Fidelity Investments

The benefit package has historically been very good, although financial pressures are causing cutbacks in that area.

When times are good, there can be good opportunities for development and advancement, especially if you work in a business or site that is growing or you are willing to move around.

There are a lot of dedicated and intelligent employees at all levels of the company. In my experience, there were generally opportunities to spread your involvement and contribution beyond your job description.

It was a good first job, but if you get stuck in one place for very long, consider bailing.

Like any large company, there are good places to work and bad ones; strong managers and weak ones; good teams and dysfunctional ones.

If you are in the wrong place or under a poor manager, life can be ugly.

In IT, morale has been pretty low over the past few years for a number of reasons, and I wouldn't recommend that part of the business to a friend right now. IT got hit pretty hard in the last couple rounds of layoffs, and frankly, many were happier to be let go than to be among those left behind. In many areas, the pressure and hours can be brutal.

Not really advice, but: "Eighteen CIO's? Really? We've cut your team in half. Don't miss your dates. Oh, and we're happy to announce we've hired Dinglebert from MegaloMart to be the CIO of whatever."

Since the job market has become a buyer's market, employees aren't feeling the love anymore. You used to do a better job of making us feel vital, probably because retaining employees was more important then.

This diminished feeling of attachment to the company, the uncertainty, the loss of co-workers and key business partners (many of whom were star performers), and the increasing demand to do more with less is killing morale and productivity.

Many have suggested that low morale (and increased attrition) is the goal.

Oh, and now that it's a buyer's job market, raise the standards for retail phone reps to where they were in the 90's. Quality over quantity now.

I haven't been in retail in a decade and a half, but I hear complaints from reps and managers about the quality of talent we've been hiring for about the past decade. Have customers noticed?