Pros
- Very hands on work, learn as you go - Access to market movers. "Why did soybeans go up 10 today or why did the spread firm 3?" Answer: "Because we did X and Y". - Plenty of experienced people to help answer questions and lead the way - Plenty of opportunities to move around the country and world, see new places, meet new people -Benefits such has health and 401k matching are great, probably some of the best around - ADM is very respected in the agribusiness world, always gets good remarks from the competition and customers -Moving packages are generous, covers the cost of moving and then some -Starting salary as a merchandiser can be bleh, but if you do well, several raises will come your way over the next couple of years.
Cons
Really, only cons are salary, hours, and technology. Salary is OK, one can definitely be comfortable with what is earned, but still lags behind the industry standard. You could argue though that this lower salary is traded for job security. Other firms if you don't do well, you get canned. Here, you would stay on and get several chances before being fired. The other con is hours, and I mean the sense that if it's dead in the office, you're still expected to stick around. With technology today, much of your job can be done outside of the office. However, it seems there's still the attitude that if you're not in the office, you're not working. Finally, technology. The systems we use to track contracts, contacts, A/R, everything is decades old. And I mean decades. Information is not easy to access. Even the simplest things like looking up a contract balance can be a daunting task if you don't have the right permissions or know what commands to type. However, this is a known problem in the company, and millions of dollars are being spent to get us updated. By the time this gets rolled out though, the tech will likely be outdated. I won't hold my breathe.
