Vanguard is a call center, nothing else - Advanced Brokerage Investment Professional Vanguard Employee Review

2.0
9 Jul 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Job is very easy, and training is impeccable. Benefits are great. 401k match is generous, health care coverage is top-notch and PTO is #1 in the industry. You will get 4-6 weeks off per year based on tenure and job title. You can also buy a week.

Cons

Pay is low. Vanguard claims that its compensation is "competitive" for the industry, however it is using call centers as the "industry" benchmark, which don't pay well at all. As of July 2016, new hires will start at $40,000. Bonus is very low, and is generally less than 10% of salary. Year-end merit increases in pay outpace inflation slightly, but new salary caps prevent you from taking advantage of this for very long. This is a call center. You might think that this is a job whereby you will be offering investment advice or managing client's wealth, but in reality the majority of your day will be spent changing addresses, helping clients log onto their accounts, taking verbal abuse by clients and reading numbers/scripts off of a screen. I have been at Vanguard for 3+ years and been promoted to a trading role, yet I still spend most of my time doing things that a minimum wage contractor could be doing. Growth is slow. Any time you get a position, you have to spend 12-18 months in your role before you are even allowed to post out. When you post to a new position, you will go through 1-7 rounds of interviewers against dozens of other candidates, some of which may be external hires. The only real way to grow into a role that is actually off the phones is to get your MBA, CFA or CFP. I did this and left after I realized that with it, I am worth a lot more with another firm. If/when you do finally reach your time-in-job requirement and post to a new role, it is now only a 7% raise in pay. This means that you could jump 6 levels (unprecedented and would likely take 10-15 years), and your salary would go from $40-50k to a whopping $57-71k. Do not think that you will ever make anywhere near six-figures at Vanguard without spending 20+ years with the firm.

Explore other reviews about Vanguard

3.0
3 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Awesome coworkers for young professionals. Paid licensing for a few months.

Cons

Micromanagement is out of control. Incompetent team leaders who are obsessed with power and metrics. Back to back calls, limited support, and nearly impossible effective communication between departments. Zero time to cultivate culture because you are taking calls every second of the day except for 30min/1hr lunch and two 15 minute breaks. You’re locked into your role for over a year (apprenticeship for around 60 days, then a year after promotion to associate) and your team leaders will not approve internal applications unless you are “eligible”.

4
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