mortgage consultant

Valley Bank

What is the best part of working at the company?
Security and plenty off space to use spread out in your departments section.  Nice people mostly and good benefits. Pay decent. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
This is twofold, 
# 1  The  computer situation is an antiquated mess of  many software applications that are not integrated whatsoever. This requires you to  constantly go to at least 3 different places to input notes for one task/customer. If you have a computer problem there’s a great IT department however depending on the issue,  your problem may be subbed out to a different company across the country which has no practical knowledge of banking, collecting/ underwriting.etc this can be  confusing  when new and wastes time.   This doesn’t take into account the two separate programs and several emails you have to input and address to get the problem solved and out of the queue.
 # 2 Communication and support from management is less than adequate or non existent. They set you up in a cubicle and then expect you to know what comes next. They will  “train “ on their system but it’s basically  taking endless notes without  being given any practical application to try out what you learned. Once you’ve been deemed as  “ trained “ you will have to find, question and chase down actual work to be done by bugging you direct supervisor, standing outside the cube while he’s working etc. No one comes to you with anything and says these are your accounts/ files please contact the customer ( whatever you are hired to do) and let us know if you need help. Theoretically you could sit there all day and do nothing for months until you are fired. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
A bit cliquish. Your separated by large cubicles and unless you are someone who naturally is outgoing forget about feeling like you belong. You are in completely isolated and in relative silence until your neighbors make a call to an angry customer. Anyone who has worked in collections knows it can get loud  but it’s extreme @ Valley with it being so quiet. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Lonely boring frustrating and constantly walking up and down stairs to use bathroom, get coffee, or basically anything else you may do when not in your cube.  If you’re a collector it could be a good place for you depending on where you have worked previously otherwise  think twice.

The beginning of the day would start with going over the overdraft report and going through which ones would be approved or declined and make any necessary calls referencing those decisions. I would then huddle with my team before the start of the day to discuss what the day looked like and discuss different topics on strategies in helping our clients succeed financially but also create comfort with product knowledge and using high impact questions to generate conversations.  I then would start implementing my sales plan on the appointments I had for the day and any sales calls I needed to make. I would leave the office mid morning and usually spend a couple of hours int he field visiting clients in my book and ensuring that they are all satisfied while looking to cross sell and also acquire new business. I would then go back to the branch, recap my sales day while starting to inspect all is well on the operations and service side which I would usually discuss with my assistant branch manager and lead teller. The end of the day would consist of responding to emails and phone calls. I grew strong in this position in regards to drumming up more business. The hardest part of this job was getting involved in the community without much of a budget to do so, found creative ways to network with those business professionals in the area by starting my own group, monthly mixers, chamber events and even using my existing client base as possible centers of influence

I worked for Valley National Bank for 4 years. I started off as a  part time teller and then my last year I worked full time. Overall I guess I could say that this was an okay job, at best. Typical day would include opening the branch, running the morning reports, and taking a few customers. Throughout the day, I would handle transactions such as, cashing checks, deposits, selling cashier checks, etc. Because Valley is a community bank, they really didn't push sales, like other big banks do.

Also, there was a really high turn over rate. Honestly, I think It was because management does not value employees. They figure, they can just replace anyone. They basically pushed people out the door with their ridiculous expectations. They never recognized their good employees. After four years, I decided it was time to think about growing with the company and they totally denied me. Despite the fact that I was a hard worker and was loyal with a college degree. I guess they expected me to be a teller forever.  I left soon after that. Later on, I heard that my old manager had mentioned me in one of the regional meetings they had, stating that " she lost one of her best employees". Too bad I had to leave for her to notice.

Overall, I would recommend Valley if you need a place to get experience. After a year, I would suggest moving on to something better.

I had the misfortune of working for this company for 7 years after they acquired my bank. in those 7 years i received bare minimum raises, no training and no advancement even though i was considered the lead person in my department. the company uses non standard job tittles in order to avoid paying industry standard salaries, they low ball and undervalue everyone. The CIO breeds an environment of hostility, him and all of the managers have absolutely no technical knowledge and have no clue what it takes to run a modern day enterprise. Management constantly dismisses the advice of staff and takes many unnecessary risks with the infrastructure because they do not understand the challenges that the department and company face as a whole. The managers also micromanage everything and force employees to take 2 weeks vacation and you are forced to pick you days at the beginning of the year, if you call out sick you are harassed to present a doctors note. Employees are not allowed to work from home or have any type of flexibility in their schedule. do NOT accept a job with them unless you are absolutely desperate because there is not room for growth and the place is a disaster waiting to happen.

