Pros
The branch atmosphere is a team atmosphere which I found to be fun. Management in my branch never acted like dictators. If you show interest in your position, have a positive attitude, and show that you care to learn from your mistakes, management will try to reward you. Managers try to work with you to accommodate time off or emergencies. They are willing to make last minute schedule changes to try to help. There is an employee benefits website where you gain points and ultimately cash back for making purchases through the site. Understanding your benefits like time off, health and wellness benefits, retirement options and employee stock options are all easy through the internal site. If this is your entryway to a career in finance, it is a good place to start. Great for college graduates who are trying to find a place for themselves in the workforce. You can learn a lot about personal finance, business banking, mortgages and some investment knowledge within the branch environment. Different types of daily interactions will help foster communication skills.
Cons
As a Relationship Banker, you don't get to pick the clients you work with. You are assigned a book of business, many of which are not even in your area. Cold-calling is part of the job. The base salary isn't much and if you get promoted from Personal Banker to Relationship Banker, your base does not change. Only your incentive plan changes. While the incentive for Relationship Bankers is decent, because the branches are overstaffed with bankers, it will be harder for you to make sales. Ultimately, you will never make as much as they claim you can from the incentive. Training courses are redundant. Incentive plans change year to year. Salaries have not increased in the last 2 years. It is a sales position so it can get stressful when you don't meet goals. It is almost impossible to make the cross from the Chase side of things to JP Morgan.