Pros
-Pay is OK. Not competitive compared to company size/type, but OK -Enough other great people working there (all of whom are unfortunately being taken advantage of) that you could meet some good friends -Free food sometimes
Kontras
This company is the biggest bait-and-switch I have ever seen in Corporate America, and I have seen a lot. First they'll recruit you promising the world. Great culture, career opportunities, etc. Their initial pay offering will be below market and they'll justify it as a big company that keeps certain strict pay bands. They'll draw you away from a well paying, stable, comfortable job by promising you the world. You will learn fairly quickly that it is almost impossible to get a decent raise, even just enough to keep up with inflation. Even if you are a good employee meeting all expectations, they use "forced curve" annual reviews. So even if you have no performance problems and no actionable feedback, if there are enough "higher performers" in your department, no raise. The "higher performers" will often have more to do with what type of work is available and/or office politics than anything within your control. This point will vary by department, but EXTREME disorganization. People being hired to report to one manager and then being switched around to report to another. This is not uncommon. There are many incompetent people working here at all levels and not much accountability for you having to do their job for them. They may (and will!) promise you that the mass layoffs they are doing will not affect your department, right up until the day that you get a call from HR saying your department was slashed by layoffs by 50%. People will be laid off despite zero performance issues. No job stability. From what I have observed, they did at least 5 rounds of sneaky layoffs, which they did in rounds stealthily so as to try to avoid mass panic and regulatory requirements. All this while touting how wonderful their latest acquisition (that caused the layoffs) will be for the company and its employees. After they lay off almost half of your department, they are also surprised when some people panic and quit, your department can't function, and deadlines are missed. So they go into full panic mode re-hiring for the well-performing employees they laid off/lost. Constant cycle of corporate over-hiring, over-layoffs, overcorrection. Absolute waste of good talent, and the most astounding lack of self-awareness by HR and the people making these decisions. Finally: absolute bureaucracy at all levels. Be prepared for every minor aspect of your job to take 5 times as long as it needs to, because of the layers of bureaucracy that persist in many departments. HR and IT are especially incompetent, but it is a company-wide problem. This company is bloated, probably beyond repair (and the layoffs don't seem to hit the departments that everyone knows are functionally useless - odd.) Advice to applicants: don't be fooled, they are the epitome of everything that is wrong with Corporate America, while they put a pleasant face and pay lip service to caring about employees, but only care about the bottom line and will treat you as poorly as is convenient. If the pay and benefits and work experience are worth it to you, take the paycheck, line item on the resume, and run without looking back as soon as you get a better opportunity.
