I used to work for CIBC...Ask me anything

[raggydiaper]

Downtown Toronto has a ton of centers of all the big banks.

Getting a job in one of them is better, no quotas for sales, and bigger opportunities.

Only thing, you need a hook-up.

[jungeon]

1. How did I get the job? I slept with someone that worked in Capital Markets. She was kind enough to put in a great word for me (lol) and I used her as a referral.
2. I already had a Bachelor's degree (arts) and the Canadian Securities Course completed. I had other work experience in retail, which they actually liked, because any branch-level banking is all just sales. People with a retail/sales or even waiter/waitress background do just fine in a bank.
3. It was not worth the time. Most tellers are pigeon-holed into that position or move up to FSR after a few years. These people stay at branch level (low earning) banking for their careers. In order to get into capital markets etc, you need to have a great education, great references and apply for a role higher than teller. You won't go from teller to ceo.
4. CIBC is well known as the worst bank, especially in how they treat their employees. There are several class action lawsuits right now. We were not paid for overtime, often didn't get lunch breaks and were forced to stand all day, not allowed any stool or anything (this depends on the branch)
5. I quit because 2 people randomly quit one day and we were grossly short-staffed. They would make me come in with no notice and do the job of 3 people. I'd leave everyday with a splitting headache and my manager was a pain in the butt that didn't even have a college diploma or university degree. He's a salesperson and worked at Denny's as a waiter for 6 years.

LOLgtfo, I though you wre joking about that capital markets thing

[boredsilly]

I also believe CIBC is the crappiest bank in terms of treating their employees. When I did coop they asked me how much I wanted, I said 42k (my reasoning being that the avg for our coop placements was 42k), and they low balled me with 33k. It was hard to believe that one of the biggest Canadian companies was that far south of average

The HR girl was super hot I'll give them that, but that was not incentive enough to take the job.

[Derivative]

I also believe CIBC is the crappiest bank in terms of treating their employees. When I did coop they asked me how much I wanted, I said 42k (my reasoning being that the avg for our coop placements was 42k), and they low balled me with 33k. It was hard to believe that one of the biggest Canadian companies was that far south of average

The HR girl was super hot I'll give them that, but that was not incentive enough to take the job.

Dude, lol. You asked for 42k for a co-op placement? The salary for a SENIOR FSR full-time in downtown toronto maxes out at 38k. lol

They do pay the lowest out of all the banks, have the worst service, and most backwards computer system. Seriously, it's freaking MS-DOS and it breaks down constantly. Once the computers were down for 3 hours during the day. I had to explain this to people and they wanted to like spit on me, they couldn't believe it.

[Planeticket]

Hey all,
Just been reading this thread with much amusement and wanted to put in my 2 cents. I too once worked as a teller at CIBC but want to let y'all know that the job isnt all doom and gloom. If you're looking to break in the banking industry even this job is a good start. I work at RBC now but i don't regret the time I put in to be a teller. I only had to do the job for 6 months before I moved onto an FSA role where becoming an FA (financial advisor) was just a step away. While the sales requirements are there as a teller, it isnt as bad or as hard as its been made out to be. I had a great time with my branch colleagues and they were all very supportive and helpful. It's imporant that you get along with your colleagues and of course try to be friendly to the clients because showing the right attitude really does go a long way.
As a teller I never made a huge number of referrals but i was still given FSR or FSA opportunities at any of my choice locations. One important point I want to get across for aspiring tellers regardless of which bank is that you have to show your ambition or desire to want to move up. They understand that you have ahard-earned university degree or whatever and that you're very unlikely to want to make a career of being a teller but just consider the job as 'paying your dues'.
I'm in a good spot now but it likely would'nt have happened if CIBC hadn't given me that first shot.

[ovovov]

Just moved everything to other bank... Cibc has worst service, bad products, and higher mer...

