Pros
Large company, so lots of opportunities. Good things to learn in the right BU's, but it only goes so far. See my comments in the Cons. I was normally on the higher end of the performers based upon my reviews, so I was moved into decent roles. So I may have had it better than some, but still saw the shortcomings as well. I gave the company a 3 because I was put into some good groups and learned some great things while I was there. That being said, almost everyone I worked with in those groups (especially the high performers) have long since moved on to better things.
Cons
Pay is low for many positions. Moving into a similar role at a tiny company, I saw a large increase in pay. All jobs since have paid much better (upwards of 40% higher than the same role at Cargill in some instances). Cargill used to be known for stability, which offset the pay concerns. However, the last half of my tenure there showed that all of that changed. High bars were set on company performance based on pre-recession numbers. During the recession the company started a poorly planned corporate wide project with a very high burn rate, then started cutting people afterwards because the lofty financial goals were not met. That job cut was poorly handled and those of us left had to get by with some of the best talent gone. Job cuts since show a trend for caring less and less about the employee as a person and lack of accountability of decision makers regarding WHY job cuts are now "needed". WAY too much time wasted in the company on trendy corp initiatives, like safety committees in the office settings (in the plants this is much more needed) that had to really stretch to find something to do, like one group asking employees on the safety committee to play traffic cop and write fake tickets to people seen driving too fast in the ramp. Waste of valuable time. Too many committees in general. Makes you wonder how some of the people ever got their actual jobs done. This is probably more big company in general, but for young folks with technical backgrounds, staying too long at a company like this really sets you behind the pace. You can learn so much more at a smaller, faster paced company. There are great things to learn at Cargill (and moreso if you stay strictly on the business or finance side) but you can only go so long and feel like you are stretching your boundaries and furthering your career. Felt like I gained back 10 years of knowledge the first year out. People placed into roles WAY too much based upon who they are and who they know. Too many "managers" have to be told how to handle situations by the people they manage. IT management is full of this. A few strong ones, many, many more that are not fit for that level of leadership.