Working in Citi

haroldwne

There's an interesting IT job I see advertised in Citibank (Dublin City Centre) and was considering firing them my CV as I'm qualified enough for it. Job sounds interesting enough and it would keep me on my toes.

So the question: does anyone here work/has anyone here worked in Citi (Dublin City Centre)? Overall, what are they like to work for? Do you like it/hate it? Is it generally a positive place to work, or is there a culture of "bitching about the boss" all day long?

Curious to get a feel of what it's like. I just get the impression that it's bit better than other banks to work in, but that's going by only two people I know working in there (not in IT). When I compare it to multiples of friends working in Irish banks, it certainly comes across as a better place to be, but I realise I have no concrete grounds for saying that. Would be very interested to hear from others.

Thanks to anyone who can reply.

cloonty

haroldwne wrote: »

There's an interesting IT job I see advertised in Citibank (Dublin City Centre) and was considering firing them my CV as I'm qualified enough for it. Job sounds interesting enough and it would keep me on my toes.

So the question: does anyone here work/has anyone here worked in Citi (Dublin City Centre)? Overall, what are they like to work for? Do you like it/hate it? Is it generally a positive place to work, or is there a culture of "bitching about the boss" all day long?

Curious to get a feel of what it's like. I just get the impression that it's bit better than other banks to work in, but that's going by only two people I know working in there (not in IT). When I compare it to multiples of friends working in Irish banks, it certainly comes across as a better place to be, but I realise I have no concrete grounds for saying that. Would be very interested to hear from others.

Thanks to anyone who can reply.

Although many say the grass is greener I can tell you after 4 years of working for Citi it has been a regrettable & difficult time for me.

Keeping my anonymity in mind I can tell you I previously worked for four other banks in Dublin in different roles. I have only stayed at Citi due to the current employment situation although I will be leaving Citi soon (thank f&^kin god).

While American organisations can be difficult places to work i have never experiened anything like Citi.I could write a novel on my own experiences and the anecdotal things I've heard but I'll spare you the tears. If the following bodes well with you then submit that CV:

-continual, negative & aggressive monitoring (appraisals),
-zero financial incentives,
-almost zero real world benefits ( we even pay for our Christmas party which is a dreadful affair),
-zero progression,
-zero training, it is culture of sink, sink, & sink.,
-long long hours & lunches are almost non-existent, incredible work load in most depts,
-policies & procedures for absolutely everything you can think of (there are even directional arrows on the stairs),
-status is everything in Citi, AVP this, VP that, but ultimately it doesn't matter. For many the incentives do not exist anyway,
-you do not exist in Citi, it is the modern day industrial revolution.

But I hear you cry, this could apply anywhere. True. But the atmosphere is like no other. I would say 75% of people working in Citi Dublin are depressed & stressed. It is an extremely diffuclut organisation to work for. Every conversation you hear in the lift, the canteen, the 'Town Hall' is extremely negative. In the last month i have twice seen girls in the office crying because of the work load.
Many feel exhausted & entirely undervalued. The human element does not exist in Citi.You will be worked and pushed so hard that you will either leave or crash.
The brainwashing activities are also difficult to avoid. Never ending organisational emails, relentless pushing & reinforcing of Citi policies. Its pretty pathetic.
Free, independent thinking is ruled out.

While some might dismiss the above as just a disgruntled employee airing his grievances, well you're right. But with so many unhappy faces there i'm not the only one.

Citi actually realised they had a cultural problem recently and many employees for the first time believed things might change. They did. We have now even more work.

The positives, what about the positives?
Well Citi is paranoid about its image & as a result having Citi on the CV can be a good thing.
There are some people who seem to like it there. These people have no problem working 10 hours a day, using the Citi vocabulary, agreeing to everything, putting the company first.
If that's you, then you'll love it!


However if you value your integrity, independence & skill set look elsewhere.

I hope this goes some way to you making a decision.

rota122

cloonty wrote: »

Although many say the grass is greener I can tell you after 4 years of working for Citi it has been a regrettable & difficult time for me.

Keeping my anonymity in mind I can tell you I previously worked for four other banks in Dublin in different roles. I have only stayed at Citi due to the current employment situation although I will be leaving Citi soon (thank f&^kin god).

