First Citizens BancShares Reviews

Pros

First Citizens offers a very good work life balance. In a time were banks are laying off people in droves and posting bad numbers, FCB is posting great numbers and hiring! For positions that are applicable, they offer flexible schedules and a great benefits package. I feel really fortunate to work for a company that allows me to have success at work, but not at the sacrifice of my family. I will occasionally "work" in the evenings, but it is not something tha is expected.

Cons

Pay may not be competative for people who have been here a long time. Internal spending is very "tight". Not a lot of room in the budget for external career development like confrences and such.
Most positions, inclunding sales do not offer incentive or bonuses.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer more competative salary increases to internal employees and offer bonus and incentive options.

Pros

The bank is financially sound and offers fair pay with good benefits. Retail branch positions are good in the former IronStone branches because there is not a heavy volume of customer traffic.

Cons

The bank is really struggling to find a way to make money in this down economy without changing its ultra-conservative credit philosophy and its centralized operating model with few branches in the former IronStone markets. This leads to imposing impossible goals on employees and terminating them when goals can't be met. Some markets have had high turnover in local management and business lending.

Advice to Senior Management

Strategic planning needs to involve an analysis of each market and flexibility in delivering loan and deposit products should be allowed. Talk to employees about what is working and not working and believe what they say.

Pros

More of a family type atmosphere and doesn't seem to have the high pressure sales environment that is present at larger banks. The bank is smaller so therefore you feel like you are dealing with "people" in the corporate office instead of a "department. The bank is somewhat selective on their customers, meaning that they place value on not taking on customers that fit the parameters they are looking for.

Cons

Because it is a smaller bank the biggest downside is that they are far behind on technology and processes that are left to outdated methods. First Citizens is also the last to come into a market and they spend very little on marketing from what I can see. Most of the employees are just content with their jobs and there seems to be very little drive or aspirations to advance your career within the organization.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in new technology, and more aggressive marketing. Try to introduce some sort of commission structure.

Pros

160 hrs of vacation to start (of course you have to accrue this time per pay)...You also get two school days, so that you can attend your child's special events. Benefits are okay, at least for a single person (about $46 per pay). In the department I work, management is flexible with time....if you need to be late it's okay, you just need to make the time up...also if you aren't a 8 am person, you can probably get it adjusted w/o hassle. They work with you! Management appreciates your work and your input is valued for the most part.

Cons

The biggest con is the pay!!! Salaries are low an raises are not great at all! The only give 3% increases, if that!

Not much room for growth. The system is a little old and due to this a lot of work is manual...they are trying to become a paperless environment but they have a long way to go. I also find that because there system is old, some work is redundant, when it shouldn't be

Advice to Senior Management

Streamline the work process and update your system. Also, the bank is very conservative and that is understandable but pay your employees more as we are facing higher prices in the economy too!

Pros

Great pay when compared to the same postion at other banks. Generous vacation/personal time allowed annually. The branch staff I work with is friendly, they feel like my second family. I have worked in several branches and they are all friendly. I have not had problems with any co-workers.

Cons

It is a sales culture with goals. They have high expectations for their employees to telemarket and cold call to businesses in person. For the competitive sales-oriented individual this is great but for someone looking for a non-sales environment this will be a con.

Advice to Senior Management

You are doing a great job! Keep it up. I love the internal website for employees, it makes me feel connected to the staff in other branches and departments. It also keeps me updated with FCB news.

Pros

Initially get 3.5 weeks of paid time off to use how you like
Solid company that will be around for a long time
Ability to work remotely
Senior Management keeps open communication with employees on direction/goals

Cons

Raises/Increases can be considerably low even if Evaluation is good
Not flexible with working remotely
More maturity needed in project management & production support process/procedures

Advice to Senior Management

More focus on flexibilty to work remotely and the maturing of the project management and production support processes and procedures would really help the IT department be able to handle more projects /initiatives.

Pros

Financially sound. Relaxed work environment. Good co-workers. Good balance between work/family life. Base salary is pretty good for the area.

Cons

Outside of base salary, benefits are not that great - medical coverage is actually pretty expensive compared to other places I've worked. Merit increases are paltry (less than 3%) considering that they have all this cash on hand. No bonus.

I can't speak for other positions, but in my case there is no room for advancement. If I were to stay at FCB for the next 20 years, I'd probably be doing the same thing then that I do now. Some people may like that, but for me I need something more challenging and exciting.

Technology is a bit behind the times. We JUST got upgraded to Office 2007 on our workstations. And many co-workers still have huge CRT monitors at their desks (circa 1995).

Advice to Senior Management

Offer employees more incentives to want to stick around. Small merit increases aren't going to cut it for young professionals who want a challenging career.

Pros

schedule, pay, reputable bank, good company

Cons

pay, no room for advancement

Advice to Senior Management

There needs to be follow up from upper management. Ask your employees opinions on things. Don't just assume your teller supervisors are doing there jobs.

Pros

This job isn't hard and FCB pays better than almost any other bank. The benefits are good they match 9% of my 401K and your are vested at 6% immediately. They also give 20 days of vacation right away which is very nice too.

Cons

The technology isn't very good

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in improving internal systems and techonolgy for clients for God sakes we don't even offer mobile banking

Pros

Work-life balance, great team environment, good career growth opportunities, excellent benefits

Cons

There is no downside to working at FCB

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the Great work!