Pros
Pay and benefits will be second to none at the agency and up there with the best in the federal government. HR is top notch here and has done an outstanding job of implementing some great benefit areas including fully paid dental and vision premiums, subsidized health premiums, student loan repayment, transit subsidy and supplemental retirement match. Telework is also a major plus and IT and HR deserve joint credit for its high reliability and user friendly platform. Other agencies that I've worked at leave a lot to be desired in that area.
Cons
Like many other posters said, bureaucracy and red tape is common here like at any federal agency. If you ever choose to join the subject department beware of a host of red flags: 1. Prepare to be subordinated to other divisions at the SEC. Remember the phrase "the customer is always right?" Executive management expects you not to collaborate with your peer departments, but do a majority of the work for those departments if they "aren't familiar with the process." You read that right, do others' work for them (in addition to your own). 2. Don't expect any of the following: rotation/training/detail. In the subject department, rotations/details/training are all highly discouraged. The agency contains mostly lawyers, so perhaps that is a contributing factor, since one would need to be credentialed to fulfill a role like that one. However, when it comes time for the aforementioned to be approved by the execs, you're always told to push it further down the road or take a "local" training course (one that is at the SEC, shorter, and watered down from premier provider training). The HR reassignment program (where you can transfer to another department within the SEC) is a black hole if you you try to move elsewhere in the agency (no one looks at the resumes). Now it makes sense why none of us underlings are cut out for leadership! We have no leadership training nor breadth of experience! 3. Don't bother recommending good ideas or improvements. Executives will do one of two things with them, take credit for them (while giving you none) or completely disregard them and in turn force feed COO initiatives. This department is still recovering from a Congressional lease conundrum, which is another reason why ideas/innovation go nowhere. The tools to do your job are never working either, like our contract writing system. Workarounds are common, and most surprisingly, add more work. 4. Be content with low responsibility, despite higher pay/titles (it may sounds glorious for those either lazy or near retirement, but not for those who want to move up the ladder/gain experience). Most 13s here posses a $150k warrant that is extremely narrow in scope. A contract review board (where approval is required before advancing on procurement strategy or award decision) is needed for for $350k or above, adding more layers of bureaucracy to the process. 5. Most management in the subject department rose through the ranks on technical expertise and not people expertise. Because of this, there is a major disconnect with developing employees, disseminating information along to employees, and the like. Constant status reporting (a less pointed term for micromanagement) is stressed by managers often. This practice also contributes to a lack of employee engagement/development. 6. Unless you are ready to close out your career, don't work in this department. Good managers exist here but are very rare. If you are on the younger side (22-35) and would like a sense of purpose or meaning, try another department/agency. In this part of the agency, nearly everything is admin in nature with a minuscule amount of strategic. The regimented structure here feels like a repetitive clerical nightmare that will leave you yearning for something more. Much more. 7. Including the subject department, agency culture is very win/lose (adversarial) like when vying for promotions, projects, etc. Perhaps the focus on the wall street bad guys permeates far and wide at the agency.
