FirstMerit Reviews

Former Employee – worked at FirstMerit full-time for more than a year

Pros – No sales quota, opportunities for career advancement, decent pay, works with students schedules. The ability to pick up more hours and work overtime was a huge plus. I went to many different branches to help out whomever was short staffed.

Cons – no job security and horrible loss prevention. They do not adequately train anyone with the exception of the personal bankers about First Merit products aside from checking accounts. Until I left to go to another bank did I realize how far behind First Merit is in product knowledge. As a teller at a competing bank, I know everything from our checking/savings accounts, to our lines of credit, investments and business cash flows.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop making your employees work off the clock. You cut the ABM's out of a job to save expenses yet bought out other branches for expansion. The job duties of an ABM were so extensive that you should have cut the bankers before the Assistant Brand Managers and trained them to open accounts and close loans.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at FirstMerit full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – In the past there were opportunities for advancement, decent health care and a pension plan, average 401k match. With each "growth" the bank has they cut something else from regular employees.

Cons – If you are your supervisors best friend, go out and party with them you can be recognized, get promoted!

Advice to Senior Management – Have outside reviews of employee performance, you can coach me but it is not fair that I can't get ahead or get a good review because you sweep your best friends mistakes under the carpet and high light others.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at FirstMerit full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Serving customers is generally a joy. There are a lot of people that don't know any better than to use a credit union.

Cons – The teller system is easily the worst in the industry. It is literally the only bank still using MSDos. Expectations are high to sell, sell, sell. If you don't, expect to get squeezed out. There is always someone looking over your shoulder. If you don't get it right - expect to hear about it. Mission Onward was marketed as some sort of pro-worker program, but turned out to be the end for well over 300 jobs.

Advice to Senior Management – How about a new teller system? It would make for a more humane and productive workplace. It's the right thing to do - even if it doesn't look good for profits-and-losses. People would appreciate if wages weren't the bottom rung of the industry.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at FirstMerit full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Close to my home. Really that is it.

Cons – We are nothing but your G number. You are expected to sell sell sell, but your products are the worst. I have 16 yrs banking experience.this is by far the worst company I ever worked for. Could not give your employees a increase but managment did. My branch manager was clueless, she thought calling people honey would get her by and it worked. Teller system is ancient update!!!!!

Advice to Senior Management – Get a clue! appreciate your staff and your branches are vacant. Staff your branches.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at FirstMerit full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – My co-workers are spectacular, they have a knack for hiring just the right people for the job.

Cons – We have a tendency to get wrapped up in the process and procedure rather than the customer experience, it can be hard to convince a customer that we are the best bank to work with when we can't get out of our own way sometimes.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue to take notice of the employees who do a good job, a little recognition can go a long way in employee retention. A happy employee will lead to happy customers.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at FirstMerit

Pros – Originally, this was an excellent company - we had a very local focus, and made sure we always put the customers first. After new management bought several branches in Chicago, a slide began away from that.

Cons – Originally, this was an excellent company - we had a very local focus, and made sure we always put the customers first. After new management bought several branches in Chicago, a slide began away from that - there was much more of a bottom line drive than there had been previously.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at FirstMerit

Pros – First Merit offers a training course and is a nice low pressure environment to work at if that is what you are looking for.

Cons – Software is a bit obsolete. Very high amount of turnover coupled with poor transparency some members of the management can be frustrating.

Advice to Senior Management – While my employment was an overall pleasant experience, I greatly would have appriciated more transparency in regards to my job and what plans were laid for me.

Former Employee – worked at FirstMerit

Pros – Employees are nice, they treat you with respect and make you feel a part of the team. Great place to work.

Cons – First Merit bank is a small neighborhood bank. There is not a lot of opportunity to move up in the corporation unless you live in Akron. People dont tend to leave their positions there to allow new openings

Advice to Senior Management – I like how the management throughout the corporation make you feel special. They are there to help build you and make their team stronger.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at FirstMerit full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Smaller bank know the people you are working with and get to know backroom. Great employees

Cons – Decision making can be painfully slow.

Advice to Senior Management – Streamline operations and have consistant procedures. Timely updates of changes to all staff. Departments can become islands need to work together and update each other.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at FirstMerit full-time

Pros – full time, pleasant co-workers, weekly to bi-weekly updates on personal stats

Cons – non-flexible schedule, stronger focus on stats than customer service

Advice to Senior Management – -I wish upper management would realize that we are still a local (midsized) bank that does not provide big bank amenities, so we need to rely on providing great customer service. There is a strong focus on meeting strict stat requirements and what I feel is rushing a customer off of the phone than truly providing the great customer service that the customer needs. Many times, this results in customer call backs that ultimately hurt the call center's overall numbers.
-I wish management would have some form of interest in keeping employees satisfied. Many problems come within scheduling. There is little to no interest in accommodating individuals with priorities outside of FirstMerit. Do not view this as a rant, but useful knowledge for individuals looking to apply for an inbound customer service rep at FirstMerit. If you wish to go to college, or have medical needs, or family needs, you will be told that FirstMerit is to come first and that you are to schedule you're other needs around FirstMerit.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend