Pros
They have really good benefits
Cons
I chose Capital One as the HR reps who visited my school touted it as a really healthy, progressive environment that differentiated itself from the old school finance way. I was a part of the rotational program so I got to experience several parts of the bank. The most major issue I experienced was sexual harassment. My first week on one of my rotations, there was a work happy hour and a senior male commented that I “was going to be his second wife.” Then, in the office, another senior male made a sexually charged comment. I told my manager about it and a sexual harassment case was filed but there was no real resolution other than he had to stay away from me. For the rest of the rotation, he bad mouthed me (even to the interns that were there for the summer). I heard quite a few racist and sexist remarks that he either announced publicly or someone else would tell me how uncomfortable they were by something he said to them as well. Yet, nothing was done. After I left, I received a request to pay back some of my compensation for leaving early. I called HR to see if we could come to some sort of agreement as I had left early to get out of a toxic work environment but they “had no record of the sexual harassment case.” Ultimately I ended up just paying it in full so I could move on and not have to worry about fighting with Capital One anymore. Overall, I was disappointed by how they handled this incident. Also, they market Capital One as a place motivated people come to build something great. Most of the people I encountered were people who came from big banks who were now ready to take it easy in a less intense environment. It didn’t really feel like a place to start your career and learn from the best. Last thing, performance reviews are very subjective and not transparent. If you don’t have a manager who has your back, you’ll struggle to feel fully valued. I tried to communicate with my manager early on and was constantly told that my work product was timely and of great quality and that I would likely receive the highest ranking, though it wasn’t set in stone. At the end of the rotation, I suddenly got a lower ranking because “I asked too many questions when I should be trying to problem solve on my own” when my male counterpart (who several times turned in projects late and spent most of his time on linkedin looking for other jobs or facebook) got a higher ranking than me. All the other feedback was the same as throughout the rotation but I was downgraded for that reason (even though it was never communicated to me when I asked). Looking back, it just seems like a weird process to me as I ask more questions than ever in my new job (and my manager has commented on it) yet I still get the highest rating because of my timely, solid work product. I now work at one of those “old school” financial institutions and it’s a much more meritocratic and supportive environment than either of my teams at Capital One (plus to be blunt, the pay is better). Looking back, I learned a good lesson and found my way but I think I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I just started off in a big bank.