Pros
The staff that works in the call center and the counselors work very well with each other. We are all in the same boat vs management/higher ups. So we all had eachothers back and were very supportive of one another. You are offering a great service to the public which can be emotionally rewarding. Who this job might be good for: If you are a recent college grad and you are looking for your first "real" job. The pay is probably better than what you were making in college. You will get hired fast so there won't be a gap in your resume. Work here for about 6-12 months and then start looking for another job while still employed.
Cons
The pay is horrible. $17/hour in San Francisco. And when you "move up" to a new position that does not include a pay raise. The staff is trained to tell clients that they might want to consider getting a better paying job in order to make ends meet. Yet their own staff can't make ends meet with the pay they receive and lack of raises and promotions. Training is inconsistent. So a lot of call center reps and counselors are giving mixed information. Sometimes it would be wrong, sometimes right. There is extremely high rollover. People often quitting without giving a 2 week notice. So the staff is never on the same page. There is always someone new that doesn't know what to do. And old employees upset about the changes and miss the way things used to be. There is a big separation between call center/counselors vs management/higher ups. Management/high ups are completely disconnected from what their staff goes through and have very little empathy. The supervisors in the middle try to keep the ship a float but they are beyond stressed and overworked. Call center/counselors have mandatory meetings on holidays (Columbus Day) and have to work at least one Saturday a month. Including the weekends around holidays like 4th of July, Thanksgiving and X-mas. Management/higher ups have all holidays and weekends off. Their meetings involve catered food, off site events, parties, etc. So they give the staff "Bagel Tuesday" once a month and that is supposed to make all our issues go away. I understand that the higher you go up the more perks you get. But there is a way to tactfully do this and the company handles it the wrong way. Management/higher ups have all these great ideas and are constantly out on the road trying to expand the business. Problem is, they are selling a product they don't have. They are always understaffed. Not enough people to answer the phones. Some counseling positions are unfilled but they claim to offer said service (Reverse Mortgage Counseling). Counselors are under qualified to give financial advice on a lot of the harder, more complex financial topics. Company now requires all new employees to have a college degree. You do not need a college degree to do this job. You just need proper training, which they do not provide. The college grads take this job, after about 6 months realize how unorganized the place is and that they won't be able to make a career here, so they leave. Company is way too concerned about the dress code. It's a call center. Dressing casual is supposed to be one of the perks. Unless you deal with the public (majority of staff does NOT) there is no need to be nit picky about what people are wearing. HR is extremely stressed due to high rollover. Reviews and raises are often not given or are given late. Computer software, website, information packets are very outdated. Making it hard to do your job and provide the best/most current advice to the clients.