Thread regarding Citigroup Inc. / Citibank / Citi layoffs

@Spld+1hiSbir3

Funny, I got an email saying the position I applied for is no longer available, after doing 2 rounds of interviews and never hearing back despite a couple follow ups. The position is outside of tech.

I wonder if there's hiring freeze

After lowballing me 20k, they informed me that they are pausing hiring for digital. WTF is wrong with this place.

One of my friends mentioned that Citi is an h1b shop and it could be that they are giving these bs interviews so they can end up justifying staffing up more h1bs.

I see people come in and say that they heard that Citi was not all that great to work at. Not the worse but certainly not the best but thought that they’d give it a shot. Fast forward a year or so and they sing a different tune.
1/3 are happy.
1/3 say its not better or worse than where they came from.
1/3 wished they’d never hired on.

For me, I’m mostly happy but I do have some angst when it comes to bonuses or lack thereof. Where I came from they wanted long hours but they had no issue rewarding you for it. They’d throw 30-50K your way for a bonus no problem. Here at Citi they want the long hours but have an issue cracking open that wallet to compensate you for it. The biggest bonus I’ve ever gotten was 5K. So it certainly sets the pace going forward. Going forward you get 5K bonus worth of extra effort.

Citi can’t have it both ways. If you want the extra long hours, peel off some bills. The stingier you are, the less I give. Citi, you set the pace.

There seems to be only one commonality here - Citi is a terrible place to work. I've heard of some really bad stories about this place. But now to live it and see it and see it on this thread it's another thing. Good luck to all the Digital PM applicants.

Most likely the manager really liked you but the $ wasn’t there to allocate. The “different direction” means someone who was willing to work for less.

I just interviewed for a product role. I am a lead product manager at a big bank and the manager at citi told me he wanted to move me forward in the process and was friendly . After disappearing for two weeks I get told citi wants to go with another candidate which I find bs because my friend said they are still looking for 20 product owners. Friends of mine with less product Experience were given multiple interviews and I get canned after just one. Utter garbage experience with this third party recruiter. Never had a manager tell me they want to move me forward and then get told by a third party recruiter I have been rejected. My friends feedback is also that these people are extremely disorganized. Working for them must be utter garbage if they can’t even have basic etiquete with candidates during the recruiting process

Dang, I'm going through interview process as well. None of this sounds good and I am already seeing the disorganization.

My biggest questions here are:

1. What is the retention like? Do they fire or layoff much? I'm assuming not in the digital space because they were hiring 4k people so they must be budgeted out for years.

2. What is the work load like in digital? I have heard it's not bad at all... So this may be balanced for people trying to break into digital product management... work for a year and move on to bigger and better? I see many comments here supporting the idea. The only caveat is potentially bad economy can get you stuck.

This is probably one of the best threads I've seen on this site.

What you are experiencing during the interview, is what you can expect if you hire on going forward.

It’s a well crafted, well practiced tactic of endurance to wear you down. To make you 100% vested in time, effort, asking you to jump from hoop to hoop. By doing this, it makes you reach and strive for the job. They then make an offer much lower and place it just out of reach. All of this in hopes that you’re worn down enough and have strived hard enough to overlook the pay difference. If you take what they’ve offered here’s how it’ll play out.

You be brought onto the team. You won’t be given any money for review or bonus and be told “you have to be here a full year first”. Another year will go by and you’ll be told “here’s a little something, to get more you’ll need to prove yourself first to get more”. You’ll counter will a list of all the things that you’ve done but will be told “others have proven themselves longer so that get more than you”.

Another year or two will go by and you’ll reflect on this post and realize that you’ve been manipulated by them. You’ll sigh and start looking for a job elsewhere. Just look at the facts even now. You’ve made it no secret as to how much you want but they are here now playing games. Look at this as a preview of things to come if you hire on.

@xjky+1hiSbir3 - nothing yet. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm highly interested in the product. But I'm not sure about the team and now the company. Like is this a joke? Agree on a range. Interview after interview went extremely well, then offer 20k less?

@xpye+1hiSbir3

So what's the verdict? Are they going to increase the offer to the previous amount discussed?

They certainly don't seem to make things easy for candidates they want to hire.

Got the offer - about 15% less than what was discussed...even after they discussed bumping me down a level and asking if I'm okay with that. I asked about range and it was much higher that what I've been offered. When I asked recruiter the person said I don't know this is the first time I'm looking at your profile. Part of me feels like he was just trying to get a reading how low he can go by lowballing me, but they haven't called me back yet. What is wrong with these people?l?! Kinda afraid of making the move though the hiring manager seems really nice

You are looking at it wrong. Angle for whatever you are making now plus 20%.

Can someone internal please give me the range for c12 AVP for Digital PM role in Texas?

What is the range? The bonus? Any other info about benefits like PTO etc.?

Keep in mind that the promise of a large bonus by Citi is not a given but rather a possibility. You can be promised a huge bonus but you have to work a year to get it, and even so there is a round robin list of excuses as to why you can’t get one.
“I tried but HR said no”
“I tried but my manager said no”
“I wanted to give you a larger bonus but the money pool given to me was cut in half”
“ I know its not much but the 2K you are given is more than what your peers are getting”

Your manager will tell you all the right things and all the reasons why your bonus is small will all be all out of his control.

Expecting offer now... funny enough right as I had one of my final talks with them, someone from digital product reached out to me at the FI I work at...I have an extra week of PTO here for the amount of years I've worked, plus I won't forfeit my 401k match and bonus.

Citi better come strong.

All - 4th and final interview coming...and they found a team/path for me. This is starting to look solid. Will keep updating.

