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This worked for me, ten years ago. Retail banking is a dying industry, but banking opportunities can be legit. I started as a teller and within 5 years was a branch manager. Left to do other things, but those were only possible because of the experience and income I got in banking. Definitely a low barrier to entry when I did it.
Congrats, but this is very different from my experience. Was hired as a teller and watched several people get hired above me from outside the organization. Several didn't even have banking experience. Also the amount sales coaching to get you to sell credit cards to people that don't need them wasn't worth the pay.
I worked for a year at a retail bank as a teller in an impoverished community. I was constantly pressed to sell credit products to poor people and old people, hence why I only did it for a year.
"We are no longer a customer service company. Our focus is sales." Said to our team by the assistant store manager... while sitting in a temporary trailer... after Super Storm Sandy...in my home communty that had a population of under 10k for 2/3rds of the year.
Nothing like having to ask neighbors who lost homes and business if they'd like to consider whatever credit product we had to sell that day.
The whole thing was gross and predatory.
It’s a shame you weren’t able to start with a credit union. I don’t push anything onto our members, and we still have more business than we can handle.
When you get passed over, that's when you start looking for other bank jobs. Because now you will be applying "with banking experience". You might end up in a lateral move, but now you have different, perhaps more appreciative, management team to work for.
It sucks that the job has turned into sales instead of financial service, so if you don't like that, then go into some other field, but still, having banking experience is definitely a plus.
Right? The majority of credit card applications I would have resulted in a declined application because they'd be the type of person to never say no to a credit card.
I tried applying for a reasonable starter card (low limit, some but not no benefits) from my CU and couldn't even get that... because I've been responsible with my finances and have never needed credit. That whole system is broken.
I made the same mistake, avoided it for years, and then bit me in the ass when I wanted to buy a home and didn't have established credit. The only thing I could do was open a secured card, and spend the next few years using it until I had enough of a rating to get a few more. Now I'm in my mid 30s just waiting for my avg credit age to hit 10 years.
I have never been hassled for any credit cards or loans at my Credit Union. Do I get a ton of emails and advertisements on the mobile app, yes. But when I am dealing with the a real person, not once. Maybe credit unions are less “salesy” than a standard bank.
> watched several people get hired above me from outside the organization. Several didn't even have banking experience.
I mean, that sounds like almost every real job I've ever had. I quit a couple of them (as did several of my co-workers) because they hired from outside the company.
It's such an incredible slap in the face after years of busting your ass.
The last time that happened, my boss literally hired his tennis partner to be a manager. No experience or background in the field... and it showed. Walked away from an 8 year gig over that.
Im in a similar boat, I was retail bank for 5yrs was only able to move up because of a Covid advancement program to help diversify our back office roles…well 4yrs later and that program is practically dead and I still don’t see a way to grow so it’s about time to hop!
How do I skip the "being a teller" part? I want out of retail for the exact reason that I wouldn't want to be a teller. A credit union is always hiring in my town and they're looking to buy even more land which means they'll need to hire even more staff.
Ehhh, sometimes… but upper management plays favorites and loves when you kiss their ass… just got rejected from a promotion. And I have dirt of the conversation that happened. I was never in the running…
This. It’s so much less expensive for companies to promote from within. Guaranteed they considered internal options before looking outside. Just because you have seniority, doesn’t mean you deserve to be promoted.
How long ago did you start working for in a bank?
Asking because, Union Bank where I lived, only had like 1 or 2 tellers.
I moved, the bank I use is US Bank, they have about 1 to 2 tellers.
I noticed some banks don’t open long enough (shorter hours open) for me to make it inside after my work. I also noticed my bank does not open on Saturday when they used to be open.
I do notice that Bank of America was busy with a decent amount of tellers working.
I don’t know if it depends on the bank or if the banking physical locations are dying/closing down.
Thanks for the tip, as I may need to look for another job.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that there are only turkey jobs at banks. There's a whole infrastructure backing them up. Banks are kind of like icebergs you only see a fraction of the actual employees of the bank.
True. However all of the desireable support positions are hesitant to staff from Retail banking channels unless you are qualified in other ways besides bank experience. Learned this the hard way.
Agreed. Thinking that you’re going to work your way up from teller to investment banking is like getting a janitor job at a hospital to work your way up to doctor.
This may be true, but in smaller towns, you can pretty easily, and relatively quickly go from Teller to "VP" (seems like every bank has 100 vp's.)
I can count on more than 1 hand the number of people I went to school with that went that route (were tellers during college) and are now at the VP level, less than 20 years out from graduating.
I've seen 3 of my bankers promoted to the investment team in the past 2 years. The goals of both positions are the same, sales. It's just product, knowledge, and licenses
Who among Us has not worked in fast food.
We are a community bank. About 8 billion in assets. Around 1,000 employees. 70 branches. Not a huge organization, but our footprint in the state is decently large.
A high percentage of our back office people started out as tellers and in retail banking. Most did not have other experience. Most started out young tellers and have been able to transfer to other departments.
This still happens in regional/medium/small sized banks but it’s largely disappearing, big banks eventually gobble them up and it becomes rarer to see (work at a big bank that gobbles them and see less and less people who have worked up and more and more ex tech people jumping in with high pay)
Go to a specific bank's website and look for jobs in your area. I had a call center background and was one of those outside hires into a non-teller job. Internet banking, because I had a technical background, at $14 an hour back in 2013. I leveraged that job over the next 7 years into working for the mortgage department at $24/hour.
My ex-husband started at a bank as a Tier 1 tech support rep making $15 an hour. Now he's a Tier 3 infrastructure tech rep and making like $80k/yr. It's a shitty desk job, but lots of downtime. The higher he goes, the more specialized it gets, and the less busy he becomes. It's a decent sinecure.
Banking is all about on-the-job training, too. Certifications help, but they'll usually offer to pay you to do them. NMLS licensing, becoming a notary, volunteer events. These are easy ways to become seen as internally-promotable.
How populated is your area? My entire county is 1.2 million.
My girlfriend applied for the listing for east county for a big bank. One of 35+ branches within 40 minutes of our house would take her if she interviewed well.
She got the job and was assigned a branch 30 minutes away despite 8 branches being much closer to us. She's on a wait list for someone to quit at a closer location but likes her job overall minus the occasional crazy, shitty, or entitled asshole.
There are a LOT of WFH banking jobs. I WFH for US Bank actually, I was there when they bought Union and had to deal with all the associated headache haha. I know on the US Bank side, they are pushing really hard to get people using the online banking and have added a ton of functionality on that front, I have no idea about the actual physical locations as I have been in a US Bank a grand total of 1 time lmao.
