Pros
It's pretty routine. We typically do the same types of transactions and follow the same schedule. Many of us don't work weekends very often (I currently only work one weekend every few months, but it varies by location). We have great relationships with a lot of our regulars, and I like most of the people I work with. It's a decent starting salary, especially for someone with no experience. The company as a whole is finally making technological advancements (5-10 years behind everyone else, but better late than never I guess). It's not quite the "cutting-edge technology" that the marketing team is pushing, but it's better than what we've been working with.
Cons
Getting hire pay or a better position is getting more and more difficult. A lot of financial centers have high turnover, but the company keeps making cosmetic changes instead of addressing the issues that drive away the customer-facing employees. They constantly say that tellers are "the face of the bank" and "the most important role" but do nothing to reflect that. For every great customer relationship, there's a customer who will yell at you for something completely out of your control. It comes with the territory in any customer service position, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. With a heavy focus on "5-Star Customer Service," you have no way of defending yourself against an adult throwing a tantrum except waiting for them to tire themselves out or a manager stepping in. When I applied, I was told there was a sales element ("selling" accounts and such). I wasn't told how much it would affect my performance, despite it being only one aspect of the job. With the interest rates and fees most of our products have, they're not competitive enough to be appealing to customers, making it incredibly difficult to reach our minimum goals. Everything else on my performance review can be great, but a poor "referral point" total has dropped it from a 4/5 to a 3/5 on two occasions. It seems to be shifting even more toward sales with our current changes, which is not what I signed up for and definitely not what I excel in. Pay raises are only once a year, and laughably low. Mine this year was roughly $0.25/hour, even though I had a good performance review. There's nothing our direct managers can do about it either; they're limited by upper management. If you can help it, don't take the vault. It doubles your workload and gives absolutely no benefits. No pay raise, no bonuses, nothing. I've been told by older employees that the vault teller used to receive adequate compensation; I can't figure out a legitimate reason to take that away. On top of all of that, they're now using a glorified personality test to determine whether you qualify for a position, even if you meet all other requirements. If you're not the right "type," you can't even get an interview without a manager in the department fighting for you.
