Pros
This place is great! I am quite lucky to be here coming from no formal financial background. I come from a small business background and let me tell you as a business owner it's near impossible to go back to working for someone else. At this company I get to maintain that status, I'm my own boss and I don't have to answer to anyone except for myself. On that note, running a business is one of the biggest challenges you will face. You need to be driven, self-motivated and need to develop a solid business plan. The support is great here, they have an open door policy. I felt very out of place as being the only one not coming from a financial background in my hiring class of about 15. Through the training and coaching I was able to gain the confidence and skills I needed to make it in this industry. Let me tell you, product knowledge means nothing here if you cannot develop the skills to secure appointments with people. The only thing that is important in the beginning is getting in front of people. The product knowledge come from experience, meaning actually going on appointments. The best thing you can do starting out is joint work with experienced advisors. And in my opinion, experience trumps MBAs. What I mean by that is actually operating a business teaches you more than reading about how to operate a business. By doing the joint work you are exposed to different advisors and you can pick up techniques that you like and dislike about each and apply them to your business. Eventually you'll learn to develop your own presentation style and come to a point where you are doing appointments on your own. I've been here less than a year but I've seen many people fail. The reason why people fail in my opinion is that they don't trust the process. Often times people come in and let ego, greed, and laziness get in the way of their development. The proof is in the pudding, I am 1 of 5 or 6 from that hiring class that made it, and let me tell you that it had nothing to do with product knowledge. Management is also great. I wouldn't really call them managers, they are more of a coach or an advisor to your business. They give you tremendous support and advice on how to grow your business. There are not the typical numbers pushing managers. Its more of a personal motivator and consultant to your business type of relationship. The culture here is awesome as well, lots of company events, trips, etc. We have a team atmosphere here so you don't have the typical negative vibes that come with being overly- competitive and cut-throat. There are incentives and recognitions, but everyone is very supportive and encouraging of each other. Also, we got a sweet Starbucks machine in the break room.
Cons
This business is tough, mentally and financially (in the beginning). Just like any business owner there's no such thing as 9-5 here, you need to hustle even if it means taking appointments on the weekends. If you somehow manage to guile your way through the interviews and are not self-driven, self-motivated, mentally strong, persistent, and are not willing to develop business skills don't bother wasting 3 months of your time in the training -- you probably won't last.