Why We Don’t Require Recruiting
Ask most agents how they got into this business and you will hear the same story. Someone they knew said, "Get licensed, build a team, and you will never have to sell again." A few months later, they were recruiting their own friends.
We do not work that way. At FEX Careers, no recruiting is required, ever. Your contract level depends on your own production, not on how many people you sign up. Here is why we made that choice.
Recruiting people who are not ready creates chargebacks
When an agency's pay plan rewards recruiting, new agents get pushed into the field before they know underwriting, draft dates or how to keep a policy on the books. Policies they write are more likely to lapse in the first year.
When a policy lapses early, the carrier takes back the unearned part of the advance. That is a chargeback. Chargeback schedules are commonly tiered, with the full advance recovered for lapses in the first several months (Kadence).
Chargebacks roll uphill
Here is the part most recruiters leave out. Under many agency agreements, when a downline agent's chargeback debt goes unpaid, because the agent quit, stopped producing or simply cannot pay, that debt rolls up to the upline (LegalClarity). The same source notes the upline can owe money it never received, because its override was only a fraction of the commission.
This is not new. A federal bankruptcy case described how an agent's unpaid debit balance would "roll-up" to the next upline agent in the hierarchy, and so on, until it reached an agent who could be made to pay (In re Tomer, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Illinois).
So the agent who was told to "build a team" can end up holding the bill for a team that was never ready to sell.
Most recruits do not last
Industry research backs this up. LIMRA has reported that only about 15 of every 100 recruits are still with their hiring company after four years (AM Best, citing LIMRA). A 2025 LIMRA presentation put industry-wide four-year retention at 14% (LIMRA).
A business model that depends on a constant flow of new recruits is fighting those numbers every month.
What we focus on instead
- Your own production. Your level is based on the business you write, not on the size of a downline.
- Policies that stay on the books. Training covers underwriting, draft dates and follow-up, because a sale that sticks is worth more than two that fall off.
- Your book stays yours, subject to each carrier's agreement.
- No pressure to bring in friends and family. If someone you know wants to sell, great. It will never be a condition of your contract or your level.
Results vary for every agent and depend on your own activity. Read our chargeback math article to see how the numbers play out.
Sell. Own your book. Skip the recruiting.
Request top-level final expense, life and Medicare Advantage contracts. No recruiting required. One contract is fine.
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