While American organisations can be difficult places to work i have never experiened anything like Citi.I could write a novel on my own experiences and the anecdotal things I've heard but I'll spare you the tears. If the following bodes well with you then submit that CV:

-continual, negative & aggressive monitoring (appraisals),
-zero financial incentives,
-almost zero real world benefits ( we even pay for our Christmas party which is a dreadful affair),
-zero progression,
-zero training, it is culture of sink, sink, & sink.,
-long long hours & lunches are almost non-existent, incredible work load in most depts,
-policies & procedures for absolutely everything you can think of (there are even directional arrows on the stairs),
-status is everything in Citi, AVP this, VP that, but ultimately it doesn't matter. For many the incentives do not exist anyway,
-you do not exist in Citi, it is the modern day industrial revolution.

But I hear you cry, this could apply anywhere. True. But the atmosphere is like no other. I would say 75% of people working in Citi Dublin are depressed & stressed. It is an extremely diffuclut organisation to work for. Every conversation you hear in the lift, the canteen, the 'Town Hall' is extremely negative. In the last month i have twice seen girls in the office crying because of the work load.
Many feel exhausted & entirely undervalued. The human element does not exist in Citi.You will be worked and pushed so hard that you will either leave or crash.
The brainwashing activities are also difficult to avoid. Never ending organisational emails, relentless pushing & reinforcing of Citi policies. Its pretty pathetic.
Free, independent thinking is ruled out.

While some might dismiss the above as just a disgruntled employee airing his grievances, well you're right. But with so many unhappy faces there i'm not the only one.

Citi actually realised they had a cultural problem recently and many employees for the first time believed things might change. They did. We have now even more work.

The positives, what about the positives?
Well Citi is paranoid about its image & as a result having Citi on the CV can be a good thing.
There are some people who seem to like it there. These people have no problem working 10 hours a day, using the Citi vocabulary, agreeing to everything, putting the company first.
If that's you, then you'll love it!


However if you value your integrity, independence & skill set look elsewhere.

I hope this goes some way to you making a decision.

Wow i worked in citi (Dublin) for just over ayear and left 4 years ago...clearly nothing has changed since i left. I hated EVERY minute of it. I agree with everything the above poster said. Do not apply for the job. There are procedures for Everything. Leave whatever shred of creativity,questioning or independent thinking you have at the door on your way in.

They run reports every week detailing the number of mistakes you or anyone else in your team made. Everything is watched. They will then circulate the processing error to the entire team on a weekly basis humiliating anyone in their path.... Oh and in your appraisal, they will kindly allocate a few minutes to your personal % processing error for the year. Luckily I was accurate at what I did but those weekly emails were torture.

In the whole year, I can count the number of full lunch hours I took. It was ridiculous. And dont even think your going to finish on time- your workload will be impossible and no one dares to leave on time. You will not get any training or support. Colleagues will laugh at you and other poor new souls. First day I started, my department didnt even know i was joining and admitted this to my face, i then sat without a computer for a month and spent another few weeks sharing my computer with another poor unfortunate new person. It is very unorganised.

The people they hire are'nt even that sharp- and thats coming from someone who worked there. They are completely full of their own self importance. Its back end processing for gods sake!

You will not get a thanks for the work, hours, accuracy you put in. You will not progress. You will do the same mind numbingly boring work every day and there will be little scope for learning. You will have a demanding workload and targets and a salary that is not competitive.

There are loads of quality IT jobs out there in half decent organisations. I strongly suggest you review your options. Leaving that place was the smartest thing I ever did.

haroldwne

Many thanks for the responses to the the two of you. Lack of creativity would be a serious problem for me. At least I have that freedom in my current job. I am obviously quite lucky.

By the way, I won't be applying.

mickman

my god, thats a few bad reviews there for that place

i work in an american IT company and its exactly the opposite - a fantastic place to work with endless benefits and training

BrerWolf

Wow....

Just wow.

Thats all totally the opposite of my impression of Citi.
not that I've ever worked there, but I had the idea that it was a good place to work.

Anyone with an opposing viewpoint?

Fair play to you cloonty for getting out - there's lots of work in IT at the moment...

jaffa20

Also shocked at the comments. Was considering applying for a job there as hate my current banking job but this has made me think twice.

ongarboy

Well, I have a friend who worked with me in a competitor of Citi for many years and was disatisfied with her job and conditions. She then applied for other roles and landed one in Citi. She has pretty positive things to say about the place and has been promoted twice in the 3 years she was there. She was given lots of training opportunities and certainly while there was a lot of institutionalised ways of doing things along with the associated beuaracracy as well as some difficult staff/peers/superiors, she is happy there and has no regrets about leaving the company which I'm still in.

