Vantaggi
Looks great on your CV, if you can stick it out! Academies are good for a first job for graduates, very 'hand held', lengthy training
Svantaggi
Awful political infighting that is impossible to ignore. Its very much a 'wait it out' culture, don't work too hard, it won't make a difference at end of year and will only frustrate you! This is especially evident within academies where everyone moves up at the same level, regardless of contribution. Due to the 'wait it out' culture, management and team leaders aren't the most suited to their positions. It always appeared to me that perhaps the decent staff got bored of hard work not being recognised and therefore left the company/moved jobs, meaning that those still there with long tenure were the ones that were content to just bide their time. Salaries aren't competitive. They have gotten better (early 2017) but still not competitive for the Belfast market; Citi seems to have missed the fact that they don't have a monopoly on the legal market in Belfast anymore.