A friend who works at the company recommended me to join. I contacted a hiring manager by email referencing the recommendation. Promptly we started exchanging emails and talked on the phone. I agreed to drive a couple of hours to meet him at his HQ office in Charleston. Turned out to be a VERY swanky prestige suite in historic downtown. When the manager came to welcome me he invited me to his office. He had a MASSIVE modern desk which he sat behind in a big chair, and I was waved to the chair in front. There was a vertical panel in the desk which blocked me from sitting comfortably. The place seemed calculated to impress and intimidate. We had a good interview, focusing mostly on personal character and aspirations, and somewhat on industry knowledge. It was a very challenging interview which I enjoyed. He had a really good computer based presentation about NY Life careers. (I asked him for a copy which he was unable to provide.) The national company has special hiring initiatives for various demographic niches. Interesting to me, they have one for LGBT agents and markets, and the literature was in the foyer so I felt comfortable talking to him about that aspect of how I could reach out for prospects. They are big on career planning and envisioning futures with the company. NY Life requires a very very thorough scrutiny of the candidates, which is confidence-inspiring about the successful personnel, if you the candidate are not overwhelmed by it. I was required to submit EXTREMELY detailed information and answer multiple questionnaires that are all intended to expose everything "good, bad, or ugly." Some was done by email, some in person, some with a secure special online portal. The company has a whole separate department that reviews all these materials and must approve you. I already had an insurance producer license and had worked in the field so I had done the credentialing and exam process already. NY Life has higher standards than most because I got a new level of examination. I highly recommend to be prepared by pulling your credit reports because the data summarized on them is extremely handy to answer the questions with precision. Also, if there is any kind of false negative information in your reports that you have not already fixed before, it is going to be a problem. Also, any TRUE negative information is going to require information, explanation, possible documentation. I was required to produce an actual copy of a court document for a bankruptcy discharge (8 years ago and no problems since then). [Just as a side note, I was able to retrieve it electronically in no time using PACE (Public Access to Court Electronic Records). I believe you have to have an EIN tax number to use PACE.] NY Life gave me a whole fresh new round of scouring for dirt. When I was eventually approved they literally said I was "clean."