I think any large organisation will have as many people giving out about the place as praising it. I know many in my company who were excellent and hard workers being treated appallingly but also know many who were rewarded/promoted etc (some who were great workers, others who were deadwood or arselickers). It's going to be relatively the same in most large companies. Sometimes it is down to being unlucky to work or reporting to certain "personalities" rather than others but those types will be in every company.

OP - you may have already made up your mind here but I would just be careful about making important choices that could affect the future progression of your career just because a few anonymous posters gave some opinions on an online forum. If you seek out feedback for any large company, I guarantee you there will be disgruntled employees in every single one of them (even in the company voted best place to work 2011)

wexfordia

I worked in Citi for two years, from 2007 to 2009, and I have to say I enjoyed it. That said I heard a few things from people I know working there who don't like it anymore. A job is a job though.

Possedion

cloonty wrote: »

Although many say the grass is greener I can tell you after 4 years of working for Citi it has been a regrettable & difficult time for me.

Keeping my anonymity in mind I can tell you I previously worked for four other banks in Dublin in different roles. I have only stayed at Citi due to the current employment situation although I will be leaving Citi soon (thank f&^kin god).

While American organisations can be difficult places to work i have never experiened anything like Citi.I could write a novel on my own experiences and the anecdotal things I've heard but I'll spare you the tears. If the following bodes well with you then submit that CV:

-continual, negative & aggressive monitoring (appraisals),
-zero financial incentives,
-almost zero real world benefits ( we even pay for our Christmas party which is a dreadful affair),
-zero progression,
-zero training, it is culture of sink, sink, & sink.,
-long long hours & lunches are almost non-existent, incredible work load in most depts,
-policies & procedures for absolutely everything you can think of (there are even directional arrows on the stairs),
-status is everything in Citi, AVP this, VP that, but ultimately it doesn't matter. For many the incentives do not exist anyway,
-you do not exist in Citi, it is the modern day industrial revolution.

But I hear you cry, this could apply anywhere. True. But the atmosphere is like no other. I would say 75% of people working in Citi Dublin are depressed & stressed. It is an extremely diffuclut organisation to work for. Every conversation you hear in the lift, the canteen, the 'Town Hall' is extremely negative. In the last month i have twice seen girls in the office crying because of the work load.
Many feel exhausted & entirely undervalued. The human element does not exist in Citi.You will be worked and pushed so hard that you will either leave or crash.
The brainwashing activities are also difficult to avoid. Never ending organisational emails, relentless pushing & reinforcing of Citi policies. Its pretty pathetic.
Free, independent thinking is ruled out.

While some might dismiss the above as just a disgruntled employee airing his grievances, well you're right. But with so many unhappy faces there i'm not the only one.

Citi actually realised they had a cultural problem recently and many employees for the first time believed things might change. They did. We have now even more work.

The positives, what about the positives?
Well Citi is paranoid about its image & as a result having Citi on the CV can be a good thing.
There are some people who seem to like it there. These people have no problem working 10 hours a day, using the Citi vocabulary, agreeing to everything, putting the company first.
If that's you, then you'll love it!


However if you value your integrity, independence & skill set look elsewhere.

I hope this goes some way to you making a decision.

Is the money any good though...

pog it

They are shedding a lot of jobs according to the FT today. Don't have any idea how many or if it all this affects their Irish branches, the article didn't say.

pakb1ue

Admittedly I don't know too much about the Dublin office but I have been working in the Belfast office for the last 8 months.
I came in as graduate and they spent 3 months training me before putting me into a team. Then when I went into the team everyone in the team has been very helpful showing everything I need to know. They have also sent me on two training courses since I started on the team which both were a week long. But I do know Invest Northern Ireland pays for all the training so I guess that is reason why I have gotten so much training.

But there is a few things that I can agree with
Taking a hour lunch - at the start I was able to do this but when I started becoming more of a team member the less I got for lunch. A lot of people eat their lunch at their desk.
Long hours - I have worked two 12 hour shifts this week alone, flipping ridiculous that I feel guilty for leaving before 6 as no one on my floor as left yet. I have the joy of working weekends as well but I dont get extra pay for it or do I get an extra days holiday. If they paid overtime they would probable go bust tomorrow.

