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At First USA, we believe that our people set us apart from the competition. Hear what a few First USA employees have to say about their experiences…
STEVEN
"First USA has a really fun culture with plenty of young people that help make the transition from college life to corporate America a breeze…."
Cardmember
Services
Virginia Tech, Industrial and Systems Engineering
’99
LEEANN
"If you like working with nice people who like to have fun while they work, this is the place for you…"
Marketing
Analysis
Purdue University, Math and Statistics ‘99
TODD
"The exposure that I have received to different parts of the bank and the technology that makes them function in just my first year has made my experience at First USA an extremely valuable one…"
Fraud
Management
University of Pennsylvania, Civil Engineering
Systems ’99
HILARY
"I was in a meeting last summer, and as I looked around the room, I realized that I had significantly less experience than everyone else in the room, but I had just as much responsibility and respect. I knew then that there were no limits to the impact I could make on the Bank…."
Finance
Profitability
University of Delaware, MS Operations Research
‘96
University of Virginia, Mathematics ‘92
"First USA has a really fun culture with plenty of young people that help make the transition from college life to corporate America a breeze…."
Cardmember
Services
Virginia Tech, Industrial and Systems Engineering
’99
What piece of advice would you share with someone considering a career with First USA?
When searching for that ideal job, keep in mind more than the normal day-to-day activities and responsibilities. Be sure to find a comfortable place to work, where you can grow and learn. Look for a company that has a structured program for professional development and education. I found all these things at First USA.
Why did you join First USA?
I joined First USA because the business analyst position utilizes my technical background and skills in an exciting business atmosphere. I was also drawn to the corporate culture that encourages a work-hard, play-hard lifestyle…and helps you do both.
What makes First USA an attractive/desirable place to work?
First USA has a really fun culture with plenty of young people that help make the transition from college life to corporate America a breeze. The people who work at First USA are talented and driven individuals who are both fun to work with and easy to learn from. There are plenty of daily challenges that keep life interesting, and lots of fun to be had in the process.
Describe First USA in five words or less.
Dynamic Environment With Growth Opportunities.
Describe a typical work day.
As a Business Requirements Analyst, I am one of two senior analysts in the Business Engineering-Analytics group, which affords me a great deal of responsibility. I am working on a few different high-profile projects currently, some of which require my individual attention while others are headed by larger teams. I typically provide the analytical/technical support to the projects in the form of customer contact data analysis and recommendations. On a daily basis, I am actively involved in deciding how to proceed on various project analyses as well as what recommendations to make based upon the results of our studies.
In addition to my project responsibilities, I am also an active mentor for new hires. I assist them through their projects and answer questions relating to the data sources they need to complete their analyses.
The next step for me along my career path is to pursue an MBA. I came out of engineering school knowing that most of my preferred MBA programs required at least a couple of years of work experience prior to enrollment. I would imagine that the primary obstacle will be financing the degree but, fortunately, Bank One has a very competitive tuition reimbursement package that I plan to utilize fully!
"If you like working with nice people who like to have fun while they work, this is the place for you…"
Marketing
Analysis
Purdue University, Math and Statistics ‘99
What piece of advice would you share with someone considering a career with First USA?
There are many different careers available at First USA. Whatever background you have can benefit almost any department. We have a wide range of backgrounds which helps our company come up with new ideas. If you like working with nice people who like to have fun while they work, this is the place for you.
Why did you join First USA?
I liked the feel of the company when I came for my interview. Everyone was really friendly and made me feel comfortable. Since my family lives 780 miles away, this was important to me.
What are your passions?
At this time, I want to learn more. I love manipulating data and figuring out better and faster ways to analyze our information.
Describe First USA in five words or less.
Fun, Innovative, Friendly, Challenging
Describe a typical work day.
First of all, no work day is typical. There is always someone who comes to me asking for information that they need either that day or within a week so I am constantly juggling my plans. When I was in college, I used to make a list of everything that I had to do and sometimes even the amount of time each task would take. I tried to do that when I first started here and it was impossible. You never know what is going to come up. These requests are called "AD-HOC" meaning that they aren’t something that you do on a regular basis. This is one of the things that keeps the job interesting. Some of my regular responsibilities include reporting for our rewards department. I run profit and loss summaries once a month. I do response analysis on our partner campaigns to see how our models our performing. I also try to target people that we want to mail. If we are going to be mailing a partner product like Reader’s Digest, I try to target people who are most likely to want that type of card.
Of course, there are problems that I run into on a day to day basis. Sometimes things aren’t loaded correctly on our database, and I have to be a detective to figure out why it’s not right. I find this kind of fun! Even though it can be frustrating, it’s also challenging to try to find the errors. I have a lot of interaction with others at First USA when we are faced with challenging problems. Communication is a key in these situations. There is never a boring day at First USA.
"The exposure that I have received to different parts of the bank and the technology that makes them function in just my first year has made my experience at First USA an extremely valuable one…"
Fraud
Management
University of Pennsylvania, Civil Engineering
Systems ’99
What piece of advice would you share with someone considering a career with First USA?
In making your decision, consider the people that you will be working with in addition to the work itself. It makes it that much more appealing to come in to work each day when you like the people you work with, as well as what you are doing.
What's the "coolest" thing that has happened to you since you've joined First USA?
My department’s ski trip was the coolest thing that I’ve done since joining First USA. These types of events have led to the creation of the close-knit groups that can be seen across all departments of the bank.
What makes First USA an attractive/desirable place to work?
In addition to the great people and the great work environment, First USA offers an incredible opportunity for someone to learn about and experience the daily operation of a large credit card company. The exposure that I have received to different parts of the bank and the technology that makes them function in just my first year has made my experience at First USA an extremely valuable one.