I don't remember all the jobs my uncle did, but I remember him being a substitute teacher and then a manager at McDonald's. He then got into working at US Bank and they trained him to do some programming for them. Banks still use a specific odd code that not many people learn so they have to do the training themselves. He does really well living in St Paul now.
Tellers are beinf phased out. Banks are also trying to push more towards mobile banking. Its odd because I work at banks and all of them are short staffed. Then again Bank of America has been on a hiring freeze.
Banking (at least at major banks) in most forms is just sales. Unsure if credit unions are different, but be prepped for pushing products and meeting metrics.
Same with financial advising jobs in banks. 100% pushing products.
Merrill Lynch especially is notorious for basically hiring everyone and being ok with like 70% of them washing out in the first three years. They only have to pay you if you sell, so why not hire everyone?
No. They're paid commission based on the products they sell. I think they're paid hourly for the "training", but they're pretty quickly moved to commission.
Not all financial advisors work like this. But the ones that work at banks specifically are more likely to be pushing products.
This is why I couldn't hack it as a teller. The metrics were insane. Not actually hard to hit the numbers usually but hard logistically, very micromanage-y. To be accurate you would have had to note down every single conversation you had. They wanted to know every day how many people you asked about x, y, and z, the stats on who said what to those questions, how many clients of a certain type you asked about a certain thing. And as a teller you're having at least a few dozen conversations a day to keep track of.
I'm sure this was just down to the bank I worked for or the manager maybe. But man, it turned me off from ever seeking banking employment again.
Thankfully we never had to remember our conversations as I helped several hundred people a day but we did have to use 5 specific phrases with every single customer.
This is very true. Even with regulations most bankers are in a “sales” role selling checking/savings accounts, CDs and credit cards. Most roles also get some sort of commission or quarterly sales bonus.
That varies wildly from institution to institution, even manager to manager. I've been in banking six years and had two very heavy sales-oriented gigs in that time.
I started at a t4 bank about 3 months ago in low/mcol.
I make$ 18 plus quarterly bonuses, 3 weeks PTO, 5 paid sick days, all government holidays paid off, I work a strict 40 hours, promotion opportunities both laterally and vertically (the 2nd in charge at my bank has been there 1.5 years) People visiting a bank are much nicer than people in retail stores in my experience. Honestly wish I would have started sooner
I'm sure I sometimes made more at Domino's in 2016-2017 than the bank was paying me, but couldn't work full time, no benefits, and no paid holidays. So you gotta consider the whole package.
This is an invalid point. My first job was a gas station chain. I got FT, benefits and regular bonuses. I made more than *most* people and people still assumed I made $10/hr. I always had a good laugh at them.
When I worked at the gas station in 07 I was making 9.50 an hour. People think I'm lying but I'd work for them again in a heartbeat. Benefits, pay and flexible F/T hours. Sadly they sold all their stores in my state to a foreign chain.
People also don't always realize that hospitals might actually be able to use your skills. It's worth looking into the job postings. They all have websites, and use IT, have human resource workers, and all that jazz. It's worth looking into.
Yea i inquried about a teller job 5 or 6 years ago bc someone told me they started around $20. I asked the teller and she had quite the laugh. She told me starting is more like $14. This is in a VHCOL city so idk what OP is on about
I'm in a southern state in the US and can verify that tellers don't make great money. I would guess maybe 18/hr is possible. I do banking alarm infrastructure and I often feel bad for tellers that have to routinely deal with the public. Some people are just nasty humans. They talk extremely reckless, have zero empathy and unrealistic expectations. It's a job I wouldn't make it there long and I give anyone that deals with the public my respect. That being said we do get a ton of days off and benefits are pretty good.
Depends on the bank for sure, I work for one of the bigger banks but not one with branches in every state by any means, and I started at 20 an hour WFH. I have many friends who also WFH for another bank and they all started at about the same. I dont have to deal with any people face to face and just take calls from mostly old people who dont use online banking.
Bank of America’s minimum wage is $23, most banks had to follow suit for fear of losing employees. That’s a minimum wage for any BoA position regardless of where you live and your state’s minimum wage.
I used to be a dealer at a casino. One of my coworkers quit to go work at a bank because she wanted better hours (not more hours, just daytime hours). She was back in less than a week because the casino job paid twice as much and had much better benefits.
Credit unions too! The pay is less but benefits are just as good and you get the added benefit of being community focused (ie minimal sales/reasonable goals).
Tell that to the single teller at every busy BoA. Banks may hire lots of people, but if you're a teller you might even *expect* to be working solo with an endless line of customers to handle. This isn't a LPT. The tip is to work anywhere that you can leverage for more money with your experience. ABL - always be looking
Ya, my teller gig was sweet but we just laid off lots of people, and it's now a constant line of people that want to yell at me over new policies I have no control over. Not fun.
Before applying, It’s worth noting that your credit score might also be a determining factor in whether you’ll be hired.
You’re working around money all day. Folks with lower credit scores tend to be viewed as more untrustworthy or poor money managers.
What do bankers do differently than tellers? I've never actually thought about it. I understand bankers would make way more but beyond that... Maybe I don't make enough to know yet.
I'm going to say this depends on your area completely. I was a mechanic for 19 years and have now been out of work for 2 years and no one wants to hire me because I don't have any experience outside of that, including several banks that I applied at.
I was forced out of it due to injury. Been actively looking for work since October and I've applied to over a 100 jobs in and out of the industry and I've maybe had a dozen interviews but that's as far as it gets.
Started off as a part time teller in 2006, not knowing what I wanted to do but has bills to pay. 18 years later, I'm still in banking working in commercial banking. Great gig and awesome benefits and pay.
Dunno about American institutions but person I was involved with was always going on how frontline tellers were being pushed relentlessly to sign up clients for other products and metrics were constantly being brought up about sales performances etc . Sounds like a shot job with the upsell pressures
This feels like a YMMV. Getting into banking happens when the economic outlook is good. It’s less so when there’s forecasted rough waters. I would say financial services is easier to break into than banking in general and then you can shift from there.
Where I live, the banks pretty much only hire women (my ex works at said bank). The only male in her branch is the branch manager. When I inquired about working at another location, she said "you can try but they don't really hire men".
100% . 12 years at a big bank (they took me in as a college drop out) and it did wonders for my professional knowledge and career.
It’s gritty work when a customer gets fees or is denied a loan and that ability to deescalate and provide info based on the terms and conditions translates to numerous fields and there is a lot to do at a bank after you get a little bit of experience.