They charged me a closing fee for move money over to ing.... Wtf

Never going back to cibc again

Bit off the topic, I used to work for Canadian western... Ask away anything

[arpit8]

I quit because 2 people quit at the same time and we were left with 3 tellers that had to deal thousands of clients in a day. Then of the 3, 1 ended up flying away randomly to Cuba and I was doing the job of like 3 people, doing overtime and not getting paid for it (hence so many class actions), and having an ABM that had less education than myself. Instead of getting in a temp teller we were left with 2 tellers for 3 months so that means no lunch breaks (not allowed). I left everyday with a splitting headache. How is it possible to sell if you have like 250+ transactions in a day and lineups with 30 people. Nightmare.

I believe they all pay roughly the same for the CSR role however RBC treats its tellers the best. They certainly have the easiest job since they aren't expected to sell at all. Make the client happy for what they originally came to the bank for. The way it should be.

I tihnk i will swich my bankin with RBC or Td or somewhere... i hate those type of manager... who only wares corp hat to make it look good from out side ... without putting there feet in employee's shoe... i totally doing that next week

[gaiachaos]

For the most part, being a bank teller is a dead-end job. For those that managed to move up quickly or eventually, it's because they are buddies with one of the management teams or in a fortuitous event, one of the managers happen to like your work. Most of them that moved up are not very intelligent and organized. This is most often the case no matter where you work.

All bank tellers are required to make sales pitch, no matter where they work. Otherwise, the bank might as well replace them with machines.

[ssainani]

I'm in a good spot now but it likely would'nt have happened if CIBC hadn't given me that first shot.

Agree too

I was a CSR for CIBC for about a year (10 years ago now!) I only stayed with CIBC for another year after that (Into a Branch Manager for PC Banking at the time) --- but it's that first job which opened many doors for me

[KonaHeiHei]

I have a few friends working in banking and I'm curious what the differences are between working for the big banks.

Much of this, I know can depend on role and department and what your manager is like. Is it the career prospect, better work environment, salary? Or is it the overall corporate direction?

I know some are happy where they work, others not so much. But they have different roles. I can't really tell from the outside what the difference between working for BMO, CIBC, etc. is.

When you look at their HR site, all they tell to prospective employees is like any other company (aside from banks): We treasure, develop and encourage our employees to grow. We pay competitively. And working for us is great.

Now, how are you supposed to know the diff?

Any thoughts on certifications? I'm fairly new to working in banking. Someone encouraged me to do the CA. It looks good to have those credentials I suppose but I want either sales or corporate communications. I looked at one of the CA texts and was instantly bored to death!!! I've done the CSC and that's much more tolerable.

Side note: I know someone who is a bank executive and they explained they started as a teller. It is possible to make it to senior management. You have to have the education and experience to back it up.

[boredsilly]

Side note: I know someone who is a bank executive and they explained they started as a teller. It is possible to make it to senior management. You have to have the education and experience to back it up.

Also be born in 1950 when that was possible. Nowadays teller is a negative if anything.

[tjthemanto]

You are spot on. The bank teller role is a very stressful retail job where you earn 3 bucks more per hour. You have so much work to do and if you're ever "out" (not balance) you're screwed. Luckily I'm great with math and don't need a calculator even for really complicated deposits and such.

At my branch we were not allowed to sit at all and we were grossly under staffed. I would stand for 7 hours, come home with an aching back and then get screamed at the next day by my ABM about why I only had 1 sale instead of 2. Some banks are better about this. TD is also very sales oriented. RBC does not require tellers to make sales. They simply process transactions, which takes the stress out of the job, it's fantastic.

I am with BMO & my dad is with Scotia ..I do my dad's banking most of the times at Scotia with his PIN/Debit card as he is out of town on vactions etc .

