Are these financial jobs BS?

sushijerk · #1 03-24-2006, 09:10 PM

Situation: I'm a biomedical engineering major about to graduate. Most BME jobs require a graduate degree so I'm having trouble finding jobs in my field, even though I have decent experience/internship.

A lot of places like Prudential(is this insurance?) /Citigroup/Edward Jones have seem my resume through the school network/Monster and are calling me and asking me to callback/interview. I'm naturally suspicious of jobs that seem to knock on your door, so should I even bother responding to these places? Is this a legit job or do they just spam every resume to get try and get salesmen?

highlife · #2 03-24-2006, 09:13 PM

commission based sales jobs can be had by almost anyone. that's all you really need to know.

edtost · #3 03-24-2006, 09:40 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Situation: I'm a biomedical engineering major about to graduate. Most BME jobs require a graduate degree so I'm having trouble finding jobs in my field, even though I have decent experience/internship.

A lot of places like Prudential(is this insurance?) /Citigroup/Edward Jones have seem my resume through the school network/Monster and are calling me and asking me to callback/interview. I'm naturally suspicious of jobs that seem to knock on your door, so should I even bother responding to these places? Is this a legit job or do they just spam every resume to get try and get salesmen?

[/ QUOTE ]

Edward Jones doesn't recruit at my school, so I'm not familiar with them, but the other two are definitely legitimate businesses. These are, however, large organizations with many different roles that could be considered entry-level, some of which are much more desireable than others. What specific positions are you being asked about?

sushijerk · #4 03-24-2006, 09:43 PM

I'm actually not sure. I haven't applied for any positions so the extent of thier message has been "we saw your resume and are interested in you. Please call me at this # and extension."

Aloysius · #5 03-24-2006, 09:51 PM

Sushi - this really depends on the group you're interviewing for and the actual position. Provide some detail and you will get much better feedback.

-Al

RJ! · #6 03-24-2006, 10:02 PM

i graduated in december with a dual degree in economics and politics. my resume is on monster/careerbuilder and ive gotten about 23408723984723 job offers to sell mutual funds on commission. now if only someone offered me a legitimate job...

rj

NickPappagiorgio · #7 03-24-2006, 10:03 PM

First, they are legitimate companies. I assume the position they are contacting you for is a Financial Advisor/Representative. These positions are very sales oriented and require you to spend a lot of time on the phone or out in "the field" trying to generate business. The companies want you to sell mutual funds and life insurance generally and in particular "cash-value" life insurance which has higher premiums and generates higher commissions. The positions are generally very commission oriented which means your paycheck will be greatly or completely dependent on sales. There is the potentially to make a lot of money in the field but it generally takes years and years of building up a client base.

It really boils down to what you want to accomplish. If you are truly interested in getting a career in BME, I suggest you keeping trying or to try and get any entry level position at the company and work your way up. You could try and take grad school part time or go directly to grad school and get more internships which could easily lead into jobs even while your still in grad school.

wdcbooks · #8 03-24-2006, 10:05 PM

They are not a scam per se. Primerica is the only one that widely trolls Monster that is a pure scam. These organizations look for people that they feel might be self-motivated and aggressive in sales and cast a wide net.

If you were to be interviewed and accept a job they will generally pay you almost nothing while you get your securities licenses. Assuming you get those you are immediately expected to start selling their products, usually by cold calling. Many of these companies expect no more than 30% of their first year hires to be there for the second year.

They make up their small investment by finding a small handful of applicants with a knack for the job who can indeed make some pretty sick money for themselves and for the company. If you aren't prepared to put in some hellish hours with little compensation for the first couple of years and have a high risk of failure I would skip them.

bobhalford · #9 03-25-2006, 02:12 AM

I had this happen once. An insurance company contacted me and seemed interested in meeting me. I was suspicious, but went to the interview anyway. It was a group interview with some guy talking about selling insurance and how great the company was. He talked a lot about how much money you can make. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there making lots of money selling insurance, but in my mind this is boiler room stuff and anyone can do it. I don't think you want to do this, with your background.