MassMutual launches web site for new agents, casting 'net' for

03/28/2008- PR Newswire

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on several years
of successful efforts to recruit and retain top financial services
professionals, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) today
unveiled a creative, new Web site that introduces career changers, industry
veterans and college graduates to a career with MassMutual through the eyes
and words of its agents.

    The Web site, one of several initiatives detailed below that the
company has undertaken to grow its ranks of successful professionals,
features a MassMutual agency manager, sales team manager, experienced
agent, career changer, new agent and intern who describe their careers and
experiences in their own words. Visitors to
http://www.massmutual.com/mycareer hear and see agents describe the
company's entrepreneurial business model, training and support services and
the meaningfulness of their work.

    The online introduction and other efforts by the company are
succeeding, as the number of new agents and the company's rate of retention
both have risen significantly. "Over the past two years we have increased
our net field force by 18 percent," said Scott Rich, vice president, Net
Field Force Growth. "Our sales force continues to grow at a near record
rate in MassMutual's history. And our four-year retention rate has
increased 29 percent."

    Rich attributes the growth in large part to the attraction of
MassMutual's entrepreneurial careers, the rewarding nature of the work, and
the company's broad array of products, services solutions and tools, which
provide agents with great opportunity to succeed. Additionally, "the
company's strong financial performance and its mutual structure, in my
opinion, help to attract and give confidence to new recruits," he said.

    Those attributes helped lead Mary Grate-Pyos of West Financial Group, a
general agency of MassMutual, located in Bethesda, MD, to MassMutual three-
and-a-half years ago. "It's incredibly exciting and energizing every day to
know you're helping others reach their financial goals, providing value,
and building your own business," said Grate-Pyos, who appears on the new
Web site.

    John Chalk, who left his career as a partner in a law firm to become an
agent with Stevens Financial Group, also a general agency of MassMutual,
located in Fort Worth, TX, says the change was the best move of his
professional life. "It freed me to do what I was meant to do, which is to
educate people about their money and help them align their wealth with
their values," said Chalk, who also appears on the Web site.

    The recruiting site is one of several efforts MassMutual has undertaken
to attract new agents, including:

    -- Intensified recruitment of candidates with diverse backgrounds,
       including female agents and multicultural candidates.
    -- Increased targeting of career-changers with transferable skills, such
       as teachers and mortgage brokers, and those from such distressed
       industries as pharmaceuticals, airlines, and CPAs, among others.
    -- Continued development of strong candidate pools for local agencies, in
       part by matching candidates to agencies not only by their personal
       background and personality traits, but also by the manner in which they
       will fit within a certain type of agency business model and market.

    "We have a number of successful agency models -- high-end financial
planning, fee-based and insurance offices and hybrids that combine
variations of each," said Rich. "Our new selection system enables us to fit
the candidate to the office, and that means there's a greater likelihood of
satisfaction for the new agent and, ultimately, greater retention," he
concluded.