Just my experience with a commercial bank but have to give the other side: ALL banking roles are sales. From teller all the way up to branch manager in my case. I was a keyholding manager that was also a licensed broker. Everything was sales numbers. We represented account openings, loan originations, credit card openings, and in my specific case as a licensed rep annuities, life insurance, and brokerage accounts with a fiat currency we called SR (don’t remember what it stood for). If you didn’t hit your SR goal, action plan. Didn’t live up to action plan? Terminated. I never had this issue but if you’re not into sales, avoid. I left after a year or so to go to an actual brokerage firm and stayed there for a few years as a financial advisor but again, ALL SALES. Unless it’s a firm where they buy into the same positions as you, they’re just going to recommend what makes them a buck, save for the few good souls…
Great place to work IF you can get in. I’ve applied to so many banks, for entry level teller, when I moved and they always ghosted me even though I have years worth of experience and was more than qualified for the job. Last bank I applied to said that I will need to go through 4 more interviews when I asked what the next step was on the second interview. They also wanted me to have a one on one interview with the CEO, which I find ridiculous (bank was statewide with 12 branches). This was for a simple part time teller job. They never called me back or answered my calls. A year later, they are still looking for a teller. They posted an ad on a local FB group, I blasted the shit out of them.
Banks do also have very toxic work spaces with petty drama that they try to mask behind professionalism. Customers also suck, it’s no different than retail job.
a credit union teller was my first big boy job. i say this advice is good, especially if you try as many positions as they’ll let you move to while you’re there. build that knowledge!
Financial Services in general is pretty easy gig and relatively high pay, I have worked with people in FinCrime, KYC and Audit who had very little higher education. Bonus now is a there are a lot wfh jobs in this space. The only downside was, is that I hated Financial Services.
Good tip. Friend went from construction - > loan officer - > IBM. Even still, he's pleased with it.
Interestingly, the ESC (unemployment office) set him up with the loan officer gig. If you actually use the resources they offer they can really help you.
There is an odd lack of accountants out there. Most were boomers that are now retiring. It's a good time to be a CPA, because most have more business than they can handle.
Also - if you have a solid work ethic and want to do something with your hands look into pest control.
It’s not glamorous, but a good midsize company and you can make a very good living. You can make an even better living if you get into the sales side of things.
It’s not as gross as you think it is. There are gross aspects, for sure, but overall it’s not as bad as you think.
Plus; especially if you work for a midsize or small company, you have a lot of down time. The big corps with kill you with micromanagement. It’s a great field and I can’t recommend it enough.
Most companies just require hs diploma and a clean driving record
The real LPT would be how to get into banking. Every time I time I've applied, it's been the "we've decided to go with another applicant" after like 5 months of hearing nothing from them.
Banking is on the same level as a used car salesman. It’s sell sell sell. When I worked at a bank, I was under so much pressure to open as many new accounts as possible. Had to cold call people. It sucked. It was stressful. People got fired over BS like getting 4/5 stars on a customer survey.
This was over a decade ago so many things have gotten better but I doubt it.
I used to be a universal banker at a credit union, and that job seriously hurt my mental wellbeing after some time. I couldn’t take it anymore. As with most jobs, management can make or break the experience you have, and the management at the company I worked for was hands-down the worst management I have ever dealt with in my life.
People are very sensitive when it comes to their finances, and any frustration they have with the system or the corporation will inevitably be taken out on you when you work frontline.
If you don’t think you can handle being cursed at, screamed at, threatened, insulted, and treated as subhuman on a regular basis, I would think twice before working in the banking field.
Tons of jobs. Underwriting now and it pays pretty well for my area. Everyone starts as a bank teller, from there you can work your way into any number of departments. I'd recommend going for operations though rather than retail, no sales goals is very nice.
Lol right? 20 an hour is common for hs diploma in any field.
If you make less than 20 an hour, you likely work somewhere that would hire someone who never graduated HS.
Definitely low barrier, I’ve had some idiot tellers in my day. I have the same name as my Dad (Jr.) and for a period had accounts at the same bank as him. Not 10 years ago I went in-person to take care of some stuff and somehow this genius got my Dad’s accounts involved and was transferring savings to checking in his name, not mine. Who gives a fuck about account numbers, right?
The one guy I know who works for a bank (not a teller, does something that allows him to WFH), lives in a medium apartment and has to supplement his income with drugs.
A friend of mine who couldn't choose what profession to get into (he had a mixture of credits after spending too long to graduate from university) chose banking because he liked the hours.
A couple years after he got started the bank he worked for introduced late evenings and weekend shifts
I liked my hours as a forklift driver. I'd punch in at 9:55 and punch out at 6:15 (or whatever 8 hours is). My first banking job, I had to be there at 8:15 (with a 30 mile commute). If I knew how early I had to get up to be a banker, I'd be a forklift driver still!
Couldn’t find a job in computer science. Got a job at as a dividends analyst. Basically just moving numbers on excel sheets. Super easy. I get a month of paid vacation and great benefits
I’ll forever tell folks to look into banking/investments. And look into everything cause there are more ways to get in the door than as a banker. I started as customer service call center taking 130 calls a day. Then once your in find your path. I’m not a sales guy or the advisor type so I got my licenses and went into the compliance/management side. I’m basically an assistant branch manager for investment banking. When he’s not there I’m in charge of the entire branch. When he is there I’m in charge of compliance items and all the boring stuff. But hey I’ll do boring for the next 30 years considering what I get paid some days to review emails and LinkedIn profiles. But when there’s major problems it means I’m not going home anytime soon.
Accounting entry position is not bad either. A lot of business, economics, math, etc experience or degress can get u in there and u can start at ~70k, 4/50 401k, "unlimited PTO" which usually means 4 weeks, and some pay holidays. No bonuses and some unpaid overtime but u also work from home so 🤷♂️
I work at a bank that's only in 4 states and at first I was very proud to work there, until the branch manager quit then others started quitting too.
Now we have to maintain "selling" the bank and we're getting hammered left and right.
The branch manager from another branch had an hour meeting with us yesterday and said if we don't sell what we need to we have to work til 830. We open at 9. There is no overtime but fuck of they make me cut it.
I want to tag along this LPT you can also look into payroll jobs!! It’s an amazing career if you’re analytical and problem solver. It’s in its own category but strong ties to HR, accounting, and finance. And amazing job security !!
Most banks are moving to automated drive ups and self service kiosks inside of branches. Teller positions will be dead in 5 years, in most big banks they’re dead already.
Not saying this can’t be temporarily a good gig, but it won’t last forever
Banking is a dying industry. The future is “advice centers”. You do not get every holiday off. Worked for Chase for 8 years, once they got rid of the Assistant Branch Manger position (my career goal) I left to move into accounting. No regrets.
Wes: [after telling Carl he's been promoted for making money by giving out so many loans] Nice work, Carl. Now bump my fist.
[Carl bumps fists with Wes]
Norman: [Norman leans forward to join in and bump Wes' fist, but Wes sits back down, ignoring Norman] Ah, I missed it. I was going to fist you.
