Good company for undergrads looking to develop skills, bad for long term career - Principal Project Manager Capital One Employee Review

3.0
16 Oct 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Smart people -Good training -Good industry exposure -Good company name brand (for getting into MBA school) -Work life balance (Normal hours are 9-5, 1 hour lunch break, work from home Fridays) -Really good pay for undergrads -Good experience (i.e. I was managing multi million dollar budgets 6 months after joining the company as a 21 year old) -Resort like facilities (private in door basketball court, walking trails, gym, tennis court, baseball field)

Cons

-Way too many reorgs (I had 3 managers 1 year) -Promotion system a joke, its a seniority based pecking order, meaning those people who had a higher rating than you the year before will stay above and managers will look for reasons to keep you in that order regardless of your performance (I literally had one of my managers tell me that the only reason she gave me a "strong" rating on an attribute instead of a "very strong" is because if she gave me a very strong, it would've looked like I had more very strongs than strongs and that I then should've gotten a very strong rating overall ... umm... isn't that the point??) -The company had a promotion freeze and then fired all the low performance. Since the promotion system is based on a forced distribution, it meant that it became that much harder to get a good rating and the bar is always moving. A common phrase you'll hear from managers during performance review is: "You did an awesome job this year, but unfortunately the bar has been raised again [so even though I've been telling you how great of a job you've been doing throughout the year, in reality its only average]" - in other words, its a moving target and you never really have a good idea of how close you are to it

Explore other reviews about Capital One

5.0
16 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great benefits, room for growth and development.

Cons

Pay could be better, but could always find new positions

1.0
1 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pay can be decent compared to GovCon. Some people are a pleasure to work with. Other non-pay related incentives.

Cons

Never heard more nonsensical topics during meetings; people sharing their sexual preferences, flaunting overly dramatic personal lifestyle decisions, diversity to the point of failure, etc. Hearing the term "white guilt" in a professional setting was, well, pretty unprofessional. Stack ranking for performance reviews is a mess. Someone has to have an "F" regardless of their performance because that is what their line of business is allotted. Be prepared to be held responsible for actions any Sr Leadership would just sweep under the rug under their own circumstances. If a manager doesn't like you, regardless of your productivity, you're toast unless you're able to find another LoB to support. HR / AR are just a check in the box and will most likely point you from one to the other and back again without resolving any issues. You'll find yourself curious as to what leadership does as they continue to scrape managerial responsibilities from their plate, to yours. Last but certainly not least; you may find yourself working hard on a project; nights and weekends, just in case that work life balance is feeling a little too perfect. Fret not, someone will surely assist in taking credit for the hard work you've put in. I'm sure none of these things will happen to you, though. Best of luck!

5
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