Pros
The overall work environment was inviting
Cons
I joined Northwestern Mutual completely new to the world of finance. I was told when I was first hired that there was a lot of grace and a learning curve, but after a few months they decided I was not learning fast enough. They let me go with the justification that I asked too many questions (so I could learn) and that I was not working on tasks quickly enough. The issue was that my bosses did not take the time to explain or train me, but rather passed off those tasks to other people, so paperwork took me longer because I had to teach myself how to fill it out. I was told to do work that I had never been trained on, or do paperwork that only a licensed Financial Representative was allowed to do, so of course I asked clarifying questions to avoid mistakes. It felt like they gave me an excuse as to why I was being let go, but I am glad to be out of that environment. No one should be made to feel stupid by asking questions and trying to get better. On top of that, I was never told what my benefits were, and when they let me go they said they would not be paying out my vacation time because they took too long to process my paperwork. It did not matter that I asked about benefits multiple times over those months, they did not care enough to get it done.