I guess this is more of a vent post and an FYI more than anything. Proceed if you dare.
I work for a F100 global company today, but have worked for a variety of companies of different sizes and industries in my 15 year career. I have to say, if you have any iota of ambition, most big corps will suck the life out of you. Let me explain.
The bureaucratic process of getting any sort of momentum in a pay hike or promotion is mind numbing. “We don't have the budget”, “The economy is shaky right now”, “I'd focus on doing your best work and keeping your head down for the time being”. All the excuses I've received from management during this time.
The people who work here seem relatively complacent. I mean, there are definitely some go-getters scattered amongst teams, but there are far more of those who are content with doing the same job for 15-20 years or until retirement. A lot of the people I work with are relatively modest and average at what they do, but that could be purposeful, too. After all, there isn't a whole lot of incentive to go above and beyond here.
After a more in-depth review of their internal job postings, their pay bands are ridiculously under market. They claim to want the “best talent” but refuse to pay what the best talent is earning elsewhere. Some of my closest friends are making well into six figure salaries at remote jobs with smaller startup companies and mid-size companies.
And the reward for performing well and asking for more? Gaslighting from management, excuses why we don’t have the money, alienation from group projects where you might shine some more, lack of advocacy from manager, what essentially amounts to being blockaded from further opportunities to shine and gain notoriety.
A little back story. After leaving a toxic work environment at the tail end of 2020 and exploring a career change, I moved back into my desired field. I took the best and quickest offer at the time to get my foot back in the door. It came with a pay cut from where I was, but I thought that I could easily prove myself and quickly work my way up to a senior level role. Wrong on all accounts. Come to find out, management loves all the high-level work I do for them over the past year and a half, but refuses to promote or give a considerable raise to align with the senior level pay grade.
Moral of the story: Never undervalue yourself and always, always, always shoot high when negotiating an offer for a new job. If you're an ambitious person, it might be best to steer clear from these big conglomerates. The upside is that there are major potential networking opportunities. However, it sucks that you might need to wait 4-6 years for the opportunity to exploit your network for a better job.