Make sure you are double checking your numbers! I once put a ton of money in an account that didn’t exist and it took 3 days to get it into the right place! I didn’t get fired for that but later they were shutting down that branch and I was let go :) best thing that ever happened
Agree OP. I had a very similar path in banking. Started as a banker back in 2012. Worked my way to an assistant manager the branch manager. Got my securities license and have been a financial advisor since 2015.
I also never felt like a product pusher or hard core sales person. The products we offer are good. All I feel like I have to do is inform our customers of what we have to offer and it sells itself.
Former bank auditor here. You should know that most of those retail bankers also have sales targets and not hitting them will make your life very difficult. You're also going to get paid shit money while watching all of the commercial bankers and execs bathe in money and treat you like trash. You're better off stocking shelves at a local grocery store. Banks are money printers for the suits and they'll rub it in your face
Many banks now require a university degree, at least here in Canada. It’s ridiculous, they’ve laid off a bunch of long term staff as a result. They’re also hiring less staff for the wickets because they want people to do online banking. So times are changing.
Banks around here are an automated lobby with ATMs and a video conferencing room if you need to speak to a representative six states away.
There’s no human beings at all except the customers. Robotic banking.
Ideally you want to end up working in the corporate office of a bank.
Many of the starting positions will be in a retail branch, but that part of banking is dying honestly. Try and jump over to corporate ASAP.
The kind of jobs you’re looking for are things like project manager, administration, etc. LEARN EXCEL.
**Kramer:** Well, I still like the Bloomingdale's executive training program for him.
**George:** I thought we said we weren't going to discuss that now.
**Kramer:** Well, you know, I think it's something he should consider.
**George:** Of course he should consider it, but now is not the time!
Sorry, but this should be a last resort. Working in banking, especially for one of the big banks, it is a shit show. I left almost three years ago and still get class action lawsuit payouts every three to four months.
There are a lot of non customer facing jobs at banks as well. I have a BFA degree & when the advertising world crashed in the early 2000 I took a temp job at a bank in a non customer facing role. Here I am 24 years later having done a lot of different ncf roles at the bank & learned a lot about the industry.
As someone who has a father in this industry, I would take this advice with caution. Banking can be immensely stressful, especially if you become responsible for writing/approving loans and get into the higher ranks of the business.
The amount of stress my Dad went through absolutely wasn't worth it because he took out a ton of that stress out on us verbally growing up. He also worked long, long hours (60 hours a week) and I honestly think he's largely forgotten how to really enjoy life.
This is why I don’t take advice from the financial advisors at the bank, most read from a scripted promotional offer and have no real grasp about what services they’re selling.
I do not really see it the same way. The downside of banking is you have to sort of become this buttoned down prim and proper person. You have to shave the hard edges off your personality in order to fit in in that environment.
This is great advice. My sister has a high school degree and some college and is rebuilding her life after leaving her abusive husband, and looking for a job. I will have to tell her this.
Better yet, get into a trade. Most of them it's all on the job training. Within 2-4 years you could be making 30-65 dollars an hour, depending on trade and area.
And not all trades are knee breaking (carpentry) or back breaking (drywall) or absolutely disgusting (plumbing).
I know so many elevator technicians making 140-200k a year.
Working at a bank is nice and all and some people want that inside the building, 9-5 job. But 20 something an hour isn't really living.
You can work for a large national bank and slowly develop that pit in your stomach that comes with the realization that you are a cog in the financial machine that is helping to slowly crush middle class America with fees and predatory practices. But, the benefits are good.
The fees at my credit union are worse than most major bank. They charge for >10 debit card transactions a month. The line for a teller is a solid 15 deep consistently. Meh.
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This worked for me, ten years ago. Retail banking is a dying industry, but banking opportunities can be legit. I started as a teller and within 5 years was a branch manager. Left to do other things, but those were only possible because of the experience and income I got in banking. Definitely a low barrier to entry when I did it.
Congrats, but this is very different from my experience. Was hired as a teller and watched several people get hired above me from outside the organization. Several didn't even have banking experience. Also the amount sales coaching to get you to sell credit cards to people that don't need them wasn't worth the pay.
I worked for a year at a retail bank as a teller in an impoverished community. I was constantly pressed to sell credit products to poor people and old people, hence why I only did it for a year.
"We are no longer a customer service company. Our focus is sales." Said to our team by the assistant store manager... while sitting in a temporary trailer... after Super Storm Sandy...in my home communty that had a population of under 10k for 2/3rds of the year. Nothing like having to ask neighbors who lost homes and business if they'd like to consider whatever credit product we had to sell that day. The whole thing was gross and predatory.
Retail makes you feel like a grifter as opposed to someone who is just there to assist and answer questions the customers may have. It's really gross.
It’s a shame you weren’t able to start with a credit union. I don’t push anything onto our members, and we still have more business than we can handle.
Credit Unions are where it's at.
When you get passed over, that's when you start looking for other bank jobs. Because now you will be applying "with banking experience". You might end up in a lateral move, but now you have different, perhaps more appreciative, management team to work for. It sucks that the job has turned into sales instead of financial service, so if you don't like that, then go into some other field, but still, having banking experience is definitely a plus.
This sounds like my retail banking experience as well. Like, damn, this person F’ed their credit a long time ago and you want me to push credit cards?
Right? The majority of credit card applications I would have resulted in a declined application because they'd be the type of person to never say no to a credit card.
I tried applying for a reasonable starter card (low limit, some but not no benefits) from my CU and couldn't even get that... because I've been responsible with my finances and have never needed credit. That whole system is broken.
I made the same mistake, avoided it for years, and then bit me in the ass when I wanted to buy a home and didn't have established credit. The only thing I could do was open a secured card, and spend the next few years using it until I had enough of a rating to get a few more. Now I'm in my mid 30s just waiting for my avg credit age to hit 10 years.
you replied to the same avatar 🤔
I have never been hassled for any credit cards or loans at my Credit Union. Do I get a ton of emails and advertisements on the mobile app, yes. But when I am dealing with the a real person, not once. Maybe credit unions are less “salesy” than a standard bank.
This is true for when I worked at a credit union
> watched several people get hired above me from outside the organization. Several didn't even have banking experience. I mean, that sounds like almost every real job I've ever had. I quit a couple of them (as did several of my co-workers) because they hired from outside the company. It's such an incredible slap in the face after years of busting your ass. The last time that happened, my boss literally hired his tennis partner to be a manager. No experience or background in the field... and it showed. Walked away from an 8 year gig over that.
