Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. has used a slow-and-steady hiring strategy over the past three years to add financial professionals and it plans to continue hiring at a time when many competitors are being forced to cut staff.

The Springfield, Mass.-based company has added 300 to 400 financial professionals, including registered representatives and insurance agents, annually and plans to continue hiring at a similar rate over the next few years, according to John Vaccaro, a corporate vice president of sales and distribution for MassMutual’s U.S. insurance group.

“Our strategy is the same as it has been for the past few years,” he said. “We are focused on recruiting financial professionals and retaining the ones that we have.”

MassMutual has improved its retention of financial professionals in the past two years, Vaccaro said. The company has retained 85% of professionals that have worked for it for more than four years. It has retained 27% of professionals that have worked for the company for less than four years, up 13% from two years ago.

“I think our rate of retention indicates that our business model is working,” he said. “At a time when many insurers are cutting staff we are holding onto people.”

Analysts said that many of MassMutual’s large competitors have cut expenses, including headcount, in the past year because of the financial crisis. Vaccaro said he expects to add another 300 to 400 financial professionals in 2010.

“Eight percent to 10% growth of our sales force will be outstanding,” he said. “We honestly believe that if we can add staff and add business this year we can do it every year. We are still going through a financial crisis and some competitors have been distracted by other issues. We want to take this opportunity to attract talent.”

Vaccaro added: “I think we have a distinct advantage as a mutually held company. We can take a longer view. We are not worried about quarter-to-quarter gains. We don’t have stockholders.”

MassMutual is attracting financial professionals from colleges, other financial services firms and from people changing careers, he said. For the company, nearly a quarter of all new recruits this year were women, while 15% were from multicultural backgrounds.

As of Sept. 30, MassMutual had $405 billion in assets under management. It experienced record double-digit sales growth of whole life insurance last year and continued strong growth in 2009 with whole life insurance premium up 9% and policy counts up 21% since the beginning of the year.

Vaccaro said that long-term products, including whole life insurance, is “back in vogue” and gaining a lot of sales for the company. Whole life insurance “has been around for a long time and it has become a steady Eddie product,” he said. “It isn’t sexy but it provides protection and can be used as an income generator. The products that are multi-faceted like this are gaining momentum.”