Pros
Fidelity offers outstanding benefits and perks, from fitness and computer reimbursements to solid 401k matching. The Financial Representative role is highly team-based, and there are always campaigns going on to see which team can land the highest metric scores. The prizes for performing well in the campaign are often substantial. It is quite possible to set aside the gift cards you win from the campaigns to fund an entire Christmas shopping list. A good friend of mine won a 4-day, company paid trip to the Bahamas as a campaign reward. Plus, the campaigns are a lot of fun. The team structure is great. Nearly all of the managers are incredible. Some are more hands-on than others, but they all make sure you're developing as a representative and getting the training you need to stay sharp. During the summer, things were incredibly slow and we were often offered VTO (Voluntary Time Off), meaning we could request to leave at a certain time of day and take the rest of the day unpaid. While getting addicted to VTO was extremely hazardous to your paycheck, it was cerrtainly nice to have that option, especially during the summer. During the winter and tax season, overtime is offered and encouraged. Unlike VTO, overtime was a paycheck savior. While it was strongly encouraged, it was not mandatory, meaning you essentially have control over how much you want to make each day. Because they only offer OT when things are incredibly busy, its pretty safe to say that every hour of OT put in is going to go by very quickly. Training is INCREDIBLE. When studying for the Series 7 general security license, you are paid for 20 hours out of the week to study. If things are slow, you spend half of your day at work studying. If things are busy, you work through the day and are expected to study at home, and that time is PAID overtime. Huge win/win. In my new hire class of 17 people, every single one of us passed the Series 7 on our first try, something largely unheard of in the industry.
Cons
Career growth potential is low. While there are a number of roles to move into that are still in the call center (retirement specialists, stock plan services, premium service, sales, etc.), they are all essentially call center jobs. Typically, if you're an outstanding rep for a number of years, you may get promoted to a team manager, and from there I'm not sure where people go. In my year at Fidelity I never saw a team manager leave the position, except to be a team manager with a different group (i.e. going from managing a trading/service team to a retirements team). Also, a POTENTIAL downside is that it is a shift-based role. Upon completing new hire training, you rank the available shifts from 1 (most desired) to 18 (least desired). They try to put everyone in the best shift possible, but the needs of the business come first and some people are going to end up working 10 hour, 4 days shifts, Sunday through Wednesday, starting at 5 AM. Fidelity customer service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so they need people to cover all shifts. I got lucky and got my second pick, which was one of the many M-F 9 to 5's (my first choice was Monday through Thursday, 10 hour shifts), but there are a few people that aren't as lucky. People that work night shifts (any shift starting at noon or later) are given a 8% pay bump while working that shift, however, so there are often people that WANT the later shifts, decreasing the chance you'd be stuck with one if you didn't want it. Also, people can bid for a new shift once per year, so your shift is never permanent.