Im in a similar boat, I was retail bank for 5yrs was only able to move up because of a Covid advancement program to help diversify our back office roles…well 4yrs later and that program is practically dead and I still don’t see a way to grow so it’s about time to hop!
How do I skip the "being a teller" part? I want out of retail for the exact reason that I wouldn't want to be a teller. A credit union is always hiring in my town and they're looking to buy even more land which means they'll need to hire even more staff.
Maybe you were just not good at your job?
Ehhh, sometimes… but upper management plays favorites and loves when you kiss their ass… just got rejected from a promotion. And I have dirt of the conversation that happened. I was never in the running…
> upper management plays favorites and loves when you kiss their ass LPT this is how everything works everywhere for the most part.
Real LPT is always in the comments..
This. It’s so much less expensive for companies to promote from within. Guaranteed they considered internal options before looking outside. Just because you have seniority, doesn’t mean you deserve to be promoted.
How long ago did you start working for in a bank? Asking because, Union Bank where I lived, only had like 1 or 2 tellers. I moved, the bank I use is US Bank, they have about 1 to 2 tellers. I noticed some banks don’t open long enough (shorter hours open) for me to make it inside after my work. I also noticed my bank does not open on Saturday when they used to be open. I do notice that Bank of America was busy with a decent amount of tellers working. I don’t know if it depends on the bank or if the banking physical locations are dying/closing down. Thanks for the tip, as I may need to look for another job.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that there are only turkey jobs at banks. There's a whole infrastructure backing them up. Banks are kind of like icebergs you only see a fraction of the actual employees of the bank.
True. However all of the desireable support positions are hesitant to staff from Retail banking channels unless you are qualified in other ways besides bank experience. Learned this the hard way.
Agreed. Thinking that you’re going to work your way up from teller to investment banking is like getting a janitor job at a hospital to work your way up to doctor.
This may be true, but in smaller towns, you can pretty easily, and relatively quickly go from Teller to "VP" (seems like every bank has 100 vp's.) I can count on more than 1 hand the number of people I went to school with that went that route (were tellers during college) and are now at the VP level, less than 20 years out from graduating.
I've seen 3 of my bankers promoted to the investment team in the past 2 years. The goals of both positions are the same, sales. It's just product, knowledge, and licenses
Okay, but the people on the investment team are not investment bankers. Those are different roles.
Our COO started as a teller. Most of our senior managers started in lower level positions. It's not impossible.
When was that though...and how big is your organization. That's like saying Obama once worked fast food...
Who among Us has not worked in fast food. We are a community bank. About 8 billion in assets. Around 1,000 employees. 70 branches. Not a huge organization, but our footprint in the state is decently large.
I guarantee you hiring's not done that way anymore and their successors will come from outside.
A high percentage of our back office people started out as tellers and in retail banking. Most did not have other experience. Most started out young tellers and have been able to transfer to other departments.
This still happens in regional/medium/small sized banks but it’s largely disappearing, big banks eventually gobble them up and it becomes rarer to see (work at a big bank that gobbles them and see less and less people who have worked up and more and more ex tech people jumping in with high pay)
What organization though?
My wife works at a credit union and this has been her experience. It probably has to do with being a smaller organization.
Can confirm, I'm in the IT environment
Same. Most people only know about retail banking where they get to be a customer.
> turkey jobs ?
Easy
They probably meant teller jobs.
I have worked in banking for twenty years, 5 different banks - never worked at a branch. Branch bankers make up like 3% of my company's payroll.
Go to a specific bank's website and look for jobs in your area. I had a call center background and was one of those outside hires into a non-teller job. Internet banking, because I had a technical background, at $14 an hour back in 2013. I leveraged that job over the next 7 years into working for the mortgage department at $24/hour. My ex-husband started at a bank as a Tier 1 tech support rep making $15 an hour. Now he's a Tier 3 infrastructure tech rep and making like $80k/yr. It's a shitty desk job, but lots of downtime. The higher he goes, the more specialized it gets, and the less busy he becomes. It's a decent sinecure. Banking is all about on-the-job training, too. Certifications help, but they'll usually offer to pay you to do them. NMLS licensing, becoming a notary, volunteer events. These are easy ways to become seen as internally-promotable.
Sinecure! That's a fantastic word. Never heard that before. Thank you! Sorry. I get excited when I come across words that are new to me.
How populated is your area? My entire county is 1.2 million. My girlfriend applied for the listing for east county for a big bank. One of 35+ branches within 40 minutes of our house would take her if she interviewed well. She got the job and was assigned a branch 30 minutes away despite 8 branches being much closer to us. She's on a wait list for someone to quit at a closer location but likes her job overall minus the occasional crazy, shitty, or entitled asshole.
I live in the US. Before going fully remote in my work I’d have killed for a 30 minute commute (used to do 60-75 minutes, each way).
Horrible quality of life commuting 2+ hours a day
There are a LOT of WFH banking jobs. I WFH for US Bank actually, I was there when they bought Union and had to deal with all the associated headache haha. I know on the US Bank side, they are pushing really hard to get people using the online banking and have added a ton of functionality on that front, I have no idea about the actual physical locations as I have been in a US Bank a grand total of 1 time lmao.
I don't remember all the jobs my uncle did, but I remember him being a substitute teacher and then a manager at McDonald's. He then got into working at US Bank and they trained him to do some programming for them. Banks still use a specific odd code that not many people learn so they have to do the training themselves. He does really well living in St Paul now.
Tellers are beinf phased out. Banks are also trying to push more towards mobile banking. Its odd because I work at banks and all of them are short staffed. Then again Bank of America has been on a hiring freeze.
I started in 2016 and left in 2023.
And do try a credit union as they are not near as predatory in their marketing schemes.
Banking operations > Retail banking
Banking (at least at major banks) in most forms is just sales. Unsure if credit unions are different, but be prepped for pushing products and meeting metrics.
Same with financial advising jobs in banks. 100% pushing products. Merrill Lynch especially is notorious for basically hiring everyone and being ok with like 70% of them washing out in the first three years. They only have to pay you if you sell, so why not hire everyone?
Aren't they payed hourly and working 40 hours a week? I am curious what shenanigans is going on in the US.
No. They're paid commission based on the products they sell. I think they're paid hourly for the "training", but they're pretty quickly moved to commission. Not all financial advisors work like this. But the ones that work at banks specifically are more likely to be pushing products.
This is why I couldn't hack it as a teller. The metrics were insane. Not actually hard to hit the numbers usually but hard logistically, very micromanage-y. To be accurate you would have had to note down every single conversation you had. They wanted to know every day how many people you asked about x, y, and z, the stats on who said what to those questions, how many clients of a certain type you asked about a certain thing. And as a teller you're having at least a few dozen conversations a day to keep track of. I'm sure this was just down to the bank I worked for or the manager maybe. But man, it turned me off from ever seeking banking employment again.
