Fidelity Investments Reviews

Pros

Support in learning the industry, terrific 401k match and profit sharing, gain a lot of experience in a short amount of time

Cons

Very political in regards to getting promotions, rigid policies, managers monitor image more than professionally develop employees in most cases

Advice to Senior Management

Evaluate performance as the main driver for promoting individuals, cut out the politics when it comes to advancement and establish initiatives to develop employees individually.

Pros

Family atmosphere where leadership goes out of its way to make lower level employees feel needed and appreciated. Smart employees from the bottom up in my division. Benefits are industry standard, can't be beat. Work environment is pretty good and facilities are outstanding.

Cons

Like many lower level positions in financial services, base pay isn't much to write home about and advancement can be slow. Even after a few promotions and raises, the base compensation isn't great. Fidelity is at the average for base comp, and tries to make it up in other ways, so this isn't too negative of a con.

Pros

-excellent benefits
-excellent training and paid study time for licensing
-technology was constantly being upgraded
-good people to work with
-young and fun culture
-family owned so the company doesn't have to give in to the pressure of shareholders

Cons

-pay was just average
-constant reorgs and policy changes, sometimes with little notice
-have to play the politics game to advance
-tied to your desk for phone roles with very little break
-sales goals constantly change

Advice to Senior Management

Overall I liked the company, but once you start on the phones, its hard to get a job off of them unless you know the right people

Pros

Great place to start you career out of school. They pay you to study for you series 7 and 63. You are paid hourly so OT can help bring up you pay amount. The training if one of the best in the business.

Cons

Tough to go to other departments. They try to get you to go to other roles that are on the phone. Very hard to get a role off the phone. After a year the job becomes very repetitive.

Advice to Senior Management

Give employees other options in career development. Many people want to stay with Fidelity but end up leaving because they are not given any direction of other positions that Fidelity has to offer.

Pros

Great training programs, friendly people are hired, good food, safe work environment, clean facilities, profit sharing even if you leave and come back to the firm, fair internal dispute resolution processes in place

Cons

large corporation which makes it difficult to advance, retail/representative work is all done on the phone with a strict clock in/out system.

Advice to Senior Management

Exemplary employees should be allotted more time to work with and mentor their peers (same position). Salary adjustment should be made due to distance of actual worksite. More bonus compensation. Less subjective employee reviews.

Pros

Nice managers, good people, amazing series 7 support, paid study time, good training, nice clean office space, professional yet fun, easy going, good job satisfaction, lots of support

Cons

some fo the systerms were old and outdated, they monitored your personal trading very closely, the pay wasn't anything amazing,

Pros

Fidelity offers many different companies and industries to move around in while employed - many opportunities to learn different things. The 'Fidelity' name is very strong to have on your resume. Fidelity provides a fantastic total compensation/benefits package that other companies have a hard time competing with and there are many perks to working on the campus too such as a gym, running trails, softball field and league, etc. It's a home away from home.

Cons

Over 36K employees, it's easy to lose your voice and become a number. You're at the mercy of Exec and Sr management making decisions on projects you are working on and invested in. Tough to move up and increase grade level.

Pros

Excellent training and knowledge of the financial services industry with ample hands on experience. Career path opportunities within and outside fidelity.

Cons

Direct managers not as involved in your personal developement. To make a career for yourself and to take full advantage of the companies resources you have to do all the networking yourself. There are a ton of opportunities however.

Advice to Senior Management

Enhance the career development path that the managers should use for their representatives.

Pros

Great pay and bonus structure
Best 401k benefits in the industry

Cons

Big company feel, often can be difficult to communicate between groups.

Advice to Senior Management

Improve culture at work to be more up to speed with newer tech companies

Pros

Fidelity is a large enough company that there are numerous opportunities should you want to change paths. The benefits also seem better than other companies.

Cons

In order to climb the ladder, you need to be cuthroat and play the political game - hard work is not enough. Strong employees need to fight for everything they get.

Advice to Senior Management

More employee recognition and more competitive salaries would go a long way in keeping the employees happy. There is constant chatter of people looking to leave for these reasons.