I see it as a great place to start off my career but can I see myself here in two years time is another story.

jaffa20

Seriously?

I'd be out the door at 6pm unless i was getting paid overtime. they are in the wrong so what can they do about it!?

pakb1ue

Add another 10 and 11 hour shift to this week.
Its a fair cry from our Maynooth days Jaffa.

Yeah all my friends and family cannot understand why I stay after 5 but it just the way it is. The sad thing is you just get used to it. Also my team can only do releases after 5 so hence the reason for the long hours. Sure my supervisor worked 40 weekends last year never mind the hours he does Mon-Fri.

I have been told by other people that you get a very small bonus if anything at all. One of the more senior guys I was on training with the other week reckons that no bonuses will be paid out this year. Also said one guy he knew had been working for Citi for 5 years without getting a single pay rise.

There are weeks when I am on support where I have to be in the office at 7am and I can get called any time during the night to fix something. I do get paid extra for it but my supervisor told me for doing it for a year + the 40 weekends he got around £1,600.

It just depends on what dept you are in. Two guys I started with are in a different dept from me they both have a 9-5 job (like 5 on the dot and they are gone) and one of them does the support thing but doesnt have to be in the office at 7am or anything and MIGHT get a phone call during the night about an issue. He does it once every 6 weeks (I do it every 4) and he gets paid an extra £4,000 a year for that.

On the up side I can expense a taxi to for when I need to be in for 7am.

mythrowaway

I just missed out on a job in Citi...

To be honest I don't think this issue is just with them. I work for Bank of New York Mellon.

Horrible place to work - for many of the same reasons.

No OT, crazy hours, no hiring taking place, poor morale.

It really annoys me the huge corporates who make money really screw people over because they don't make what they deem as enough money.

kala85

what is the salary like in Citi bank???

pakb1ue

For an IT graduate the starting wage is €30,000.

Junior90

Hi,
I'm coming to work in Dublin early next year as part of my college course for a 6 month placement. The company i'm working for is located in the IFSC and i'm just wondering what would be a suitable place to live for those 6 months in terms of using public transport for getting to work, rent prices (apartments or house),shopping,nightlife etc??

Eoin

Junior90 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm coming to work in Dublin early next year as part of my college course for a 6 month placement. The company i'm working for is located in the IFSC and i'm just wondering what would be a suitable place to live for those 6 months in terms of using public transport for getting to work, rent prices (apartments or house),shopping,nightlife etc??

I'd try the Dublin city forum:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=474

Edit - you've posted in another forum already, please don't cross post.

missbelle

I work in a different (similar) company, and was considering applying to places like BNY & Citi....Hmm kind of rethinking it reading those posts :rolleyes:

mrmoo

Well its great to see other people felt the same when i was there!

Working for Citibank has been the worst organisation i have ever worked for.

I would agree with all the criticism posted by others on this thread. I don't think i can add much more to what has been said other saying the Citi culture (in Dublin anyway) is absolutely rotten to the core.
All are true statements including working crazy hours, huge workloads and negative appraisals from management.
I have worked in 2 other banks and although each had their negatives Citi was leaps ahead when it came to treating the employee badly.
I never received a bonus or pay increase in 3 years but ive already been promoted in new job and i only started a few months ago. The pressure i was under in Citi from the start was awful and unhealthy. I honestly wish i had never been there. The never-ending emails/townhalls were awful as well. Also the people aren't very friendly and management do think very highly of themselves.
For some of you looking to work in Citi I would also strongly advise not to submit your CV. Citi will swallow you up. There are much better places to work for.

Possedion

I had 2 interviews with citi. First was ok, except manager kept looking at blackberry. 2 weeks later had another - the guy was very rude.
Have not heard boo since, got another job in meantime.
Dont think I would have fancied working there TBH.

COYW

I applied for an I.T. position with them a few months ago and found the HR person who contacted me to be rude. After dealing with her on 4 occasions, 2 on the phone and 2 via email, I decided that Citi was not the type of company I would like to work for and notified her that I did not wish to proceed any further with my application. Judging by the posts above, I dodged a bullet.

