It is difficult to advance; nearly impossible to go from employee to management unless you go through the call center. If you're looking to get into leadership my advice is to come into the company as a leader; do not plan on internal promotion to get you there. External leadership experience means next to nothing at USAA. I have nearly a decade of external leadership experience, at a higher level then what I applied for here. Yet, multiple times I have been told the reason for not interviewing me was that I lacked "USAA leadership experience."
There is a strong good old boy network in leadership. It is worse in the exec ranks because, like the military, leaders either get promoted or transferred to a new division every 2-3 years. This ensures broad company knowledge but minimal knowledge about the unit and industry sector they are leading. As an organization, it is extremely centralized. Department heads have virtually no budget authority and decision making, like the military, always has to come from the top. Decision making authority does not get delegated. From what I have observed, changes to organizational structures have to be approved by four levels of executives.
Non-military employees are often made to feel like 2nd class citizens because you have such an "easy life". I'm a huge fan of our service members but as an employee you better be ready to eat, sleep and wake up to your undying love for the military. Wow, it can really get nauseating at times. This can even override common sense with some directives like a catastrophic program to put young military officers directly into financial services leadership roles.
This place is not a meritocracy at all. Great work is rarely appreciated and there is a large fear of change due to it's tendency to create more work for someone. People who enjoy the status quo can thrive here. If you're a true go-getter you will likely struggle with the slow pace and inability to show what you can really do. The disconnect is that execs are promoted for keeping the ship balanced and afloat, not shaking things up and trying to make the company better. "Risk is acceptable, as long as we're sure nothing can go wrong."
I restate that USAA is a good company. At the end of the day, my greatest disappointment is that the company wants to be a financial services leader. It has the ability, the talent and the resources but unfortunately, its fixed and stale leadership ranks are entrenched in the myopic loop of call-center mindedness. This regularly restrains it's ability to surpass the competition in several markets. This is the root cause of why USAA will not be Great.