This bank is ridiculous. First they make everyone reapply for their jobs, making everyone stressed and in a panic. Then some of us hear back that we got the job.. and some never hear anything. Finally they tell people they are not qualified and will be getting a package. Then they start to get rid of people and now they ask the people that got the packages that they need to stay til maybe the end of the year! Feel sorry for them. Branches now have no staff so they always need to be covered from other branches. Staff now has to work all day and branches don’t care they continue to call out. They don’t approve personal days nor vacation days. They tell you like a month before that your vacation was approved, when it’s too late to go anywhere. Managers get first pick for vacation days. When you apply to a back office position during this transformation, they will deny your application because they can’t take staff from the branches, forcing employees to quit. The bank is suffering and surely they will go down soon. They also don’t care if you have to work every Saturday as it’s a part of your scheduled hours. No one shows up happy, no more conversations with the managers, and they are oblivious they don’t even see their employees aren’t happy.

Valley is a good starter company to get experience you need, but not anything for long term.  I recommend them to high school students or college students who don't plan on relying on their tuition reimbursement program (unless you want to commit the next 1-3 years of your life to them, which you don't, trust me)

At the branch level, the greater majority of the staff is great to work with, and it can be pretty fun.  HOWEVER on a corporate level the decisions the bank makes indicate they don't care about their customers OR their employees.  They expect too much, and pay too little for the industry.  The company really seems to be going down hill fast, and they keep changing policies that essentially end up scamming their customers.  Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it is moral.. but hey, maybe that is just me.  

Also, keep in mind that HR is painfully slow, so don't count on being able to advance at all

If you are hurting for a job, anything is worth a shot, but don't get stuck.  I am still employed with them because a pay check is a pay check, but I don't plan on being there much longer.  

The work environment  has the potential to be likable, however the amount of micromanaging  completely ruins it. I'm normally not one who minds when their manager observes or often checks in, but this is far too much. Your every move is watched your entire workday with your manager practically breathing down your neck the entire day. Every single one of your mistakes is brought up, nothing can ever be left unsaid, it’s extremely embarrassing and exhausting. Nothing can be said if its not the exact wording and steps that they would like for you to use, everything, including the most minute tasks have a step by step guide and if you do not follow it there will have to be a conversation about it. You are practically expected to be a robot, you aren’t allowed to be human and make human mistakes. Nothing can ever be boiled down to “maybe they’re having a bad day” “maybe they’re going through something” everything always has to be brought up in the most embarrassing way possible as if you aren’t competent enough to do things on your own and that is why you made the mistake.

I would be required to come in before 8:40am to be able to open the branch and set everything up for the day. Branch proof sheets needed to be revised and done before the branch opened at 9:00am. When I started this position I was able to learn how to look at the business word differently in terms of finances and what would be able to help a customer for their unique needs. Whether it was personal or business needs. Management was not always stable, new management would enter every couple months. Everyone did their job but some did not want to help each other when each branch was considered a team. The hardest part of this job was trying to feel secure when in certain points of time my branch had no management. The work load was put heavily on certain individuals because others did not want to help. I can say the good thing that came out of working here was experience and knowledge I gained by reading and teaching myself about the banking world. Also I made beautiful connects with wonderful people that I was able to work with. 

A typical day at work. 
Gather information for follow-ups with clients whom are scheduled for the day. Generate reports to be sent out for review to management. Reconcile accounts. Perform end of day follow-ups for following day.

What you learned.
Working as a team while performing my individual tasks allowed our group to have minimum fires to put out while interacting in meetings to make sure we functioned as "LEAN" as possible.

Management.
Listened to clients needs to solidify our work had meet customers satisfaction along with what we can do better to minimize stop gaps or issues that didn't meet SLA'S. (Service Level Agreement)

Co-workers
Try to keep consistency to our environment / culture established by the group. 

The hardest part of the job.
unscheduled outraged (unplanned sick-days)

The most enjoyable part of the day.
Provide customer's satisfaction while working in unison with my team members to perform the functions of our group.

My employment experience was very rewarding with Valley Bank in Orlando, FL. 

This is a tremendous company to consider if you are a single parent. There is a huge amount of flexibility in scheduling, leave, and general empathy for the unique challenges of a single provider. Remember that although banks are inherently "large", on-site staffs are nearly always "small". Your performance will be based very heavily on the performance of your colleagues, the drama of your colleagues, the mobile-phone usage of your colleagues, the commute-time of your colleagues, etc. They will depend on you, and you will depend on them. You need to be comfortable with that fact and relationship. Particularly beware people who are insecure.

Valley Bank is a fantastic opportunity for anyone who requires a large amount of support and understanding from day to day.

Highly highly recommended.

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