Tips for interview with Primerica? Tonight is interview 1 of 2.

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aolj

Golden Member
Feb 20, 2000
1,383
0
76
DON'T DO IT!!

I had a call from them a year ago as well. I was almost going but I decided not too. I don't like the whole pyramid scheme plus I didn't want to waste my time.
 

911paramedic

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2002
9,448
1
76
I'd rather listen to a timeshare sales pitch than sit through an interview with them.

Dude, its Amway^2 without the products.
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
Another vote for don't do it. Primerica is not a job, it's a pyramid marketing scheme.

edit: LOL, Paramedic, I was just thinking about timeshare pitches and almost posted about them. They're equally hardcore. Ah well, as a salesperson, I can tell all of you that, when confronted with an overly aggressive salesperson, it is okay to stop being polite and start being rude when they don't hear you say "No" for the 10th time.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,373
8,497
126
any resume will land you an interview at primerica.
 
Apr 20, 2004
59
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a quick summary:

primerica = pyramid scheme, yes you can make money, but you better be 1) high up on the food chain 2) be a hell of a good salesman (think selling ice to eskimos)

don't believe a damn word they say, they are worse than military recruiters. I hear 80% drop out rate, and I have no reason to doubt it. if you go, it will be a big "feel good" session but will be completely devoid of any substance.

the only decent part:
$199 fee: this will actually get you a state-approved insurance license, this is the legit part as it will cost you more than this to get the license on your own. If you are planning on getting into this business, this will at least be cost-effective.

I'm getting my license and have no plan on making any sales. I like my family and friends enough that I don't want to push this off on them. I'll be taking that license and getting the hell away from there. I had enough with the commission based system from working for ATT, thanks but no thanks.

any further questions, pm me.
 

milehigh

Senior member
Nov 1, 1999
951
0
76
Run like hell from Primerica.

If life insurance is interesting to you go with a multi-line company. I get just about all of my life insurance sales spinning off of writing people's auto and home insurance.

Working with a multi-line company (life, auto, home, commercial etc..) will give you a much more steady long term income as well.

Landing an interview with Primerica is acheived by being able to fog a mirror and stand upright.
 

shopbruin

Diamond Member
Jul 12, 2000
5,817
0
0
these people are stupid too. i've had two different recruiters try to get me, and each time i ignore them. the first time i fell for the entire citibank umbrella spiel, but when i looked them up i didn't even show up for the interview after learning all the "wonderful" things about them.

my bf has a friend that's going to be working for them. i asked him why!! why oh why!
 

MaxDSP

Lifer
May 15, 2001
10,056
0
71
lol, I posted a similar thread several months back when I was called by some guy at Primerica. Didnt know what the hell it was but the helpful folks in ATOT (at times) set me straight. I never called Primerica back :D
 

TubStain

Senior member
Apr 19, 2001
935
0
0
Yeah another vote for Primerica sucks.

So far I've been solicited 4 times. Once in a shopping mall by a random person that struck up a conversation.. was friendly and all, so I talked to him, he gave off the impression that he was higher up in a company, and that he is looking to expand in this town...didnt mention Primerica.. I was eager, since I was looking for full time jobs (during the IT bust) and hard on luck. He gave me his card.. I went home and did some resarch and foudn out the bullshit... he had made an offer to pick me up and take me to the presentation, since I didnt have a car. haha I made him drive his sorry a$$ for 30 mins and then stood him up. That'll teach for picking on desperate college students.

Did the same again... to another guy who struck up a conversation at a Meijers while I was shopping groceries.

Third time was a phonecall for my resume on monster.com. That probably hurt the most, since I was so excited that I got an interview...by the time I foudn out again...I was seriously pissed off.

Fourth time was a dude who chatted me up at borders. This time around I told him to Fvck off by the time I reaslized where the convo was heading. They always start off by being really friendly...wanted to know more about you and wanting to be friends, claim to be just visiting town etc..

