Pros
-Good work/life balance -Decent pay if you're single and coming out of school -Brand name -RIM folks are substantially smarter than the rest of the company
Cons
-No upward mobility and very limited career growth.. maybe one promotion per business unit each year? -Zero employee development and zero investment in trainings -Lack of creativity, recycling old ideas does not count as innovating -Leadership is very mediocre in terms of knowledge -Leadership only out for themselves and they do not care about their employees.. will string people along and make false promises of promotions to convince people to stick on their team so that they do not have to deal with any transitions -Strongly averse to switching teams.. one would think branching out and learning a new function + business would make you a more valuable employee but not the case here. Your career essentially starts over once you switch roles despite being more well-rounded and knowledgeable. In fact, RIM has a rule in place that you cannot be promoted when transitioning to a new role to specifically deter people from moving around. -YoY salary increase is less than inflation -Difference in bonus between high-, average-, and low-performers is not nearly enough to justify putting forth the extra effort -Promotion to Sr Manager comes with a laughable 5% raise -RIM works significantly harder than the rest of the company My suggestion? Amex is (or maybe was) a good brand that would look good on the resume. However, the career development here is a joke and not worth sticking around for unless you're not very ambitious and you just want a steady paycheck.. but if that's who you are, then you might as well just switch to Marketing or Finance where you can work less, get promoted every 2 years, and be the smartest one in the room (although the $$ is less). If you're an intern, stick around for the nice signing bonus and bail. If you're a sponsored employee, life is similar to that of an indentured servant so just wait until your green card comes so you can bail. Regardless, don't work your butt off for an improbable promotion that comes with a raise less than what most employers offer each year