I started by applying online through Glassdoor. And very promptly received both an email and a call, confirming a time for interview. Over the course of the call and the initial meet they were very professional. Both staff and Branch Manager. They were very busy when I first walked in and seemed a tad overwhelmed. However, they very promptly, got me back for the interview maybe fifteen minutes past it's scheduled time.
That's when things started to take a turn for the worst.
The first thing that we discussed is how busy that it gets and how they were shortstaffed by two people. They explained that they only staff exactly how many people it takes to run the branch. Meaning, according to them, that when someone calls out sick, they have no one else to ask to come in- and made it very clear that calling out sick is deemed not being a team player.
Then they explained that the average time of employment for this branch, is six months. That's when it became very obvious very quickly that the only thing they cared about was my experience in sales. Maybe I was just misinformed about the job description, but I had the impression this job included paperwork, bookkeeping, filing of clients information, and probably some upselling of certain accounts and certain products here and there as they came up.
However. It became clear that I was being hired as a bank associated sales representative. The branch manager explained in no uncertain terms that they had very strict metrics, and that they were very competitive. It was also implied that the average time of employment, directly correlates to metrics, and that those who resigned simply "couldn't cut it" where metrics were concerned.
They also stated that many new hires first reach their metrics, by opening accounts for family and friends. That combined with the average employment time, makes this start to look more like a pyramid scheme. Where, when the employee runs out of family and friends to sign up, they are let go.
She then also stated, that's several employees during the course of the day are sent out to hand out flyers, door-to-door to convince employees of other establishments to sign on with the bank. That while it is not required, it is heavily frowned upon to avoid doing so. That not doing so would likely result in a penalty to your numbers.
Finally, it was stated that all the numbers were accumulative so the branch goal did not necessarily carry over to employee numbers. So, I asked how their branch was currently fairing in the metrics competitively. Not only did they seem very surprised, but then began to dodge the answer. While they finally said this branch was competitive, I asked how the individual employees usually stacked up on average and they would not say.
I am no stranger to metrics, I understand between these lines and have seen it in action. Overall the whole thing seemed like the perfect breeding ground for workplace issues, and the daunting feeling of "never doing enough." I do NOT recommend this position unless the goal you are looking for is specifically competitively metrics.