associate

technical analyst

it manager

operations associate

underwriter

BOK Financial

Let me start out by saying, before working at Bank of Albuquerque (BOKF) I had never been in banking. I did have experience in retail sales and a few other industries though. I was a "Relationship Banker". Basically, a teller with greater responsibilities such as account openings, account maintenance, and LOANS. A typical day consisted of splitting your time on the teller line doing transactions and on platform either opening new accounts, cold calling on clients for bank services, and Mostly dealing with clients and account problems e.g. client lost a check, needs to close an account, grandma stole account info. etc. The position is hugely intensive on Sales and Customer Service. Let me reiterate that...Sales and Customer Service. If you don't like either one, don't take this job. On the otherhand if you like interacting people everyday and enjoy sales this might be a possibility.


You are tracked on Everything on a monthly basis. You are expected to sell credit cards, refer clients to investment bankers/mortgage department, open new accounts, and offer a wide range of banking services to clients Daily. Every week you have a sales meeting with your branch. And daily, your regional manager will send out email blasts regarding branch performances. Co-workers are a mix of dedicated banking professionals who love their jobs to death and less motivated individuals who are simply there for the job. Career advancement is difficult. I started part time and a year later I still could not get a full time position at another branch. 

Now that I've given a general description of the position I want to actually tell my Personal experience at Bank of Albuquerque. I did not like it one bit. It was not enjoyable. Granted I took the job because I needed to pay bills but I don't understand the draw to this position for others. The pay is low for the level of work expected of you and the responsibility. I was getting paid a High wage for my position and I still felt it was low. The culture is very bureaucratic and rigid to the point of being l retentive. Managers are always looking over your shoulder. Sales goals are constantly being pushed on you. Also BOKF is sold as this local, small town bank compared to Bank of America and Wells. But, it's not. It's simply focused on its bottom line and in reality has a very corporate feel to it. 


So in retrospect, a good job for learning some basic banking and finance but Low pay, Intense sales, no career advancement, Corporate Culture that only cares about profit, micro managing managers, and dealing with angry customers all day makes this job very undesirable.

•	Responsible for the technical and operational support and security of the Financial Systems database, software and procedures by performing analysis, design, programming and implementation of solutions needed to support company-wide security and information needs for the reporting and operations of the Financial and Management Accounting groups.  
•	Co-lead a project to secure and analyze sensitive data from our commercial loan department and assisted in developing a process to create a secure reporting solution helping the department understand deficiencies ultimately saving BOKF $1.2 M per annum in fees paid to an outside vendor supplying subpar data.
•	Developed security and validation scripts using Oracle SQL, Golden Retriever, Ultra Edit and Toad to ensure database security, financial information quality, reporting accuracy, and GAAP/SOX compliance for internal customer groups.
•	Maintained the security of the financial database by using Oracle SQL, Golden Retriever and Ultra Edit to create a process that captured employee ID information and validated it against authorized users. When unauthorized users accessed the financial database I was notified via email and immediately rectified the situation.
•	Analyzed and solved all security and validation issues pertaining to jobs that failed for any reason using Oracle SQL scripts, select statements, Golden Retriever and Ultra Edit to analyze and find the security or deficiency and immediately solve it so that processing could resume.  
•	Worked with all groups within BOKF to ensure data security between groups and users and ensuring every person and group had the correct security access to be able to complete any and all duties.
•	Worked with all groups within BOKF to ensure accuracy in the event of a problem that was data driven, or fixed any code that may have broken to cause a validation failure.
•	Developed secure APEX applications that automated and increased the efficiency of multiple accountant’s processes allowing authorized personnel to use a web based method to track and maintain data and reporting instead of manually managing the data drastically increasing their efficiency and allowing them more time to accomplish other duties.