I belong to a group that is considered BAU and just keeping the lights on, we don’t make any money but are rather considered a necessary evil. There were two years in a row to where our group was told “coming from the top, there will be no raises or bonuses this year. Everyone gets 1K bonus and that’s it. It’s out of my hands.” So for two years we all got 1K as a bonus and no raises. Needless to say that motivation to do more than what you are getting paid for went out the window. Tenured people left for more $, they can’t find anyone from the outside to hire on as replacements for the amount of money they are willing to pay.

Some years Ive been rated a 2 some years a 3. My manager says bonuses come from upper management and he as my direct manager has nothing to do with raises or bonuses. I don’t know what to believe I checked out along time ago when I realized how bad the pay structure is.

VP in nyc - bonus between 8-15k. $1000 bonus?? That’s horrible. How were your ratings?

Yea bonuses are horrendous here. Im a VP in NY the most I ever got as a bonus was $1000 and I didn’t get it until maybe 3 years into working for Citi. I asked my boss about bonuses after the first year of employment and nearly got my head chewed off. Get your base salary as close to what you want to make. Don’t rely on bonus or anything else they may promise you.

The hiring process is to bring you on board as cheap as possible.
You will never be given an initial offer that’s equal to the value of what you’re worth.
Be on your guard and remember what’s said in words is different than what’s written in print.

The best advice is to get your money up front. Don’t fall for “the promise” of money in the future. “We’ll start you off at 130K and your bonus will bring you up to 150K”. Don’t fall for it. A bonus is NOT A GIVEN that you’ll get it. It’s a POSSIBLE potential and not a given.
Base salary IS a given. Get your base salary up front to what you want, not some empty promise that someone hiring who needs to put a check in a box is “telling you what they understand your bonus is going to be”. As they attempt to romance you into signing on, be on your guard.

The gut….go with your gut. Ask for 150-160K.
If they offer less, then leave it.
If they give it but your gut tells you no, then still leave it.

For me, take a position that offers 20% more than what you’re making.
Settle for less (10%) is there’s room for growth for sure. Looking at all the other posts, I don’t see too much room for growth. All in all even if all your want’s are met if you gut tells you to leave it, then be brave enough to walk.

Digital PM here. It’s a good work environment with the opportunity to take on exciting projects. C13 (VP) you can get 146-180.

Person who said go with your gut - you are the wise person everyone needs in their life...

"Bottom line, go with your gut. If you are having doubts at this juncture, then maybe you should pass on it."

If you settle for lower, then you’ll resent it later on and you’ll reflect back on this warning and almost hear the words “I told you so”. Stick to your g-ns. Set a firm, I want either bring me in as a VP at the lower end of the pay scale OR a AVP at 150K. Those are your choices. There’s no need for another round of interviews if you aren’t willing to come across with one of those two. If you insist on an interview and come across with less than either of those as an offer, then I’ll say no and both of our time will be wasted.

Bottom line, go with your gut. If you are having doubts at this juncture, then maybe you should pass on it.

All of you who have responded have been tremendously helpful. The 3rd party recruiting company is terrible. I did so well on my interviews that it made me reconsider why should I step down? I'm a VP where I'm at - they should bring me in as a VP and on the lower end of pay range which is fine with me.

Reached out to recruiter - they want a 4th interview!! WTH is that? They give no details, no context. And when I follow regarding title and salary they come back with oh but you agreed to so and so....like dude isn't this a hiring event are they not willing to negotiate? Why are you trying to box me out?

The most I’ve heard a C12 making was 125k, but that was before year end when digital pm’s all got a market rate increase. But still thinking maybe 140 tops.

Im a C12 paid less than $150K. Pay structure is a 5 in NYC. The Digital PM role is a 6. Get your money upfront because raises here are not great. Ask for $170K and let them offer you $150K. Let us know what you get.

All they told me was they would be considering me as a c12 AVP.

What is the structure range in Workday for a c12 Digital PM on this based on what the previous poster said below?

"The post claiming all c13s have the same pay range is completely false. It’s based on the role within C13 and that role’s structure range. If you look in work day you can see what structure the role is- structure 6 or structure 4 etc. Each structure has its own pay range within c13.

But digital PM is 6, so on the higher range. Mid point in nyc is about 170k, so coming in at 150 is reasonable"

The post claiming all c13s have the same pay range is completely false. It’s based on the role within C13 and that role’s structure range. If you look in work day you can see what structure the role is- structure 6 or structure 4 etc. Each structure has its own pay range within c13.

But digital PM is 6, so on the higher range. Mid point in nyc is about 170k, so coming in at 150 is reasonable

It is not a given that VP’s always make or hire in at 150K. This thinking is incorrect. It’s possible to make less than that and eventually work your way up to it but with the sparse past bonuses\raises that I’ve seen, it’ll take a long time depending on what you hire in at.

I don’t think the work matters. Salary ranges are based on grade level and not the work you do. So all C13 at a VP level make a between a certain range.

What do you do as a VP that you don't get $150? When did you start? How long have you been there?

$150K as a VP I don’t think so. Try SVP then maybe you’ll get your $150K. Im a VP and am no where near $150K

It’s very busy, lots of work, lots of governance and things that aren’t directly related to digital delivery. But if you want to own a product or feature, it’s a good place to be then jump to somewhere else. 150k as VP shouldn’t be a problem, as an AVP, it’s a stretch ( in NYC)

Are either of you guys in Digital?

Agree with what the precious poster said. I left my stable, high impact role at a different company and I’m not happy here. Not a good culture and lots of confusion.