Northwestern Mutual reviews

4.0

72% would recommend to a friend

(8,245 total reviews)

Timothy J. Gerend

95% approve of CEO

74% positive business outlook

Northwestern Mutual has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 8,245 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Northwestern Mutual employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.8 stars).

Reviews by job title

8K reviews
1.0
Jun 8, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Northwestern has a good industry wide reputation and a great internship program for college students.

Cons

Each regional office is a franchise so as an employee you are at the mercy of your managing director. Unfortunately I got a bad one who was extremely negative and had fun putting down employees instead of building up their confidence. As a statutory employee they say you are running your own business. This is not the case after training you must check in for the first 6 months everyday and have to go to numerous meetings all over the state and country. They even expect you to pay for your own way and hotel to the national meeting in Milwaukee. So basically you are treated like an employee without the tax or financial benefits since you are taxed as self-employed at a much higher rate. Also if you quit or are fired in the first four years your commissions are taken away because you are not vested. They try and force you to do joint work by not giving you adequate training so senior reps can steal your contacts and split your comission.

3.0
Jun 3, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Really great people, great atmosphere, great learning experience.

Cons

Didn't believe in what i did, hated the way they pushed me to do business with family, hated the cold-calling, hated the fact that they wanted me to come up with my own list of names.

3.0
May 27, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They have a great training program. They really allow you to get a sense of the business as an intern before and they actually PAY you, which is great. There is no minimum number of hours to be in the office but you do get $100 a week easy just for listening for an hour and a half every Monday. I didn't sell one product throughout the internship, and left with $1000 easy. That paid for spring break. I also liked how helpful they are throughout the internship, making sure your on track. It looks great on my resume as well.

Cons

They put alot of pressure on you to sell sell sell, which is difficult if your balancing college and the internship. Alot of times I would not know my school schedule ahead of time to see if I could miss a class to meet with a client. They also put alot of pressure on me to take a life insurance policy out on myself. I have no income other than my allowance so financially, I could not afford it. This upset them and they stressed the point that I can't sell something I don't own, which is true. I left clean and clear of a committment.

Viewing 8152 - 8154 of 8,245 Reviews

Glassdoor has 12,849 Northwestern Mutual reviews submitted anonymously by Northwestern Mutual employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Northwestern Mutual is right for you.