Let me paint you a picture of how my entire experience went!.
I had a job, but I was looking for a new one, specifically, I was looking to change career paths". I got a phone call from the CW Agencies of AIL about my resume that they found on Career Builder'. Now, this is the first time I had ever gotten a phone call for Insurance, and the picture that they painted on the phone when I asked questions sounded pretty nice". That they worked with Union Members, primarily Firefighters, Teachers and Police Officers!. Seeing how I have all 3 of those in my family, I was drawn to it|. Golly gee, I get to help people who work in the same line of work as people I care about:. The idea made me feel good". I was told I would meet with Mr. X (name changed to protect identity), however, when I showed up for my first interview, it was not Mr. X that I spoke to, but Mr. Y. After a 10 minute conversation with Mr. Y, where he did not ask me any of the interview questions I was prepared for (normal questions that you get like, what is your biggest strength and greatest weakness. What are you looking for in a company. What draws you to sales.), instead, one of the questions was, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how competitive are you?" Now, that should have been my first clue that something was up, but, being the sometimes naive person that I am, I dismissed that red flag. Now, after that 10 minutes, he asked me if I would stay for the group presentation. That only a small handful of the people that they were seeing today would be there, and of those people, only 2 or 3 would be called for a third interview. 'Wow, that's really cutthroat' and proceeded to sit through the presentation. After the presentation we were told to introduce ourselves and tell everyone why we should be the person that was picked for the job. After that was done, we were told that if we were chosen for a third interview, we would find out that evening, if not, have a good life. I went home and talked it over with my significan other and we decided that based on everything that they told us (aka the picture of lies that they painted) if I got a call for the third interview that I would go back. (Now, let me make a note of the fact, that at this point, I wish I had done a better job of rooting through the internet for more confirmation of the company. All I can say is, my bad)
I got a call that evening from Mr. X himself about how everyone there had thought so highly of me (I had only interacted with 1 person and made 1 statement to the group, that should have been red flag number 2), and he asked me if I came in for the 3rd interview tomorrow, if I could pay the 199$ for the Greenlight program. That is when he made the first promise of - WHEN YOU GET YOUR LICENSE, WE WILL REIMBURSE YOU. (That should have been red flag number 3) However, believing that these were people of their words, I said yes, I would be able to pay for it. I went in for the interview, and after 5 minutes he had me sign up for the Greenlight program. I wouldn't have even called it an interview. It was more along the lines of him taking 2 or 3 minutes to tell me how if "I made a commitment to him, he would make a commitment to me" and "I beat out a lot of people for this spot. Out of the 70 people they interviewed that week, they were only hiring 2". He made me feel like I really sold myself (looking back now, I realize that I in fact, did nothing of the sort. I honestly believe I got it because of how I look). It took me 10 days to study and pass the Greenlight program, and I took the State Exam a week later and passed it. That night I applied for my Insurance License and the next morning I gave them a call to let them know that I had passed it. They had me come in the following day to install the eApp onto my laptop. (Oh yeah, part of the requirements are that you have to have a laptop, if you don't they tell you to buy one or that they can't give the opportunity to you). Then they gave me a 4 page script and told me that I had to have it memorized by the next Monday. Fine, I have a photogenic memory and things like that come easy to me.
So, now that I am offically a contracted agent, have the eApp installed on my computer and have the script, I ask Mr. X about the reimbursement for the 350$ that I spent. "Oh, it will come to you in the form of an advancement once you start actually producing." Of course, me, puzzled, stated that is not what he said when I asked him about it originally. I had spent all my extra cash on getting the license, and having a very small kid at home, did not have the luxury of waiting 3 or more weeks for what he said would happen. (That should have been another red flag)
So, I study the script during the rest of the week, and when I show up at the office on monday, I am given the script test. I pass it with flying colors. Then I am told Mr. Z will be my field trainer. Okay, great, going to be in the field and learning everything right off the bat. The sooner I'm in the field, the sooner I am making money, right? (Or so I thought)
So, my second day in the field with Mr. Z and I made my first presentation and my first sale, with very minor coaching from him. Awesome, I'm a success. My first week with CWA I bonused. Okay, great. I get the first Advancement, plus commission, plus the bonus and the 175$ for actually making 2 sales that week. I should have had a 2000$ paycheck right off the bat...so tell me why I never saw that advancement money, and I have only seen 500$ worth of commission money?
