Pros
Not a ton of positives about the experience. You will encounter managers who appear to be your best friend, but everyone has their own motives (they are required to hire LOTS of agents....and they get overrides on your production). I did learn some great sales skills through the trainings and you will learn a great deal about human behavior through client interaction. It is a job based on who you know, so if you don't have a network of 1000 people to call your first day it will be a tough road.
Cons
You will be required to sell your friends and family insurance products, even if it is not suitable. This is how you get paid "upfront" and make your "foundation". Most of the time you will be doing joint work with another advisor since you have no previous experience within the industry, this means you will split commissions (usually 25-50% of the case). There are no leads provided, everything you do comes from your network or your cold prospecting. If you're under 30 you'll find that your only options is to become an insurance agent....yes this is an insurance company! Selling propriety products gives AXA the ability to own all of your clients so you can't leave without having to start over at another firm. Compensation is pretty terrible unless you can sell large insurance policies or large annuities. Most of the time these large cases require people to invest all of their money in 1 product....highly unsuitable for most clients. Any CFP or independent advisor can verify this and once you see the fee's and surrender schedules you'll understand why you get paid so much. On that point, the broker/dealer split for AXA is 50/50. This means you get paid 50% of the true GDC on all products...even AXA-Equitable. If you look at independent shops your payout is 80-90 percent, so you can get paid more to work elsewhere. Managers get overrides on your productions to the tune of about 30%. No one will tell you this because they want you to think that splitting your commission is fair (they will ask for 25-50% of each case, then get 30% on the back end). You will pay a good amount of money to work at AXA. Yes that is right, you have to pay to work there after you contract. Roughly, $1000/month for the first 2 years which was never disclosed to me. You will have to buy your own equipment ($1200 computer, office supplies, software, printer). Everything in the office is usually broken and no one cares to fix it, more equipment to buy on your end! Turnover is extremely high. In the 4 years I worked at AXA I saw over 55 advisors churn through the system. There are only 3 advisors who have been there over 5 years....don't confuse managers with advisors. Managers stick around cause they hire and absorb clients from the drop outs...its highly lucrative to become a manager and churn advisors every 2-3 years. I would estimate the turnover rate within the first 3 years is 95%....evidence confirmed by the fact the office is all new hires out of college. No one sticks around there unless they sell their sole to become management. I would never recommend anyone using AXA for their financial planning. They will tell you about their open platform, then stir you into a high fee/high commission insurance product. I would ask what the exact compensation is on each product (6.5% on annuities - but you only get 3.25% based on the broker/dealer split and 55% of the first year premium on life insurance). I would then ask the advisor how much of their own money they have in each product and ask them to prove it with statements....they really hate when people ask what they do with their own money because they of course use the low fee/commission options that are most suitable. If you are desperate for a job and don't mind selling your friends and family then give it a shot. No one will help you unless you can bring in a client, that is the hardest part of this industry (finding qualified prospects who trust you). GOOD LUCK!