The Walmart of Investment Management
Pros
Benefits: paid time off, 401(k) match, closed during major holidays Easy job, you don't take your work home Nice people Some departments have a 4 day work schedule Unlimited overtime
Cons
Lack of advancement opportunities - not a place for a long-term career Mind-numbing job - no learning and growing Harder to move internally than switching to a competing firm Low pay compared to competitors Big corporation feel, you're just a number Extremely high backlog "Leaders" don't lead, they just manage High management turnover Too much micro managing Working Saturdays (operations) Lack of flexibility and schedule change Okay job to start out of college. The lack of client facing experience during this role will make it extremely hard to move on with your career, unless you're looking for a position that doesn't deal with clients. My advice is to try to apply internally after 1.5 years of employment to get your series 7 and a client facing role. Your resume will look very poor with just the processing associate role on it. If you have high career aspirations I would advise to look elsewhere. Most of my training class peers quit after 1 year at the company. Career advancement are extremely difficult and plagued with politics. Even if you’re exceeding the required metrics, they’ll find ways to take away your merit increase or offer a promotion. After almost 3 years at the company, new hires are starting at a higher base than my current one. Managers say “productivity doesn’t matter, it’s all about quality”, but they will still have unpleasant talks about increasing your numbers (even if you’re at 100% quality). Some people are lucky to have nice managers (they’re labeled “leaders”), but you’re lucky if you have the same manager for over a year. So just like Walmart, it’s a great company for the consumer with a narrow focus on low cost, but not a good place for a career.