Here is where the picture starts to fade and reality starts to shine through.
When I asked Mr. X about it a week after the money was supposed to have hit my checking account, he said that "according to their records I got paid". I offered to pull up my checking account information right there and prove to him that the money never hit my account. He said he would look into it.
Now, they will tell you that the schedule you are supposed to work looks like this - Monday: 1:30 - 9, Tuesday: 2 - 9, Wednesday: 2 - 9, Thursday: 1:30 - 9, Friday: 2 - 9 and Saturday: 8 - 3. If that were to have been the truth, I would have been fine with it. Reality of the matter is it went something more like this. My Field Training Manager (FT Manager) Mr. Z wanted me at the office at 8 stating he would meet me there to help me polish my presentation and walk me through some more of the aspects of the job. So, tell me why Mr. Z never showed up before 12p, and more often then not, finally showed up AFTER his first appointment was supposed to have already started. My work days actually looked like this. 8a - 11p/12a. Now, I want you to realize, I am in a relationship and have a small child at home. This 14 hours a day was causing my son to think that I had abandoned him. When I confronted him and talked to him about it, I was told, in exact words, "This job and making money are more important then your kid. You think he's going to remember your weren't there when he grows up? No. He's going to remember that you made money and he had everything he wanted. He doesn't need you at home, you're better off at work." - Now, I don't know about you, but as a parent this outraged me, and was one of the straws that broke the camels back.
Now, during presentations, you were to lie, cheat, sneak and do everything in your power to convince the person you were talking to, to buy from you. Oh, and most of the calling we did, was "lukewarm" calling. I mean by that, is it was all referals and most of them had never talked to their friends and families about the calls that they would be getting. AND WE WERE TOLD TO NEVER TELL THEM ABOUT THE LIFE INSURANCE POLICES WE WOULD BE TRYING TO SELL THEM. It was always "The free no-cost benefit package that has been sponsored for you. It takes roughly 45 minutes to go through all of it." Here is the catch, the last "no cost benefit" is the Needs Analysis...which is a program on your computer that basically tells the client what life insurance policies that they don't have and what they should buy. Yeah, that is where it starts getting off the topic of no cost to, this is the policy I am trying to sell you.
On more then one occasion, I watched Mr. Z rebate, telling the clients that "If they bought from us today, and 2 more of their friends bought as well, Mr. Z would send them a 50$ gas card for their time. Everyone could use a little gas in their car, right?"

Now, let me outline my biggest complaints. I have NO PROBLEM busting my *** for a company, I've worked 90+ hour weeks in the past, and brought home 2K+ paychecks from a company that paid me hourly, but at the time, I didn't have a family to take care of. However, working me like a dog and then telling me that my family means jack-*** and that I should be thankful to have the job with AIL and that AIL is more important. Yep, that pissed me off as a parent.
It took 9 weeks after my first sale for me to actually see a paycheck from AIL that was more then the 175$ bonus that I recieved each week. They still owe me over 4K in commissions, and that's not including the advances that I was promised, or the reimbursement for the Greenlight program. If I were to include those, it would be closer to 7k or 8k.
I watched as the recruiters just literally pulled names off a piece of paper that had phone numbers next to them. There were NO RESUMES in front of them. They just got the information off Careerbuilder, Jobs.com, Monster, IndianaCareerConnect and a handfull of other sites. So yet again, they are misrepresenting themselves.
One last thing that I will note, and I learned this in the military...LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE, and leadership by example is something that Mr. X, Mr. Y, Mr. Z and every other member of management in the CW Agencies of American Income Life lacks. 30a70b5

• Red flag
• Greenlight program