Pros
Serves the armed forces and their families. There are some excellent people working there who are the backbone of the company.
Cons
The excellent employees who are the backbone of USAA are growing weary of micromanagement, the large influx of new hires who are not receiving proper training, and the lost opportunities for career advancement due to outsiders who come on board through the good 'ole boy network. At USAA an internal employee will not be considered for promotion unless they are labeled as an employee who "exceeds expectations" in their annual performance review. Yet, new hires can be easily brought in for a job they're not qualified to do simply because they've networked themselves into the job. The really sad part about that is USAA promotes a performance management philosophy that fails to use SMART goals even though the use of SMART GOALS are stressed as being imperative in their management training classes. I believe USAA is quickly losing the reputation that took over 90 years to build by rapidly turning into another run of the mill financial services company. This is because of a desire to grow its customer base too quickly and failing to manage its infrastructure properly. In other words, they are currently in a strong growth mode with new members coming on board in record numbers yet the management structure is stuck in the '50's and refuses to allow employees to have the appropriate authority to act in accordance with responsibilities assigned to employees.