Pros
1. New York Telephone was a great company to work for before they merged and became Bell Atlantic which is now Verizon. 2. If you graduate from an Ivy League with an MBA and you can land a Director's position, go for it. The average salary is about $150K. Network with a VP, and play the game. 3. Customer Service At New York Telephone was fantastic years ago.
Cons
1. The company still goes by the "good old boys" club. If you don't have a "godfather" in the company, you'll never get promoted no matter how many degrees you have or no matter how hard you work. It's all about who you know and not what you know. The company does a poor job with diversity. Minorities are segregated to work in customer service departments, very few work in technical fields; The company provides very few training opportunities for minorities to land technical positions in the company. 2. The company doesn't believe in loyalty or hard work anymore. Senior management cares about only one thing, themselves, their $250 - 400K salaries, $100K+ bonuses, stock options, and their own separate medical and pension plan. 3. In management, there's no support, little or no training. Your boss is too concerned about losing his/her job; You either sink or swim. You really are on your own. 4. Directors tend to have "yes" people (second level managers) under them. The company doesn't want someone to come up with ideas or question anything. You have to play the game if you want to survive. Layoffs or RIFs occur frequently. Employee morale is horrible, employees are paranoid and stressed about losing their jobs. Productivity suffers. 5. As a manager, there's a lot of political back stabbing; People will do whatever it takes to keep their jobs. Managers will manipulate the numbers to meet monthly and yearly objectives. It's very sad, but it's reality 6. There's a lot of incompetence in Verizon. I worked for over twenty years and I may have come across two managers that actually were passionate about their jobs, with strong work ethics, morals and values. 7. First level managers can earn anywhere between $55K - 105K. If you start at the bottom of the pay scale, it's going to take you YEARS to earn top pay. Your salary will increase $2 - 3K per year. The company doesn't care about what school you graduated from. Most VPs earning over $250-300K graduated with just a Bachelor's degree from a lower tier college. It's all about who you know. 8. The company eliminated the traditional pension plan a long time ago. If you want to save for retirement, you only have one option, 401K. 9. The medical/ prescription plan for 1st level, 2nd level and Directors is horrible. 10. If you land a job at Verizon, prepare to work 10 hour days, at least six days per week. If you're given a laptop, prepare to put in hours at night during the week and on weekends. Project Managers are on call 24 hours per day / 7 days per week. LASTLY: If you land a job at Verizon, play the game, network and don't trust anyone.