Pros
Wal-Mart was a great place to gain experience in my field. I learned more there about data analysis than I could have otherwise, and that has been a great benefit in my post Wal-Mart life. I've found that prospective employers and recruiters look highly upon my experience there, and I also feel that I would not have had as many interviews and subsequent offers if I had not worked there. Wal-Mart is obviously a stable company, and provides all types of career opportunities. It seemed fairly easy for people to change their career focus, and remain with the company. There were many opportunities for training and personal growth through their "Wal-Mart University", which provides training classes for specific careers, as well as personality-based tests. Wal-Mart also served as a learning experience in corporate culture and structure. Working for such a large company, I found it interesting how the different support units interacted. Overall, I feel the major pros were how experience there is viewed by other companies, and the insight into working in a large corporate culture.
Cons
While I found the experience with corporate culture was a pro, I feel that Wal-Mart's culture itself was a con. The company prides itself on "swimming upstream" and challenging the the status-quo; however, I didn't find that to be the case very often. Most ideas for change that were brought forth were heard, but never given serious consideration. I don't believe that every idea that I, or anyone else, had should have been immediately implemented, but I feel that serious consideration was rarely given. Considerations for promotions and wage increases were also negative in my opinion. It seems that more often than not, employees were given promotions for length of service, rather than ability to lead and drive the business in the right direction. There were too many levels of management, and they never seemed to accomplish anything other than hovering over employees. I always felt as though I was under constant control and supervision from all levels and was never given an opportunity to do my job as I saw fit. Overall, I feel that the company, and management, is too absorbed by its culture to make rational decisions. I also feel that the company is scared, by whom I'm not sure, but it produces a management ideal of constant supervision and distrust of employees.