After being in sales and finance for years I worked for BOK after the recession ended. Never being in banking before I thought it would be a great experience. My manager had been at that location for 4 yrs and was a great teacher and motivator. Only problem is being at a location that is open 7 days a week with insane sales goals, which I hit after learning the products, anyone will get burned out especially if you have a family. The opportunities of advancement dont present themselves because with needing management to refer you and the manger turnover will leave good canidates stuck in their spot or giving up and going to another bank. The favorites are promoted and in my experience it isnt always a good thing. With a manager who only had 6 months total experience in banking, and poor motivational skills, the culture changed from wanting to be number 1 in the district to just getting by and finally to try not being in last place. After a few months of being without an Asst Mgr and understaffed, which happens at all locations, we were saddled with someone who knew how to be a teller but not sales. A person who had no idea how to do a mortgage refinance or car refinance yet would demand us to get our numbers. I was amused because i was the only one getting the 100% sales plateau and when the Asst Mgr, who after 2 yrs at BOK never made that level, asked me how I did it my reply was I talked to people not sit in the office for 3 hours surfing the web! I do miss some of the clients i had and actually had 5 of them call my cell to tell me to please come back but after carrying that place for awhile I was glad to be gone. My advice is to think twice before going here and once there get some experience then move on to the other places in Tulsa which pay better and treat you better. Funny thing is most of the people at other banks worked for BOK and understand what you have been through!

I worked for this bank for almost three months as a Relationship Banker, I was excited and had great expectations about this job opportunity, but day after day, I realized that this is a very unorganized company to work for. I considered my job very important, I thought I was a good fit for this job because I had great customer service experience from being an assistant manager for a company. I think for any kind of job a good training is a MUST and also the key to success. The training I was provided by BOKF was the worse, almost all trainig are self guide programs, really? You are handling with other people's money, this is a big responsibility to just have a self guide training in front of a computer and pretty much  "figure it out" on your own. At the end of each training, they asked for your feedback and suggestions, they also asked me for my phone number to see if they could call me to talk about what I did not like about the training. Every time I went through a training on the computer or by conference call, I gave my feedback and phone number expecting a call to talk to them about how bad the training was. Of course, there was never a call.

The work environment was the worse, at least at my location 36th and MacArthur. The assistant manager was unapproachable and not very nice. 

At that location we were short staff, and since I was working extra hours, they even dared to tell me that  my extra hours did not get approved, so they were just going to give me comp time. Also if you decide to work for BOKF, check your pay stub every time because for no reason, they took off 4 hours of my work (almost $60), supposedly because I was short. I printed all my time sheets, thanks to that,  I could prove to them I was not short. This place is just a mess to work for, very unorganized and people don't receive the best training to provide the best customer service to their clients.

Depending on the location and department, work/life balance can be pretty awesome.  However, it can go the complete opposite.  The compensation for the departments other than the Consumer Division is not up to par with the work that you need to do to be successful or the constraints in which you need to do it.  Job security is decent depending on the department.  There have been lay-offs and I don't approve of the manner in which they are handled, but there aren't as many as some other companies switching to a more technological platform.  As far as advancement, it's not too bad but there are so many people looking for it, you have to really stand apart.  Management is hit and miss.  I work with several different departments and there is a certain lacking in about 50% of the mid-level management staff.  Upper/executive management is fairly disconnected to certain departments, having never even show their faces in some of the departments/divisions they manage.  They have an "ACT" program that takes people directly out of college and trains them for 6-12 months on things like business plans and financials, but little training on things that matter on the day to day, like managing people.  I find the program to be a waste of time and money as most graduates of it don't stay with the company for long and that the Bank does it more for a good image than anything else.  The job culture is generally positive and most people tend to work together for similar goals.

I worked for Bank of Oklahoma for almost 10 years. 7 of the years in the branch which I loved just not the days and hours. So I transfer to the back office (Commercial Accounts and Analysis) and that is when I learned how not so great the company really is. They bring you a stack of work and show you how to do 1 or 2 things and leave you to figure out the rest. When you ask questions the manager or leads treat you like you are an idiot and didn't really help much. When you go to work in the branch they send you through several weeks of training however if you move to the back office you don't get the same training if any training at all. They need a better training method. Training for this department (Commercial accounts and analysis) sucked.  The Manager and her lead got away with everything cigarette breaks several times a day, bathroom breaks numerous times a day, extra long lunches, coming in to work late and leaving early. And the people that was always at work got the bad end of the deal. No recognition and wasn't appreciated at all. Managers and leads talk bad on co-workers and instead of building their employees they beat them down.  Its a back stabbing world if you are in the back office of BOK. Branch life was so much better. I ended up leaving and going to another bank as an Branch Manager yes the hours and days aren't the greatest but man let me tell you I will take this life over that CAS Rep position any day.

