Investment Banking - Anonymous employee Pacific Crest Securities Employee Review

Learned a lot from the staff here, small team but that means that you are given more responsibility

Continue to invest in junior team since they are strong support

Some of the coworkers are friendly. Good place to learn if you have 0 yrs exp in finance. Portland is a nice, quaint town and the city environment is fantastic. Always something to do in Portland.

The compensation for juniors and mid-level is outrageously low, partially because mgmt understands that they are the only firm in town. Management has even jokingly at a function that the firm has leverage on the employees because Portland is so far away from everywhere else and it would be a pain to move their families. Even the 401K matching is lower than the street average. This type of thinking causes the firm to inculcate one of the worst cultures on the street. Management turns a blind side to abusive relationships and instills a my-way or highway type of attitude towards the employees, resulting in low company morale. Inexperienced HR department to resolve issues. Career advancement is limited, due to fear of employees jumping ship. Much of employee payouts hampered private equity backing.