Mikey said:
Just wanted to know what they are like etc. I've been asked for an interview there etc. Yes the building does look lush
Well, the company as a whole is very good. Has its faults like everywhere, but then if any company was perfect no-one would ever leave!
Among the highest payers locally (for what I do, I get about £10k more here than I would anywhere else!)
The staff are friendly on the whole, and it's very well organised and run. Put it this way, Portman has been the fastest growing building society for the last five years in a row, profit is up each year, we've surpassed the Yorkshire to become the third largest building society. We've managed to do things that other companies just can't achieve, and we have a very good reputation amongst our peers.
The building is five years old now, so has its faults, like everywhere I guess, and isn't up to the job anymore. We actually now rent two floors of the building on the opposite side of the road and several departments have moved over there to create more space. But we're right in the town centre, and only a few mins from the beach and parks (perfect in the summer!)
Portman are really investing heavily in recruitment and training now, much more than in previous years. It's a case of you take responsibility for your own development and can ask for pretty much whatever you want (within reason) for training. If your line manager agrees, you should get it.
Annual performance is rated against practical as well as personal objectives - i.e. hard performance numbers in terms of tasks achieved etc as well as how much of a team player you are etc etc. There is no fixed annual pay rise - the higher your performance, the higher your % pay increase. If you fall into the bottom category, 0% pay rise! Likewise for the annual bonus, the stronger you perform, the higher the bonus.
The IT area has taken a bit of knock recently - there was a period where there just weren't enough staff (there were 45 vacancies in IT at one point!) - so it's reputation has suffered within the company, although things are much better now.
What kind of IT role are you going for? Maybe I can help hint around some ongoing projects and stuff.