I find that the when I go to BMO or Scotia ..the tellers never try to sell me anything ..no upsell nothing ..maybe I am just lucky @ both banks ..so I am assuming that BMO & Scotia are probably like RBC where they don't force tellers to sell . They only do what I ask them to to do ( basically deposits/withdrawals etc ) ..& then just ask me " Anything else " ?? ..which is cool

[xlpho]

I have to throw my 2 cents in on this about selling things at the bank since I work at CIBC as a CSR and I've met many people who have worked as CSRs at other banks. Everyone I've talked to from TD, RBC, BMO, HSBC and Coast Capital all must try to make "sale." People who don't get upsold something at bank probably already have a chequing account, savings account, and a credit card with that particular bank so theres no need to ask them to get any other products till of course you need a mortgage and thats the biggest thing we can try for clients to get. But I am very sure that every bank requires there CSR to look for an opportunity. At my branch we see the same clients day in and day out so referals for other products are pretty low and our manager doesnt emphasize sales so much as we are trying to focus on customer service. I haven't heard of anyone getting fired for no referals either, you might get a talk to to see if you are even trying to look for opportunities, but never heard of anyone gettng fired.
And I do agree that CIBC has the most ghetto system probably, but you get use to it after while. I use to work at McDonalds as a manager and they're a big ***** corporation with an almost as ghetto system as CIBC where you enter MS DOS style commands. Even TD has a separate MS DOS system to from what I hear, so I mean its not just CIBC, but still you would think they would upgrade it.

[travelgeek]

I find that the when I go to BMO or Scotia ..the tellers never try to sell me anything ..no upsell nothing ..maybe I am just lucky @ both banks ..so I am assuming that BMO & Scotia are probably like RBC where they don't force tellers to sell . They only do what I ask them to to do ( basically deposits/withdrawals etc ) ..& then just ask me " Anything else " ?? ..which is cool

I'm with BMO also and I have never been sold anything. I only have a chequing account along with investorline, so I could have been sold a savings account, US account, MC, mortgage, LOC, HELOC, but nope. Contrast that with TD where they try to sell me something on every opportunity.

[Coke355mL]

I've read through this entire thread and I just cannot bite my tongue and have to set the op straight because I think the op is extremely ignorant and lacks a lot of maturity and is providing a lot of misleading information. While I sympathize with you, op, I do agree that CIBC is far behind from its competitors but is far from the devil that you make it out to be. Having worked in the finance industry for well over 10 years, and am now a consultant to all the banks, I am aware of CIBC's issues around treatment of staff, the high turnover rates, the legal issues, etc... but to have said the things you have said so far, I must say you gave a lot of incorrect information, a lot of your views are very pre-mature and your statement of 'facts' lack any concrete evidence.

My advice to you? Learn from this whole experience and figure out where YOU went wrong and what YOU could have done to avoid being in this situation again, and also about what YOU could have done better. To completely just 'blame' the employer is just too easy. You have just as much fault in this too.

I can tell you first hand how dysfunctional this institution is. Ask me anything.

First of all, you cannot just make an inference that CIBC as an institution, is dysfunctional. Your personal exposure is limited to your direct exposure working as a CSR at one branch, albeit it is the bank's main branch. You should know that CIBC's retail banking services make up only a fraction of the organization and is certainly not the largest revenue generator for the institution.

Let's not forget about its wholesalebanking, wealth management, business banking, risk management, finance, technology and operations, etc.

I never heard of anyone being internally promoted other than going from CSR to FSR but that was after 2 years of working as a CSR (teller). Higher positions were always hired from outside......Oh, CIBC does indeed have an internal job site but in a branch setting they don't hire from within unless you've been there for years. They have a "global hiring policy" where you need to be a CSR for minimum 1 year before you can even apply for other positions.

All the banks have similar internal policies which require individuals to perform in their role for a period of 2 years before you can move onto another role - it may be less in entry level positions. Higher positions are given to the best candidate with serious consideration for an internal applicant. The best person usually gets the position. If it is a common theme, then there is something to be said about the quality of employees at CIBC.

Having a university degree, the CSC and only being allowed to work 15 hours per week as a CSR before being able to apply for other positions just made me go out of my mind.

It was your choice to join CIBC starting at the bottom. You should have done your research and also, you should have gained much more relevant experience and instead, apply for a higher level position not in the branch. Instead, you decided to join the worst performer of the big 4 banks, and chose a dead-end job. Whoever told you it was a good step in the door doesn't know how the real world works. If you work in a branch or in a call centre, it's extremely difficult to progress from there. You only have yourselve to blame.