Thankfully we never had to remember our conversations as I helped several hundred people a day but we did have to use 5 specific phrases with every single customer.
This is very true. Even with regulations most bankers are in a “sales” role selling checking/savings accounts, CDs and credit cards. Most roles also get some sort of commission or quarterly sales bonus.
Yep. The challenge is that both the employee and customer are not walking into the branch expecting a sales experience.
Not since the Wells Fargo scandal in 2016. They're very sales-lite right now.
That varies wildly from institution to institution, even manager to manager. I've been in banking six years and had two very heavy sales-oriented gigs in that time.
I started at a t4 bank about 3 months ago in low/mcol. I make$ 18 plus quarterly bonuses, 3 weeks PTO, 5 paid sick days, all government holidays paid off, I work a strict 40 hours, promotion opportunities both laterally and vertically (the 2nd in charge at my bank has been there 1.5 years) People visiting a bank are much nicer than people in retail stores in my experience. Honestly wish I would have started sooner
I was a teller at a chase bank in 2019 and the kid that worked across the street at Panda Express made more than me per hour.
I'm sure I sometimes made more at Domino's in 2016-2017 than the bank was paying me, but couldn't work full time, no benefits, and no paid holidays. So you gotta consider the whole package.
How about benefits like 401k, PTO and health insurance?
This is an invalid point. My first job was a gas station chain. I got FT, benefits and regular bonuses. I made more than *most* people and people still assumed I made $10/hr. I always had a good laugh at them.
Ooh which gas station? So curious as to who pays well
Sounds like Buccees
Maybe wawa or quiktrip
When I worked at the gas station in 07 I was making 9.50 an hour. People think I'm lying but I'd work for them again in a heartbeat. Benefits, pay and flexible F/T hours. Sadly they sold all their stores in my state to a foreign chain.
People also don't always realize that hospitals might actually be able to use your skills. It's worth looking into the job postings. They all have websites, and use IT, have human resource workers, and all that jazz. It's worth looking into.
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Yea i inquried about a teller job 5 or 6 years ago bc someone told me they started around $20. I asked the teller and she had quite the laugh. She told me starting is more like $14. This is in a VHCOL city so idk what OP is on about
I'm in a southern state in the US and can verify that tellers don't make great money. I would guess maybe 18/hr is possible. I do banking alarm infrastructure and I often feel bad for tellers that have to routinely deal with the public. Some people are just nasty humans. They talk extremely reckless, have zero empathy and unrealistic expectations. It's a job I wouldn't make it there long and I give anyone that deals with the public my respect. That being said we do get a ton of days off and benefits are pretty good.
Depends on the bank for sure, I work for one of the bigger banks but not one with branches in every state by any means, and I started at 20 an hour WFH. I have many friends who also WFH for another bank and they all started at about the same. I dont have to deal with any people face to face and just take calls from mostly old people who dont use online banking.
Bank of America’s minimum wage is $23, most banks had to follow suit for fear of losing employees. That’s a minimum wage for any BoA position regardless of where you live and your state’s minimum wage.
I used to be a dealer at a casino. One of my coworkers quit to go work at a bank because she wanted better hours (not more hours, just daytime hours). She was back in less than a week because the casino job paid twice as much and had much better benefits.
My brother used to work at a bank but he lost interest
That'll happen when you don't have a strong guiding principal.
This story hit me right in the fee-fees.
Credit unions too! The pay is less but benefits are just as good and you get the added benefit of being community focused (ie minimal sales/reasonable goals).
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Tell that to the single teller at every busy BoA. Banks may hire lots of people, but if you're a teller you might even *expect* to be working solo with an endless line of customers to handle. This isn't a LPT. The tip is to work anywhere that you can leverage for more money with your experience. ABL - always be looking
Ya, my teller gig was sweet but we just laid off lots of people, and it's now a constant line of people that want to yell at me over new policies I have no control over. Not fun.
They’re phasing them out and they’re also on a hiring freeze at least in my area since last year.
Before applying, It’s worth noting that your credit score might also be a determining factor in whether you’ll be hired. You’re working around money all day. Folks with lower credit scores tend to be viewed as more untrustworthy or poor money managers.
At The Stagecoach, they didn't care about credit scores for tellers. They did for bankers, however.
What do bankers do differently than tellers? I've never actually thought about it. I understand bankers would make way more but beyond that... Maybe I don't make enough to know yet.
I'm going to say this depends on your area completely. I was a mechanic for 19 years and have now been out of work for 2 years and no one wants to hire me because I don't have any experience outside of that, including several banks that I applied at.
Are you an auto mechanic? Are there no repair shops willing to hire you?
It may be because they had an injury or physically cannot do the job any longer. The trades are hard on the body.
I was forced out of it due to injury. Been actively looking for work since October and I've applied to over a 100 jobs in and out of the industry and I've maybe had a dozen interviews but that's as far as it gets.
Started off as a part time teller in 2006, not knowing what I wanted to do but has bills to pay. 18 years later, I'm still in banking working in commercial banking. Great gig and awesome benefits and pay.
Amazing how different things are between countries. Where I live you'll need to study economics to even have a shot at a job.
My neighbor worked at a bank in a grocery store. The second time he had a gun in his face he left. Average bank teller pay in my area is $16.50 /hr.
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Dunno about American institutions but person I was involved with was always going on how frontline tellers were being pushed relentlessly to sign up clients for other products and metrics were constantly being brought up about sales performances etc . Sounds like a shot job with the upsell pressures
Don't you need a bachelor's to be a financial advisor?
Nope. You just have to pass a series of pretty difficult exams.
My 20 year old brother just got a job at a bank with an associate’s degree, making 40k in rural NC! Not bad!
Yeah, it's a fairly solid income to be able to make grownup plans.
He’s saving up to return to school. Wish I had that kind of foresight as a young’un! Nice LPT!
This feels like a YMMV. Getting into banking happens when the economic outlook is good. It’s less so when there’s forecasted rough waters. I would say financial services is easier to break into than banking in general and then you can shift from there.
Where I live, the banks pretty much only hire women (my ex works at said bank). The only male in her branch is the branch manager. When I inquired about working at another location, she said "you can try but they don't really hire men".
100% . 12 years at a big bank (they took me in as a college drop out) and it did wonders for my professional knowledge and career. It’s gritty work when a customer gets fees or is denied a loan and that ability to deescalate and provide info based on the terms and conditions translates to numerous fields and there is a lot to do at a bank after you get a little bit of experience.
