Very Volatile, Shoot from Hip mentality, Poor/Volatile Portfolio of Product Offerings
Pros
Great experience out of college. They operate by OTJ (on the job training). If you enjoy that you’ll love starting your career off with Textron as I did. Managers will often give you autonomy and your leash will grow as you gain more experience. Definitly build contacts on the floor, it will help you get things done quickly and efficiently. The line operators are very knowledgeable and they are part of the keys to your success if your day to day activities include line support and/or design engineering. Management has an open door policy and genuinely cared (at least during my tenure).
Cons
After leaving I quickly was able to see the view from the outside. It is a very volatile organization with little diversity in their businesses - looking at it from a product offering standpoint. They are in aviation, recreation, and defense. Not exactly your most recession proof sectors so expect tons of volatility. The business is impacted heavily by political climate, and that can be seen with the massive periodic rounds of layoffs. Management decisions at the corporate level are rather poor. Who spends millions on R&D, marketing, sales development just to go out and buy a an existing one less than 1 year later? A lot of “good ole” boys seem to have taken over lately so expect more of the same - decisions from the hip based off a likeable guys “hunch”. Don’t get me wrong the company makes money and is Fortune 500 off revenue - but when your product is expensive.... revenue will trickle in. Doesn’t mean it’s profitable. Biggest complaint - zero extended outlook. They live 2 years out, promote people into positions they are not ready for and then blame them for the failure of the business. The leadership development program is basically a glorified College Fraternity/Sorority in the workplace. In my experience there were only a maybe a couple of people that really deserved to be called “leaders” in the program. The rest were book smart - but really didn’t know how to get things done. It showed from the direct feedback I received from several blue collared workers.