CSR's only go to FSR if there weekly referrals were the best in the district. You have to make at least 10 big sales a week to get any notice. Anything less than that and you get reprimanded.

Again, you should've done your research and realize that the position has evolved into more of a sales position rather than a simple routine-based bank teller job. Making 2 sales each day is not an unrealistic target. Difficult perhaps at best.

The CSR position can certainly lead you to an FSR role which pays (30-40k per year) if you are a top salesperson. Like any job, your success and promotion is determined by how well you do IN THAT ROLE. Getting industry qualifications and degrees are not of interest to a bank. They want you to sell and push the banks products. If you succeed at doing that you can advance to a higher sales position.

You should be careful when you make such strong statements about how industry qualifications and degrees are not of interest to a bank. In fact, it's the exact opposite - what is true however, is that a degree and industry qualifications is of no interest to a CSR position. The fact that you thought it should be is simply ignorance on your part.

Going from teller to capital markets portfolio manager is unheard of unless you're fortunate enough to sleep with someone high up or achieve a full CFA license and MBA. There were 2 other tellers that had been there for 9 years in that exact position, earning 13.70/hour without any hope of moving up.

You make it sound like to get anywhere in the bank, you have to sleep with someone, similar to how you repeatedly made comments about how you slept with someone that pratically got you into a CSR position. Sorry to say, but this is so far from reality. There are many talented individuals who go into an investment banking analyst role with an accounting background and no CFA or MBA. Those who stay in teller positions for 9 years are there for a reason. It's because they simply do not have the aspirations or the skills/abilities to go further.

Networking is the most important thing. It's better than degrees, it's better than licenses. You know the sexist saying "I made my career on my back?" There's nothing wrong with it and in today's economy, it's probably not such a bad idea. You don't need to prostitute yourself but networking is to a certain extent about sucking up, making friends.

Degrees help you get a foot in the door - it's what position (how high or how low) that matters. From there on, it's experience and networking. Degrees are equally as important because it could hold you back from making the cut when applying for higher level positions. Again, your belief that sleeping your way to the top really shows your ignorance and lack of maturity.

The branch manager told me that the HR rep interviewed 200 candidates over the phone and 18 were interviewed in the branch. I didn't realize that the competition for a "teller" role was so fierce.

What you faild to realize is that you, with your university degree, was fighting for bread crumbs when what you should've been doing is fighting for the mid-entry level positions. Why fight for a position that is already given to university students, after you have finished university? Sure, everyone wants to work at a bank and of course there will be tonnes of applicants. There will be college grads fighting for it, even people with no degrees and just have sales experience. I guess you must've thought you were no better than them either, huh?

In regards to sales targets, it's very tough. Our district required each teller to make a minimum of 2 sales per day. If someone comes up to you to inquire about a product, that doesn't count. You need to initiate the conversation AND you need to get them into an office.......So if you are working 5 days a week, you need minimum 10 sales. Anything less than that and your district rank, assistant branch manager rank, and personal rank goes down. Every CIBC in the district can see each persons ranking, it's quite humiliating.

Everyone pays their dues when they're working from the bottom. As I mentioned earlier, 2 sales per day is not unrealistic - sure it may be more difficult when you're short staffed but that's where you failed in your decision making. While you believe it is the right choice to not bother selling and simply 'move' the line faster, the fact is your ABM and BM has mandated that you sell - it is part of your job accountabilities - if customers are complaining about the wait time, then it's the BM's issue to staff the branch appropiately - not yours. People who lack the maturity does not realize that they are the problem for some of the experience that they have faced, and are quick to blame the employer. If you can't handle the heat in the kitchen, then get out - further educate yourself and choose your positions more wisely. Furthermore, I do not see how internally publishing your sales ranking makes CIBC anymore dysfunctional than any other sales position in the market. It promotes competition and transparency. It's only humiliating if you are an under performer. If you're not selling, you share the blame. If your ABM is not giving you the tools and knowledge to do better, it's because you failed to ask for it then. Growing your career, no one is going to give it to you on a silver platter. Learn to fight for yourself and taking the initiative to get to where you want to be.