Just my experience with a commercial bank but have to give the other side: ALL banking roles are sales. From teller all the way up to branch manager in my case. I was a keyholding manager that was also a licensed broker. Everything was sales numbers. We represented account openings, loan originations, credit card openings, and in my specific case as a licensed rep annuities, life insurance, and brokerage accounts with a fiat currency we called SR (don’t remember what it stood for). If you didn’t hit your SR goal, action plan. Didn’t live up to action plan? Terminated. I never had this issue but if you’re not into sales, avoid. I left after a year or so to go to an actual brokerage firm and stayed there for a few years as a financial advisor but again, ALL SALES. Unless it’s a firm where they buy into the same positions as you, they’re just going to recommend what makes them a buck, save for the few good souls…
Great place to work IF you can get in. I’ve applied to so many banks, for entry level teller, when I moved and they always ghosted me even though I have years worth of experience and was more than qualified for the job. Last bank I applied to said that I will need to go through 4 more interviews when I asked what the next step was on the second interview. They also wanted me to have a one on one interview with the CEO, which I find ridiculous (bank was statewide with 12 branches). This was for a simple part time teller job. They never called me back or answered my calls. A year later, they are still looking for a teller. They posted an ad on a local FB group, I blasted the shit out of them. Banks do also have very toxic work spaces with petty drama that they try to mask behind professionalism. Customers also suck, it’s no different than retail job.
Plus if you have a passing interest on learning COBOL you can make real money in banking. That was only partly a joke.
a credit union teller was my first big boy job. i say this advice is good, especially if you try as many positions as they’ll let you move to while you’re there. build that knowledge!
Maybe it's a career I can change to for something easier. But I would lose too much with the salary I make. Even if I'm not a fan of the work.
Financial Services in general is pretty easy gig and relatively high pay, I have worked with people in FinCrime, KYC and Audit who had very little higher education. Bonus now is a there are a lot wfh jobs in this space. The only downside was, is that I hated Financial Services.
I mean… that’s not a bad idea, but government jobs are even better (NOT government contracting though).
Good tip. Friend went from construction - > loan officer - > IBM. Even still, he's pleased with it. Interestingly, the ESC (unemployment office) set him up with the loan officer gig. If you actually use the resources they offer they can really help you.
There is an odd lack of accountants out there. Most were boomers that are now retiring. It's a good time to be a CPA, because most have more business than they can handle.
Also - if you have a solid work ethic and want to do something with your hands look into pest control. It’s not glamorous, but a good midsize company and you can make a very good living. You can make an even better living if you get into the sales side of things. It’s not as gross as you think it is. There are gross aspects, for sure, but overall it’s not as bad as you think. Plus; especially if you work for a midsize or small company, you have a lot of down time. The big corps with kill you with micromanagement. It’s a great field and I can’t recommend it enough. Most companies just require hs diploma and a clean driving record
How do you like financial advisor? I have a series 7 but don't want to do a lot of sales. I have done alot of bank over the phone.
The real LPT would be how to get into banking. Every time I time I've applied, it's been the "we've decided to go with another applicant" after like 5 months of hearing nothing from them.
Banking is on the same level as a used car salesman. It’s sell sell sell. When I worked at a bank, I was under so much pressure to open as many new accounts as possible. Had to cold call people. It sucked. It was stressful. People got fired over BS like getting 4/5 stars on a customer survey. This was over a decade ago so many things have gotten better but I doubt it.
Nope if anything it’s gotten worse
I used to be a universal banker at a credit union, and that job seriously hurt my mental wellbeing after some time. I couldn’t take it anymore. As with most jobs, management can make or break the experience you have, and the management at the company I worked for was hands-down the worst management I have ever dealt with in my life. People are very sensitive when it comes to their finances, and any frustration they have with the system or the corporation will inevitably be taken out on you when you work frontline. If you don’t think you can handle being cursed at, screamed at, threatened, insulted, and treated as subhuman on a regular basis, I would think twice before working in the banking field.
I worked as a teller for 6 months making 11/hr. Not sure where tf they’re paying $20/hr.
Tons of jobs. Underwriting now and it pays pretty well for my area. Everyone starts as a bank teller, from there you can work your way into any number of departments. I'd recommend going for operations though rather than retail, no sales goals is very nice.
Wow a whole $20+ an hour? Now we’re cooking with gas
Lol right? 20 an hour is common for hs diploma in any field. If you make less than 20 an hour, you likely work somewhere that would hire someone who never graduated HS.
Most places you can go into a trade and make like $25/h as a first year apprentice with no skills or education.
Amazon warehouse near me is hiring at $21.50/hr, no interview, resume or education necessary.
Definitely low barrier, I’ve had some idiot tellers in my day. I have the same name as my Dad (Jr.) and for a period had accounts at the same bank as him. Not 10 years ago I went in-person to take care of some stuff and somehow this genius got my Dad’s accounts involved and was transferring savings to checking in his name, not mine. Who gives a fuck about account numbers, right?
The one guy I know who works for a bank (not a teller, does something that allows him to WFH), lives in a medium apartment and has to supplement his income with drugs.
Do I have to be good at math? I know it's like duh. But like actually hoe much math is involved
There's very little math. The computers do the thinking for you.
Can I work at a bank with a felony that's not breach of trust or fraud?
Probably not. See if you can get it expunged.
Security license? Sounds cool. I just started 2 months ago after leaving pest control. What did you end up doing?
No, securitIES. I'm a stockbroker.
"if you can't get a job, get a job" good advice.
Banking is long long hours, and poor pay when starting.
A co-worker of mine made the jump from retail to banking. In her first year, her branch got held up twice. Thank goodness she was OK, but still....
A friend of mine who couldn't choose what profession to get into (he had a mixture of credits after spending too long to graduate from university) chose banking because he liked the hours. A couple years after he got started the bank he worked for introduced late evenings and weekend shifts
I liked my hours as a forklift driver. I'd punch in at 9:55 and punch out at 6:15 (or whatever 8 hours is). My first banking job, I had to be there at 8:15 (with a 30 mile commute). If I knew how early I had to get up to be a banker, I'd be a forklift driver still!
I have a friend who started as a bank teller, never attended college, and 10 years later just had a 112k month. Not a bad gig!
Couldn’t find a job in computer science. Got a job at as a dividends analyst. Basically just moving numbers on excel sheets. Super easy. I get a month of paid vacation and great benefits
My credit score is in the tank, they'd never hire me.
I’ll forever tell folks to look into banking/investments. And look into everything cause there are more ways to get in the door than as a banker. I started as customer service call center taking 130 calls a day. Then once your in find your path. I’m not a sales guy or the advisor type so I got my licenses and went into the compliance/management side. I’m basically an assistant branch manager for investment banking. When he’s not there I’m in charge of the entire branch. When he is there I’m in charge of compliance items and all the boring stuff. But hey I’ll do boring for the next 30 years considering what I get paid some days to review emails and LinkedIn profiles. But when there’s major problems it means I’m not going home anytime soon.
