Unfortunately, the training program is where my positive experience ended. Employees are reminded every day from the first time they peruse the careers website, to the job interview, to on-boarding, to training, to team meetings, that Fidelity isn't like Merrill Lynch, Schwab, JP Morgan, or any other player in the game; Fidelity is a family-owned company and doesn't have to play to it's shareholders, and thus they are one of the few in the business "for the customer". That sure sounds nice, but beyond being family-owned, it's just not true. This job is in a 24/7 call center, and just like every call center in the world, metrics are king. You'll never move up anywhere in the company for retaining a multi-million dollar account or preventing perilous actions through education of financial instruments or any other morally outstanding action... you'll move up for finishing your calls on an average of less than eight minutes. This "time = money" focus exacerbates an already-beaurocratic business structure by incentivizing representatives to transfer their calls or to be curt to the point of being entirely unhelpful. That's fine, and almost expected from most call center representatives with other companies, but in financial services, it's unacceptable; you're dealing with people's retirement accounts and livelihoods. On the sales side, recommendations are limited to proprietary target-date funds and bloated, high-fee "managed" accounts. Going above and beyond to solve problems that are repeatedly surfacing and are consistently unaddressed is a habit discouraged by management: "that's not your job". Other than their own propaganda, nothing differentiates this company from the other financial services firms--do not take a potential paycut to choose Fidelity over them with the idea that you'll be working for some sort of Red Cross organization, even though they will spin it that way. At the end of the day, this is a 24/7 call center (where your job is to verify customers, reset passwords, give website support, send checks, and enter trades at their direction...financial professional is thrown around very loosely around Fidelity, but I would not consider the FR to be one) that is ALWAYS hiring. If you weren't able to deduce, there is an unhealthy amount of turnover at Fidelity due to employees leaving for increased responsibilities and salaries (most Jax representatives went to Merrill, which was literally across the street!). On the other hand, if you have some sort of relevant degree or experience and are out of work, there is a ton of job security and experience to be gained here. It's a stepping stone at best.
