MassMutual set a record in the first quarter, recruiting more than 470 financial service professionals, the company said.

The economy could be playing a large part, as people in other lines of insurance as well as other fields attempt to sell life insurance.

“We are seeing applicants for our financial representative roles coming in from literally hundreds of professions,” said Scott Rich, vice president of the U.S. Insurance Group of the Massachussetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.

The company’s recruitment numbers are the most in the last decade, and that its career sales force as grown by 24% in the last three years, it said in a statement.