Interview advice for Merrill Lynch FA
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I need some advice, I am having a telephone interview with Merrill Lynch for a Financial Advisor position, ( I applied through the professional transition under careers on their website)
About me:
I am not a licensed. My professional experience consists of call center management, sales, advertising, marketing educational products (total 5-6 yrs). My latest experience has been in technology I was a Sr Tech for about 6 yrs.
I have owned a call center business when I was 22 yrs old, I have food stand business that I do a couple times of year (greek food).
My questions for this interview:
What kind of questions will they ask?
What is the salary? (based out of central jersey)
What are they looking for in an employee?
What is the culture at ML?
Are there things I should tell them that might be relevant to hiring? i.e. my related experiences or ...? (help)
What should I know about this position?
Also what is a PC or production credit, can someone tell me in the simplest terms what this is?
Thanks to everyone for your help.
atg614
They look for applicants who can use a search feature on internet message boards.
Basically they want employees who are able to bring in rich clients (250k +) accounts and they will pay you $40k for 2 years of producations plus 8 mos. of training to bring in $15 million in annuitized assetts (includes buckets of revenue outside of accounts). There questions will be about whether or not you are able to do this.
The $40 grand salary is not standard, keep in mind. I came into the POA program with 5 years of industry experience with two other firms and I make well over that. It really depends on what management thinks you deserve based on your experience, qualifications, etc.
The $40k is a cutoff point, however for those who have 2 years of guaranteed salary or only 18 months. For those making over 40k, you have 18 months salary.
As for what ML is looking for... hard-working, intelligent people who they feel can make it in the business. Industry backgrounds are a plus for product knowledge, other careers are great for the "sales aspect" of the job. I've found that neither one is necessarily a better bet. ML rewards those who work their butts off, and I rather like that model to be honest.
As for PC's - these are basically the revenue that you generate from fees, commissions, trailers, etc. To a POA FA, it means absolutely nothing, because most people go for the "10 mm annuitized" portion of the best-ball scenario (it's 15mm in total assets/liabilities, and EITHER 10mm annuitized assets or $175,000 PCs). The PC route is tough for POA graduation unless you're primarily a transaction-based FA. In our fairly large office, I think only one team of FAs is focused on transactional business. Most like the idea that they know where their compensation is each month.
PCs, keep in mind, do not correlate 100% to the FA in terms of commission. On average, you'll take home about 50% of whatever you generate in PCs. Most people recognize that if an FA did 50,000 PCs one day, that was a $25,000 day for him/her.
Best of luck!
Try to get in front of the manager at the office where you want to work as opposed to a phone interview.