Excellent step-stone to launch your career fresh out of school
Pros
You will learn how the markets function and the benefits of registered plans. They will pay for your license and all the courses that lead up to this event. They will support your continuing education by reimbursing further courses taken by CSI. The environment is very friendly as we go out every few weeks to socialize. You will know everyone in the office on a first-name basis. They recruit great talent and it's an incubator as people move on to greater roles outside of the company after two years. They have a great training and support system, that's the key to our success. We have senior staff that answer our questions or help us look for the answers when the matter becomes too complex.
Cons
Within Direct Investing (DI), There is little room for continuing growth. While there are tiers within the Invest Service Representative (ISR), you have to change business units to attain higher roles as there are few internal senior positions available. A typical move would be to switch to Dominion Securities (DS) if you want to manage client's accounts or move to Toronto if you want to do any type of analysis. Many of my colleagues change financial institutions as they have more opportunities in Montreal. We are moving to a building located on Parc Metro. This is taking away the prestige and convenience of working downtown. Also, you might be turned off by working in a call-center environment.