I loved my job, and I really liked my co-workers. But the technology between departments is severely unorganized, outdated, and disparate. IT management are akin to con artists, lacking the knowledge and expertise necessary but more than happy to con those not in IT into believing they know what they are doing with concepts that are impractical, unrealistic, and that consistently fail. I spoke with several people in IT who left due to the aggressively hostile temperament of 2 managers in particular. I tried to bridge the gap between departments, to coordinate and align information, but I inevitably failed when it was deemed that bad information was better than no information, a concept that I don't agree with. I have hope for a better future for the company; I think the CIO and CFO are moving in a direction that will make cross-departmental information possible. 
Working there is hit or miss. Once employed, you're generally well treated, so long as you keep your attention within your own department and not working under the IT department umbrella. I would recommend the consumer, mortgage, or compliance areas. I strongly recommend keeping communication with other teams to a minimum if your goal is job security.

What is the best part of working at the company?
BOKF is a wonderful company overall, especially from the Tulsa leadership aspect. The benefits are good as well as the compensation.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Each market is run locally by a CEO, who is not the leader for most lines of business but still responsible to make the market profitable. This leads to each market running things differently and no clear guiding principle across markets, which makes it difficult for people who work across markets. And the AZ CEO came from a big bank, so he tries to run it like a big bank full of micromanagement, distrust of others, and only paying attention to his corporate banking world. If you’re not part of that team, you are overlooked, dismissed and treated like you do not matter. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Again, from an enterprise wide standpoint, it is great. But in AZ, the CEO who started in 2022 has turned it into a toxic environment and many people are leaving.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You must arrive by 8:30am and not leave before 5pm or it is viewed as not working enough. And if a person works with the CEO, he is always trying to find out why people are not in their office even though we are expected to be out sellling.

Always had to be mindful of employee infighting and gossiping within the department.  False accusations, people tracking if you are over even a few minutes for lunch, and difficulties in getting time off for necessary doctor's appointments were the things that hurt this department the most.   Lack of support from management and HR did not help things.  Many items were reported to HR yet nothing was done.  This actually made the situation worse when the manager retaliated.   Items had to be escalated to senior level HR people who stepped in to help.   This again made things quite unbearable.  This manager has been known to talk down and even threaten employees with HR action for no reason.  Certainly not the way to operate / run a business.     Hopefully, the EEOC steps in to correct this. BOK HR - This has been reported to the EEOC and your inaction will cost the company $$$$$.    This is one of the most dysfunctional teams that I have ever been associated with.   Clearly, the manager of this area has anger management issues for which she is being treated.  If anyone reading this would like to learn more.   HR responder - If  you are truly interested in helping to solve the problem, indicate this in your response, otherwise the generic response that you provide is meaningless.

A typical day involves me working with clients in order to make their banking experience better. I also work with non clients helping them choose which bank account, credit card, loan, and mortgage best fits their needs. Customer service is very important because as tellers we are the face of the branch and sales is not mandatory but it is encouraged at BOK. I learned how to handle a different kind of clientele, my other sale jobs I was working with people in a less formal environment. BOK has taught me how to work with many different kinds of customers from the really wealthy to the poor and I learned how to handle various situations, handling peoples money is a very important job. The work place culture at my branch is great, we all get along and BOK is really trying to make everyone feel like family. The hardest part of my job is turning down clients who do not meet the requirements for a loan or an account, it really breaks my heart because we can not help their financial needs. The most enjoyable part of my job is talking to the clients all day, after a while you get to know them by their first names and you start building relationships.

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