Raymond James anyone? (Orlando: to buy, contractors, universities)

[silvio]

Does anyone work or know someone who works at Raymond James? Did you/they like it? I know salary is an open-ended up question but do they pay better than average for like associate positions? Or, anything you know about pay would be helpful.

It seems to be a popular company in St. Pete, just looking for feedback.

[parasol]

I applied for an associate / entry-level position a year ago. The salary started at $23,000. I didn't get the job but I know for a fact it's a great place to work. If you apply you will most definitely get an interview, but actually getting the job is another story. They're really picky (because they can be!) - and I don't mean about not hiring me, because I wasn't really qualified anyway. If you're considering applying I say go for it and good luck.

[Bones]

I applied there a few years ago, had an interview, but did not get the job. I know "Age Discrimination" was the culprit.

[Prichard]

I'm not impressed with Raymond James as an investment company, this is from personal experience. Let me preface this by saying that this concerns several situations that occured about 7 years ago, so I'm not speaking from current information.

First, I believe that anyone can buy a Raymond James "franchise" (and I use that term loosely) - at least the guy I knew in the Orlando Area sure got himself one. His educational credentials were basically degrees you can order from one of those universities out west by just sending them some money. He lost a good amount of money for his clients. He seemed like a very unstable person. I could go on and on, but I think RJ finally pulled the plug on his franchise - don't know that for a fact, though.

In any event, it was a one-off shoddy opperation.

I've invested with Merril Lynch and Smith Barney, and a private fund manager who runs my company's 401k. I tend to prefer Smith Barney, but Merrill has some very knowledgeable people as well. They both seem to have pretty tight controls on who they hire, how they can advise their clients, and they have access to some pretty powerful tools. I don't believe that Smith Barney franchises out to independant contractors; not sure about Merrill, but I don't think they do either.

Obviously, I'm just speaking from experience about one cook who used to be a Raymond James financial "guru" in Central Florida. FWIW, I have no stock or any other ties to any of these companies, other than I happen to like the financial advisor that I've had now for years at Smith Barney. Now, if he decided to buy himself a Raymond James franchise some day, I'd consider going with him - but he'd get the "third degree" from me before I'd commit to it.

[NEWBERG]

If you seek a firm with a culture that celebrates women, that embraces the value of women (or men) over 40, don't consider Raymond James. There's a class action gender/age discimination suit a-brewing, and for good reason. For advisors, the firm is a good choice. For "home office" employees, it's a collection of Good Old (White) Boys. Note that the head of HR is the CEO's son. You can't expect fair treatment under that sort of structure. Beware.

[Boston Transplant]

I know a few people that work over there, and it's just like anyother big corperation. It depends on how good you interview and the type of postion you apply for. Rember you need them more than they need you, so with that in mind you have to sell yourself to seperate you from the others. Also i believe they have a good benifits package.

[bale002]

Picking up from Pritchard's comments, I can confirm that they still run "franchise" operations.

Generally, I feel that I've had as good a service as I would anywhere else at my level. Recently, however, I've experienced a back-office problem and they've been very slow to respond, it's taken a lot of screaming and yelling and threats to get attention through the right channel (and I'm not really sure if I'm there yet).

In the end, as someone else has already mentioned, it's probably like any other US corporation: gleefully, they stiff you with fees, begrudgingly, they offer a few services. In other words, they're aim is to suck profit out of you, whether you're an employee or a customer, but you might get something out of it too with the right combination of skill and luck.