Working for John Hancock's Trenton, Bucks County office was the worst careeer decision I ever made.
First of all, the sales manager, Shieling Lim, is the stupidest, most disorganized person I ever had the misfortune to work with. He is the person responsible for recruiting and training. He has a way of talking forever (mostly personal stories about himself) without saying anything helpful. More importantly, he has very little knowledge about the industry and usually pleads ignorance when he is asked a question, and when he gives answers, they are very often incorrect. This is a HUGE problem, because in the insurance business, if you have ONE wrong form out of a stack of 20, you may have to see the cilent again (which usually means driving hours) to correct the paperwork before you can get paid.
I collaborated on several projects with him in the beginning and they were all a waste of time. Most importantly of all, I quit when I found out with absolute certainty that he lied to me about several company policies that cost me untold times and money.
Other than the abortion of a manager that is Shieling, there are several other problems. The office is a dump. There are only three computers (with printers that don't always work) for approximately 20 agents, and John Hancock HQ does not allow the use wireless internet. This means the office is EXCEPTIONALLY inefficient, as there is often a long wait for simple tasks such as checking email or mapquesting directions to a clients house.
Also, the office staff can be very difficult to deal with. Other then Cathy, the girls who work there are nice, helpful, and the most knowledgeable people in the office. However, they are paid a straight salary that is not affected by hours or productivity. This means that every second past 5pm they work, they start to lose money. So, they lock they're part of the office promptly at 4pm so no agent can bother them with work that will keep them after 5pm. This means you can not send faxes, recieve faxes, or submit paperwork after 3:59pm, even though as an agent you will be working long past that.
Furthermore, the processing of paperwork at this firm is painfully slow. It literally takes months to get paid for submitted business, and throughout that time, paperwork is often lost and needs to be redone and corrected and redone over and over to make up for the fact that the intermediate office and the home office have out of date scanners and fax machines that butcher your work. This matters, because you don't get paid till your business is processed. I am writing this in March, and have yet to get paid for business I submitted in August.
Also, they will not tell you this, but you will pay for all of your own office supplies. The only thing they will give you is a desk and a phone (that may or may not work... Seriously, I'm not kidding, they gave me a phone that didn't work) that you will have to pay for anyway. You also pay for any mail you send out and any copies you make. So basically, the only advantage you have to working in their office is having to answer to the manager, Shieling, which as I mentioned before, is not a huge advantage. Also, they will not tell you about the quotas you have to meet to retain employment, to qualify for health insurance, and that you will not be eligable for the companies 401k for a year.
Between the incompetence, lies, ommissions, inefficency, and ridiculously out of date technology, I strongly suggest not working for this company. If you have your heart set on selling insurance, I hear good things about metlife.
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