Pros
They will hire anyone that they legally can, so it's not difficult to get started here. If you're young/fresh out of school you will be with many similar individuals. Senior Advisers and nice, but ultimately dismissive because they know you're not likely to last around. They will encourage you to hit up close family and friends for their services, but won't force you to like many other firms would. No Quotas! Study plan and help preparing for your Series 63 and Series 7 is awesome. They don't make you sign any binding contracts (since you literally pay for everything) so this is a solid alternative for getting licensed over others that require a year long commitment. Show up everyday and smile big because you know you're there just long enough to get licensed.
Cons
You aren't paid until you pass the 63 and 7, so expect to have enough money to survive without pay for 2-3 months. You have to pay for all licensing ($1200 or so). They use a lot of misleading information while recruiting you, so take everything they say with a grain of salt. You have to pay for literally everything (parking, laptop, office space, postage, etc.) Their business model is to dupe young and ambitious entrepreneurs to sign up their close knit money with AXA's advisers and then burn you out with pushing cold prospecting methods on you once all the warm ones are used up. There's a conflict of interest when advising your friends and family, since the senior adviser that "works" the case with you just wants to get paid up front since they don't know how long you'll stick around. They'll recommend an insurance product that they describe "will work just like any other investment" to line their pockets with a nice commission while your family and friends get stuck in a sub par investment. Big Red Flag: Management won't answer questions that relate to the startup process while brushing you off as wasting time that could be otherwise used to prospect. They don't want you questioning what they're having you do, because it fits their business model of taking advantage of you. The sooner you figure it out, the sooner they lose. It's easy to look at the 3-4 senior advisers making seven figures while working 25 hours. It's not so easy to try and imagine the thousands of bodies that they climbed over to get there. When you're hired for this position, the expectation is that you will fail. Some of the managers will treat this as a weird form of motivation. But think about it, why on Earth would you take a job where you're expected to fail? The managers and sales staff that have been around for more than a year are there because they're PHENOMENAL salesmen and ruthlessly determined people. You will go in to meet with them ready to quit and walk out ready to work a 60 hour week. Insurance is king at AXA. Yes, you might be a wholistic financial adviser here, but at the end of the day, they will teach you to push insurance products, even when there are much better products or strategies available to them.