Pros
You get a salary for 6 months
Cons
The job they sell you is totally different from what you actually end up doing. Agents are the only people with any skin in the game so everything falls back on them. Underwriting makes a mistake? Agent fixes it. Billing misapplies a payment? Agent fixes it. Customer service department has no ownership in helping the client so it often is referred back to the agent. The only person to suffer monetarily when a company employee doesn't do their job and the client leaves is the agent, so the agent spends a lot of time trying to keep business on the books that no one else cares about. And the Farm Bureau? What company in this day and age aligns itself with a political action committee and requires clients pay a $15 membership to be "allowed" to purchase Country insurance? So every one of you with Country Insurance just be aware you are supporting conservative right wing political figures. While you are busy keeping business on the books your manager is putting pressure on you to sell sell sell! There are some good people throughout the organization but if a person has been there any length of time they evolve into a cold shell of their former selves. The most successful agents have figured out a perfect balance of ignoring the clients that they can't sell any new products to and only giving attention to people that will purchase a new product because that what this company defines success as. Not building a book of business but chasing the next sale. You do all the work and you still own nothing. You are responsible for all of your own business expenses, and Country owns the clients. When you and the company part ways you walk away with nothing.