I kept asking myself afterthat if I have gullible written on my face or something. After reading this thread I feel slightly better... atleast I didnt waste my time at those goddamn "interviews"

Next time, I'm kicking him in the nuts.
 

SuepaFly

Senior member
Jun 3, 2001
972
0
0
Take the call center job. Primerica will hire just about anyone because they don't pay you unless you make them money. They make you go to your family first and try to get them to switch their retirement/savings/debts over to them. Unless you want to do financial planning, then don't bother. You could probably even find a better company than Primerica is such were the case as well.


Originally posted by: Red
Originally posted by: Skoorb
Originally posted by: Red
So are they actually trying to hire me on as an employee or are they trying to sell me life insurance? I looked up google and you guys are apparently right =( It's some thing where people try to get referrals and things.
They are not hiring you because hiring typically involves a salary. They are recruiting you. Picture a door to door salesmen who makes nothing but commission. That will be you. They make their money by you selling insurance to somebody. You make some money off that, the guy above you makes money, and the guy above him makes money. The people at the top get lots of money and the people at the bottom (most people) make crappy money.

Find a local job board and I bet you'll see dozens of posts from Primerica looking for employees. They inundate job boards with people because they'll "hire" anybody.

Your job involves sitting around and giving insurance/personal finance advice presentations to friends/family and hoping that they buy through you.

I looked into a few years ago and went through the first interview and I could quickly tell that even though I was unemployed at the time I was still too good for that.

The place I interviewed with had people working there (around 6 in a tiny office) who seemed down on their luck or lacked an education. They would take turns feeding in their data into a single office computer. It was depressing, quite frankly. You can do better, Red. You still have a job, as much as you hate it, just keep looking :)

Wellll then, should I even bother going? I don't want to waste a beautiful evening going to some place where they are going to pressure me into joining a pyramid.

In your honest opinion, should I just skip it and keep looking? I have another interview tomorrow night with some Pharmacutical company that sells male enhancement products (not kidding) and they receive about 30,000 phone calls per day. Since I have 4+ years of call center experience, they really liked my resume and said they would like to talk about hiring me as a lead (of about 15-20 call center agents) but the commute is 40 minutes one way =( And I'm not sure if the pay is going to offset the gas. I make $10.25/hr now, so unless this place is going to pay $20/hr or something, I'm not going to bother driving 40 minutes to work everyday, especially since I've my got my last year of school left.
 

Doggiedog

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
12,780
5
81
LOL TubStain.

Reminds me of the time I was having breakfast in a restaurant with my ex boss when some guy started up a conversation with us.

In the beginning he was friendly but by the end he was talking down to us saying he knew we didn't make much money blah blah blah and he could help us make more by being a "distributor" which I immediately knew meant Amway. I was like WTF? My boss makes in the 7 figures but its not like he's going to advertise it by flaunting his money.

Should have done something similar to your first two times.
 

Jhill

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2001
5,187
3
0
Go and waste as much time of theirs as you can. Ask really dumb questions like "do I get free dry cleaning" and "do we have casual Fridays" and record it.
 

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
2
0
I went to one of their "seminars" with a friend who was convinced by another "friend" (I quote it because this "friend" of his was trying to draw him into it so he could profit) to offer an objective opinion, and I left again disappointed by people who so easily suspend their reasoning faculties when promised promise (sic) by some pontificating ignoramus. Not only did these guys employ EVERY persuasion tactic known, they did so in such an egregious manner that I was certain they would be ridiculed; on the contrary, they were all met with applause. They even had the token guy speak up during the "seminar" saying, "Hey, this is a pyramid scheme!" only to elicit stronger commitment from those who already put in their time. Every single question asked was rhetorical. The token "I'm one of you" VPs of the organization gave us the discussion of how he was previously a poor car mechanic, and now he's accumulated extreme wealth. It's convenient that they put such a guy in front of an audience of mostly unemployed transients, because it makes the guy seem all that more much affable.

Anyway, enough of that. I was disgusted for two reasons: Genuinely good people were being exploited, and genuinely good people were so blinded by promise that they suspended reason.