. My uncle is a millionaire many times over from his work in this field. I have a couple of comments to make here. First off, if I were to work in the industry I would only consider working for a really good company. A company that treats it's clients very well. State farm would not be one of those. When I was in the reno business I would not even quote on jobs that were statefarm or allstate claims. They are just brutal. There are enough resourses and stats online to be able to get a good idea on insurance companies. Secondly, if I were interested in being "an agent" I would only be interested in being a broker and not a captive agent of any company. You canserve your clients way better and offer products that fit your clients needs. This you can not do as a captive agent. You can only sell what your company has and one size fits all doesn't fly in insurance. Another good idea for someone considering insurance for a career is to become a Life insurance agent. It's not even too bad to be captive in this field. A friend of mine who was a good salesman in construction related products, he sold direct to contractors on site, got a job as a rep for a large life co. After a paid training period they assigned him to an area that had 5000 existing policy holders. Most of those people had not had a sales call for years and years and in life insurance the clients needs change very much from year to year. So, my buddy just started going through the list, made appointments with these people and sold them new policies and products as they needed them. Of course he also gathered new prospects from these contacts. The thing about a lot of life products is they pay residuals for years. Well Dana worked really hard for 5 years and built a client base that paid him about a $100,000 a year without even leaving the office. That was almost 30 years ago and he is still with that same Manulife company making piles of dough.
The thing is, you HAVE to love sales, meeting new people all the time, giving your clients the best service you can and believe in your products.
That's good advice IMO.
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