It’s not so much a person’s background that matters, as it is how they envision the future. Not every career can boast that opportunity. Universities increasingly offer more specialized education tracks or vocational training. For those close to finishing or have finished degrees, this can mean increased anxiety over whether their education is competent enough for careers that they might find fulfilling. Many recent college grads fear that what they’ve learned won’t be enough for the people with hiring power.

The Northwestern Mutual Financial Network offers a career whose roles have been filled by many people with different backgrounds—not a career that you enter only after a business or accounting or finance education. If you have one, it’s a great building block. But this career isn’t closed to those who don’t—it’s not even a hurdle. In fact, we are more proud to say that our backgrounds, faces, interests, educations and goals are now changing more rapidly than ever. Of course, it’s not a career for everyone. But the 7,500 individuals at 350 locations across the United States that have made a career as a Financial Representative with the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network their own know that its challenges can be incredibly compensated by its rewards.

Too many of us remember or still listen to our parents complain about their jobs—the long hours, unsatisfying paychecks, salary caps and cuts and unforgiving bosses; the daily grind that leaves no aftertaste of accomplishment. A career should offer more than money to pay bills and a place to go from nine to five, especially after devoting so much to achieving an education that is supposed to put you closer to a more fulfilling life.
Luckily, fulfillment doesn’t choose people. People choose it. Through the stomach-knots of career counseling appointments, job track choices, career changes or college graduations, it’s how fulfilling your days wind up being that is the most important contribution to your quality of life.

When a Financial Representative’s day is done, fulfillment comes from knowing that you, yourself, have built your excellent quality of life by helping others improve their own. You truly get what you give. This career allows you to take home a compensation that is commensurate to your hard work and devotion to your clients. Your career’s biggest reward is that its payback is up to you. As members of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, our representatives are in business for themselves. Each representative manages his or her own schedule and decides with whom they want to work. You get the unique chance to build your own practice, experience the freedom you allow yourself and feel the joy of achieving your own goals—the heights of which you set yourself. And you get to do it all without being alone. No one will expect you to know everything. They’ll expect you to know where to turn for help. Because the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network is the sales and distribution arm of Northwestern Mutual and its subsidiaries and affiliates, representatives have access through it to specialists of various financial needs from estate and personal planning, building children’s education funds, helping small businesses grow, and bigger ones secure their futures. You have the opportunity to build relationships by helping people achieve their dreams and see your work put smiles on people’s faces when life hits them with its challenges.

Sean DeHaan has been a Financial Representative in Atlanta, Georgia since 1990. After graduating from the University of Kentucky, he quickly became an accomplished Financial Representative, recognized with many of the industry’s highest awards. “Many days are challenging, most aren’t easy,” Sean relates. “But I enjoy my career because of the impact I’m providing my clients, the interesting people I meet and their stories that I take home.” He committed himself to building a practice that now, as he shares, “lets me get connected with my community—while I’m out there making an income. I’m making clients of pillars in my community, and I get to become part of that.”

It is that devotion to and interaction with our communities that has led Northwestern Mutual through 145 years of industry experience. As of 2001, we’ve been voted the “Most Admired” company in our industry 18 times by Fortune magazine, and have always received the highest possible ratings from the four major rating services: Standard and Poor’s (AAA); Moody’s (AAA); Fitch (AAA); A.M. Best (A++). That reputation has been made possible by our Financial Representatives, who in 2000, were ranked the “Best Sales Force in the Industry” by Sales & Marketing Management magazine. Our experience has helped us develop training and education systems, mentoring programs and coaching opportunities to help you build your best business without feeling petrified like so many beginning entrepreneurs. In addition, our Financial Representatives have Northwestern Mutual’s excellent reputation to help start each relationship positively; as Sean shares, “I chose Northwestern Mutual because of what it stands for—integrity, keeping promises and trust.”

Not every career is fit for every person. Not enough people investigate jobs before embarking on what they think is the “right” career. We believe in basing career choices on educated decisions—not guesses or the luck of the draw. That’s why the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network has devoted itself to creating a Financial Representative internship program that is unequaled in our industry. In 2001, the Princeton Review ranked our program as one of “America’s Top 10 Internships” for the sixth consecutive year. Time has refined our training. Time has also taught us the importance of exposing younger people to our opportunities and to developing the skills they need to advance their careers early. As of 2001, out of our top 100 Financial Representatives, 72 started with Northwestern Mutual at age 25 or younger; 56 started their representative careers directly from college; and 24 were alumni of the internship program. As with full-time Financial Representatives, interns are able to develop necessary skills and knowledge of the financial services industry through specialized training programs, one-on-one mentoring relationships and by establishing a real client-based business of their own. Interns gain real world experience with real world compensation—extraordinary advantages to college students. Plus, you’re investing in your career and your future before you even graduate.

“Northwestern Mutual is a supportive company for interns—for their personal and professional development. Many other companies say they offer that opportunity, but Northwestern Mutual’s internship program truly has unlimited opportunities, helping you go as far as you want to go,” says Dawn Shephard, (left) a highly successful intern. Dawn was one of 2001’s highest-ranking Northwestern Mutual internship client-base contest winners. She is currently a senior at North Carolina State University at Raleigh, pursuing a business and marketing-education major.

Dawn had participated in other internships while in school, but hadn’t considered a financial services opportunity. After exposure to The Network at various career fairs, Dawn decided to investigate the program. After one year, in hindsight, she notes, “My internship experiences were rewarding experiences for helping people improve their finances and learning business preparation and relationship building skills.” She continued adding, “It definitely enhanced my educational experiences in college. I was floored with Northwestern Mutual’s training program. It taught me to build relationships with clients, versus simply focusing on sales.”

It is that history of relationship building that has helped us grow both within The Network and as individuals. Nurturing client relationships and relationships with other representatives and specialists are stressed for interns’ success. “You grow so much in this program,” Dawn shares, “for having experienced representatives be open—giving us the chance to speak with them, observe them, go on appointments with them and do joint work with them. That allows Northwestern Mutual interns to gain a vast amount of knowledge.”

Investigate your internship and Financial Representative career opportunities with the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network by logging on to www.careers.nmfn.com. There you can also gauge your own suitability for various self-employment business opportunities by taking an online Self Employment Screen (SES). Take that opportunity to discover new places you can take your future.