ILikeBananas

I was at a graduate fair a couple of months ago and by the time I got to the Citi-Bank stand they had had so much interest that their recruiter had run out of pamphlets to give out. I made a mental note to apply on-line afterwards but I completely forgot and now I'm delighted that I did. Sounds like a toxic place to work. Unfortunately it's got a very established name and so they'll never be short of fresh recruits.

Bonbon12

mythrowaway wrote: »

I just missed out on a job in Citi...

To be honest I don't think this issue is just with them. I work for Bank of New York Mellon.

Horrible place to work - for many of the same reasons.

No OT, crazy hours, no hiring taking place, poor morale.

It really annoys me the huge corporates who make money really screw people over because they don't make what they deem as enough money.

I left BNY not too long ago. Not because I hated it mind, just offered a better paying job, etc..

On the highlighted bit; in my area there was OT for junior staff, the hours were not crazy with most people leaving at around 5.30 to 6.00 and the hiring freeze was not company wide (just checked the company website - 10 jobs advertised in Ireland right now).

Its important to know that there are several separate "divisions" within the company that are entirely unrelated to one another and have their own culture. In fact you'd have to go quite high up the seniority tree to find people with authority over these different areas of the business. My point is you can't tar the whole company with the same brush. I agree there are areas that would be difficult to work in with no progression, long hours, etc but there are others that can be quite interesting and fulfilling.

NickDrake

I don't get the attitude in Citi. It is a cattle mart, a factory.

It is just administrating funds for god sake. It is is not as if they are a broker like other organisations Davy, NCB, ITG etc.

It is back office not like the above. It is way down the ladder and miles from the real action.

You are so far away from what is actually happening in the markets.

Bottom of the pile = funds in Dublin

[Jackass]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but found this very interesting.

I applied directly to citi bank for a role and I got a response from a HR representitive quite quickly. It was for a low end / middle management type job, and when I went to interview I was left waiting for 45 minutes beyond my appointed interview time, then spent about 15 minutes with the interviewers looking for a free meeting room, then did a long (about 2 hour) interview, which went really really well, was delighted with how it went to be honest. They said there would more than likely be a second interview, and seemed to suggest they would want to meet me again, saying would that be ok and not to worry about it, it's more just a further get to know you thing, so it was very positive after the interview.

A week later I heard nothing, waited a few more days as didn't want to be pushy, nothing, I then emailed the girl from HR to follow up, a few more days passed, nothing, then I got a reply saying I don't follow up, email this girl (presumably sitting across the desk from her, but she replied to me rather than just sending my email on to the right person), I then forwarded that to the second girl, another week passed, and on principles sake I was getting pissed off that I took the time to browse their jobs, prepare a letter and CV for them, travel at my own expense to meet with them at their request, spend 2 hours of my time discussing the role with them, apperantly giving a very positive impression, but then they don't have the decency to ever even contact me again, so I sent a second, slightly snotty email, got a response soon after being very positive but informing me I didn't get the job but would I consider a different job, I said I would and send me on the details.....another week, nothing......sent another email to follow up, and never heard from them again.

A wholely unpleasant and unprofessional experience, and although it's an employers market, I will not consider doing business or offering my skills to them again.

janullrich

Worked in ****ibank 12 years ago. I adv my mgr that I was leaving to go to AIB. The pressured me into staying, so much so that I told them to **** off to their face. I got sacked but don't regret it. Seems that it is still the same miserable old place!

mtjm

I applied for a job in sh1tybank, it stated a Facilities job in a building with 1000+ staff, was giving job info an all that, was offered the job back in 04, when I stated I was brought into this department and showing around this floor, it turned out the ad was missleading as I was doing (sort of facilities job) just looking after on department, scanning files and delivering letters to the staff on in that department (15 staff) I remember making couple mistakes and the guy (from argentina) who was training me walked out of the room which made me uncomfortable told them to F**K off and walked after 6 weeks

ac10

any views on anyone currently working with them ?
My friend has just landed job with them got really good salary, and was told weekend work was rotated etc and hes getting really good job perks, was thinking sending in my own cv but having read this thread Id be a bit unsure ?:cool:

Delancey

I know anumber of past / current employees of Citi - their views are very mixed . From the '' shyte place to work '' to the '' great place to work ''.
It would seem to depend what area and department you work in , who your boss is , etc.