Great fit for young and hungry. Great training ground. Long term?..........Meh
Pros
I am primarily speaking as a sales person. I am now an independent agent/owner but worked in sales and as a mgr at Federated. Federated was a GREAT opportunity for me and my family. I knew right away that the position wasn't for everyone but that it was a great fit for me at the time because I was hungry and motivated and that it would be a great start in the insurance business. There is no other training ground like this one. Not even close. That was one of the most attractive things for me. I knew that even if it didn't work out with the company long term, that I would be marketable for the rest of my career based on the training I had received. Even to this day, as an independent agent, when I talk to reps from other carriers, they know all about Federated's training AND just as important, that Federated tries to only hire A+ people. (It's helped us gain several contracts with carriers that might not otherwise have worked with us) It is very difficult to get hired there. this is another reason for their success. Your peers are generally the "best of the best". As a young person, willing to work hard, there aren't many opportunities to make this kind of money at that early in your career. One of the "issues" is that it is difficult every year to maintain the success and many become burned out. If you don't sell life insurance, you are considered a failure and will be weeded out. You also you hear "no" more than most insurance jobs (in particular when you are considered one of the best in you field compared to the people you compete against). it can be pretty demoralizing. Especially in some territories, which can be "beaten up" pretty badly over the years due to rep turn over and/or lack of prospects in Federated's wheel house or lack of competitiveness. All of this weighs on you. One of the issues they face is keeping people after the first 4 or 5 years. They can go elsewhere and maybe make close to or more or even MUCH, MUCH more $ and you don't start at zero each year (in regards to goals) At least not to the extent that Federated does. One of the biggest issues to look at would be the territory that you take. There are some real dogs. there are some great ones too. It's probably kind of hard for an outsider to know which is which coming in. Federated paints a great picture of every opportunity. The pension, which is unheard of by most companies today, is extremely attractive but sadly, most of the best people either leave before they can attain it or they move into the home office in another, less stressful role. There definitely is some cronyism within the company. Probably not unlike many other companies but this is a relatively small company so it tends to stand out front and center. You really see that first hand once you move into mgmt. For me, that was a huge turnoff and one of the reasons I fell out of love with the company. I know that is not uncommon though for companies. It's a reality
Cons
There are negative experiences for many that have worked there just as there are postives. We can say that for just about any company though, right? Federated is set in their ways and they have had great success because of it but they do lose some good people because of their stubbornness as well. I'm sure they can point to their overall company success and say "our way works". And....they are right. It has worked. This is NOT the job (talking sales) for lazy, thin skinned or unmotivated people. To succeed, you WILL work and you will work hard. probably harder than you ever have or will. Expectations are extremely high. Closing ratios are generally pretty low too. So you do hear "no" a lot. From both the underwriters and the customers. There are times when you will work hours upon hours for one little deal that might make you a few hundred dollars (or you might not get it at all) and years later you will look back and laugh as today, you wouldn't waste your time on something like that. However, to succeed at Federated, you HAVE to close those little deals to get your numbers. It's kind of a big game at times. You have to be a "stat sheet stuffer" sometimes. There is a great deal of micro management from the very top all the way down to the front line. Amazing amount of that goes on. But again, it's workedfor them, but again, it turns off some. Can you make it as a career sales person there? I have to say that very, very few people can and very, very few are anymore. It's not the same job that it was 15-20 years ago. Their sales force has a ton of old vets and a ton of brand new people. Very few in between and I just don't' see that changing. In fact, I think Federated has come to the conclusion that it's simply going to be that way and they are doing well as a whole, so just deal with it and live with it? I think that attitude really hurts some areas of the country that they are in and their reputation lags because of it. It will be interesting to see where they are in 10-20 years. The old guys will be gone. Will Federated just be an organization of 24-30 year old sales people and few staying in the field long enough to retire there? In the future, I just don't see that job being attractive to the 40 year old and older person with the newer breed of person that is coming down the pike. There isn't the loyalty or committment there any longer