I applied through university. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Northwestern Mutual (King of Prussia, PA) in Mar 2013
Interview
Was asked to come to one of their regional branches in order for an information session. Not much was given about the actual internship so I went. Ended up being in a conference room for about an hour listening to what life insurance actually is and how they develop you into a salesman. At the end, you were brought into a room for an individual interview for roughly five minutes. They asked basic behavioral questions and then informed me that I would be contacted about the next interview (they said this was the first of three). I was given homework to complete which included a brief PowerPoint about the virtues of the company and why I would succeed. I left fairly disappointed because the entire premise of their sales internship was this: you would come up with a list of names of people who would be interested in life insurance. This basically came to a huge list of names of your closest friends and family. They said that this core group would be your first list of possible clients and that you would ask each one of them for referrals. So you were to try to sell life insurance to your closest friends and relatives and then badger them again for more clients. I understand they say this is a Top-Ten internship, but both my friend and I who applied together were not buying it.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
There were not many questions, everything was very straightforward.
Series of interviews that began with an information session, followed by a basic "get to know you" interview where you learn more about the position, followed by a final interview
Straight forward and easy. Consisted of a call and a zoom interview. First with a recruiter and then with a full time rep that was part of the internship. Fairly easy and straight forward.
Sales focused interview. Need to provide a list of 200 people and their contact info to pass the interview, and once you're hired you'll have to contact all those people.