Pros
I have been a Sr. Registered Assistant for over ten years. The pros are the medical benefits are good. The 401(k) is good. The hours are reasonable. They don't expect me here past 5.
Cons
Downsides: As others have said, they spend money in the wrong place. I have asked for tuition reimbursement on FOUR occasions only to be denied four times ( Tuition reimbursement is at the discretion of the manager as it comes out of the branch P&L) Yet they have money to hire new FAA's who are here for three months and gone. We had one that they couldn't even find to fire her!! But they had to keep her on payroll! Yikes! Secondy - Our pay is based on who we work with. That's an issue. For example, you could have two people covering the same number of brokers , and same number of production but one can make $30000 a year more than the other. The reason is that they allow the brokers to pay the assistants "discretionary income" meaning that if they are cheap and dont' feel like paying you even if you work hard, well, thats just the way life is. The management could care less about you and your pay, it's just keeping the producers happy. Third - no job growth. If you want to move or move up, you can't. I have been tryjng for years. I am at the top of my level right now and after being here 10 years my base salary is $44000. Seriously. I had one broker I worked for the entire year and he thought it was ok to give me a $300 bonus at the end of the year. It is unfortunate because some of the brokers treat their assistants good but the others don't. So your career rides on who you work with.