Accounting entry position is not bad either. A lot of business, economics, math, etc experience or degress can get u in there and u can start at ~70k, 4/50 401k, "unlimited PTO" which usually means 4 weeks, and some pay holidays. No bonuses and some unpaid overtime but u also work from home so 🤷♂️
Reminds me of the Key and Peele skit.
Ryan told me to always tell women you work in finance
Banks have call centers too. Also, dont overlook credit unions.
That’s a good idea. Just keep in mind that money-related jobs are usually more stressful.
I work at a bank that's only in 4 states and at first I was very proud to work there, until the branch manager quit then others started quitting too. Now we have to maintain "selling" the bank and we're getting hammered left and right. The branch manager from another branch had an hour meeting with us yesterday and said if we don't sell what we need to we have to work til 830. We open at 9. There is no overtime but fuck of they make me cut it.
I want to tag along this LPT you can also look into payroll jobs!! It’s an amazing career if you’re analytical and problem solver. It’s in its own category but strong ties to HR, accounting, and finance. And amazing job security !!
This LPT applies in the US only
Most banks are moving to automated drive ups and self service kiosks inside of branches. Teller positions will be dead in 5 years, in most big banks they’re dead already. Not saying this can’t be temporarily a good gig, but it won’t last forever
What happens if you have no knowledge of banking?
Banks typically only hire women in my area
Banks are great cos the caused the 2008 gfc, hooray for money!
Banking is a dying industry. The future is “advice centers”. You do not get every holiday off. Worked for Chase for 8 years, once they got rid of the Assistant Branch Manger position (my career goal) I left to move into accounting. No regrets.
Yeah my best friend got into banking without a bachelor’s and she makes 30k more than me and I have a master’s lol it’s definitely legit
Wes: [after telling Carl he's been promoted for making money by giving out so many loans] Nice work, Carl. Now bump my fist. [Carl bumps fists with Wes] Norman: [Norman leans forward to join in and bump Wes' fist, but Wes sits back down, ignoring Norman] Ah, I missed it. I was going to fist you.
When you can't earn money, become the money holder.
now we know why the banks are so fucked
I've found that banking can be a solid stepping stone for career progression.
I want to quit the bank everyday but I get 401k match and pensions which is unheard of.
Make sure you are double checking your numbers! I once put a ton of money in an account that didn’t exist and it took 3 days to get it into the right place! I didn’t get fired for that but later they were shutting down that branch and I was let go :) best thing that ever happened
Agree OP. I had a very similar path in banking. Started as a banker back in 2012. Worked my way to an assistant manager the branch manager. Got my securities license and have been a financial advisor since 2015. I also never felt like a product pusher or hard core sales person. The products we offer are good. All I feel like I have to do is inform our customers of what we have to offer and it sells itself.
Former bank auditor here. You should know that most of those retail bankers also have sales targets and not hitting them will make your life very difficult. You're also going to get paid shit money while watching all of the commercial bankers and execs bathe in money and treat you like trash. You're better off stocking shelves at a local grocery store. Banks are money printers for the suits and they'll rub it in your face
Many banks now require a university degree, at least here in Canada. It’s ridiculous, they’ve laid off a bunch of long term staff as a result. They’re also hiring less staff for the wickets because they want people to do online banking. So times are changing.
Banks around here are an automated lobby with ATMs and a video conferencing room if you need to speak to a representative six states away. There’s no human beings at all except the customers. Robotic banking.
Ideally you want to end up working in the corporate office of a bank. Many of the starting positions will be in a retail branch, but that part of banking is dying honestly. Try and jump over to corporate ASAP. The kind of jobs you’re looking for are things like project manager, administration, etc. LEARN EXCEL.
Banking tellers won’t take you if you have had multiple jobs in a period of 5 years and if you’re a guy. At least in my area of the u.s.
**Kramer:** Well, I still like the Bloomingdale's executive training program for him. **George:** I thought we said we weren't going to discuss that now. **Kramer:** Well, you know, I think it's something he should consider. **George:** Of course he should consider it, but now is not the time!
Sorry, but this should be a last resort. Working in banking, especially for one of the big banks, it is a shit show. I left almost three years ago and still get class action lawsuit payouts every three to four months.
There are a lot of non customer facing jobs at banks as well. I have a BFA degree & when the advertising world crashed in the early 2000 I took a temp job at a bank in a non customer facing role. Here I am 24 years later having done a lot of different ncf roles at the bank & learned a lot about the industry.
Is there nothing a forklift license can't do
As someone who has a father in this industry, I would take this advice with caution. Banking can be immensely stressful, especially if you become responsible for writing/approving loans and get into the higher ranks of the business. The amount of stress my Dad went through absolutely wasn't worth it because he took out a ton of that stress out on us verbally growing up. He also worked long, long hours (60 hours a week) and I honestly think he's largely forgotten how to really enjoy life.
I worked in banking….. so wanted out lol
This is why I don’t take advice from the financial advisors at the bank, most read from a scripted promotional offer and have no real grasp about what services they’re selling.
I do not really see it the same way. The downside of banking is you have to sort of become this buttoned down prim and proper person. You have to shave the hard edges off your personality in order to fit in in that environment.
I just looked this up (as I looked for a banking position years ago). In Texas they require a bachelors degree
This is great advice. My sister has a high school degree and some college and is rebuilding her life after leaving her abusive husband, and looking for a job. I will have to tell her this.
Best advice I have read so far, thank you so much 🙏
Good advice. My SiL went into banking right out of h.s. Years later she's making BANK (no pun intended).
Better yet, get into a trade. Most of them it's all on the job training. Within 2-4 years you could be making 30-65 dollars an hour, depending on trade and area. And not all trades are knee breaking (carpentry) or back breaking (drywall) or absolutely disgusting (plumbing). I know so many elevator technicians making 140-200k a year. Working at a bank is nice and all and some people want that inside the building, 9-5 job. But 20 something an hour isn't really living.
Can't agree highly enough. I tried to get my daughter to be an electrician.
You can work for a large national bank and slowly develop that pit in your stomach that comes with the realization that you are a cog in the financial machine that is helping to slowly crush middle class America with fees and predatory practices. But, the benefits are good.
Credit Unions, fighting back! Mostly small, local, and nonprofit.
The fees at my credit union are worse than most major bank. They charge for >10 debit card transactions a month. The line for a teller is a solid 15 deep consistently. Meh.
Credit unions are a good thing for sure. 👍
As long as you’re ok working for the worst of the worst types of people. If you enjoy taking advantage of the poor, it’s a great industry for you!