Describe First USA in five words or less.
A great place to start.
Describe a typical work day.
I work as a Senior Policy Analyst in the First USA Fraud Policy Group, which is part of the Portfolio Risk Management Department. The function of my group is to develop and implement strategies that reduce the amount of fraud losses by First USA. In particular, I develop strategies to identify cases where fraudulent information has been used to apply for a First USA credit card. I also develop application and transaction strategies to detect fraudulent activity in the Wingspanbank.com portfolio, and reduce losses resulting from this activity.
It is difficult to describe a typical day of work in my position, since the nature of the projects and challenges that I face changes so much on a daily basis. My basic function is to develop and supply the analytics and reporting for all of the bank’s application fraud prevention efforts. I perform analyses and develop models to help predict how and when application fraud is going to occur. Members of my group often work together closely in the formulation and implementation of fraud reduction strategies.
I have to make fairly difficult decisions on a daily basis. Every action or strategy implemented by my group to target fraud will always have a negative effect on some legitimate First USA customers or applicants. The fraud reduction benefit of anything I do needs to be weighed against the resulting impact to legitimate customers. If it turns out that a certain strategy will negatively impact too many legitimate customers, I need to find a better way to achieve my fraud reduction goal. The decisions that I make each day are not only difficult, but extremely important as well. A good fraud prevention strategy can help the bank save millions of dollars in fraud losses a year. On the other hand, a fraud reduction strategy that impacts too many legitimate consumers can cost the bank millions of dollars in lost revenue. The careful balance and understanding of my strategy’s impact is probably the most important part of my job.
One of the largest challenges in my job is brought about by the sheer size of First USA. Many of the strategies developed by my group impact the performance and operations of different departments of the bank, especially Risk Operations, Marketing, Finance, Systems, and Credit Policy. The size and complexity of the bank make it necessary to keep in close contact with members of these other departments, in order to gauge the potential benefits and pitfalls that may come about as a result of a fraud strategy implementation. Therefore, there is rarely a day that goes by when I do not have a meeting with representatives from another area of the bank about this very topic.
As I grow more and more into my current role in the bank, my responsibilities and my understanding of these responsibilities continue to grow as well. I am constantly faced with new challenges, as the bank’s fraud exposure continues to increase as First USA ventures more towards internet-based new account acquisitions and marketing. It is an exciting time in my group and at First USA as a whole, and I am enjoying and taking advantage of each opportunity that comes my way.
"I was in a meeting last summer, and as I looked around the room, I realized that I had significantly less experience than everyone else in the room, but I had just as much responsibility and respect. I knew then that there were no limits to the impact I could make on the Bank…."
Finance
Profitability
University of Delaware, MS Operations Research
‘96
University of Virginia, Mathematics ‘92
What piece of advice would you share with someone considering a career with First USA?
First USA Bank is a great opportunity for anyone. It is a wonderful environment to be challenged in and develop strengths. Regardless of the job you hold, it is impossible not to have interactions with many other areas within the Bank, which broadens your exposure to the big picture. In addition, First USA supports internal movement of its employees; we would rather see someone move within the Bank to a new position than leave the bank altogether.
What's the "coolest" thing that has happened to you since you've joined First USA?
I was in a meeting last summer, and as I looked around the room, I realized that I had significantly less experience than everyone else in the room, but I had just as much responsibility and respect. I knew then that there were no limits to the impact I could make on the Bank.
What are your passions?
Personally, my passions include developing as an athlete and spending time with my husband. First USA has a great exercise facility that I use daily. It is a great way to start the day and meet others outside of my group. In the workplace, I find extreme satisfaction from being challenged with a project that has no answer. I thrive on brainstorming and interacting with others to develop the best strategy possible. From a more technical aspect, I always enjoy the opportunities I have had at First USA to sharpen my skill set. Developing implementation strategies has helped me learn new systems, programming languages, and databases.
Describe First USA in five words or less.
Invigorating, challenging, motivating, humbling, satisfying.
Describe your typical work day.
I currently work in the Finance Profitability department. My area specifically deals with creating and analyzing partner specific Profit and Loss Statements (P&L’s). My responsibilities are really two-fold. First, my team helps create and maintain our databases. Secondly, I perform analysis and reporting for various Partnership groups.
Creating our databases is a very complex process! We receive data from many places within the bank and from our primary data vendor, FDR (First Data Resources). My group takes care of monitoring systems when our processes are running. We are also in charge of working with MIS programmers to implement new processes. Currently we are revamping our model, that is, the logic which creates our profitability data, to ensure that all calculations are correct and using the best logic available. This part of my job really helps keep my technical skills and knowledge of data stores in the bank sharp.
Equally as important is my role as the Affinity Partnership financial contact. First USA’s partnership portfolio is huge–near $30 Billion dollars. Affinity relationships, such AAA, AARP, all universities, World Wildlife Fund, etc., give cardmembers the opportunity to have a card relationship that may have a deeper value to them than a generic Brand card. After our P&L’s data is updated every month, I help create the Segment Profitability Book (SPB) which speaks to the financial results for all major groups, including mine. The challenge with Affinity is its sheer size–there are approximately 900 Affinity groups. Balancing reporting and analysis efforts can be tough. I constantly work to better understand my groups and to create standard reports which meet multiple groups’ needs. I especially like working with the business side to understand how they use our data to make decisions.
Tying these two functions together is the dependency of the Segments on our data; similarly, the Segments often drive how we view our data. I always have projects coming up that involve reviewing our processes to better understand its impact on Affinity and other Segments. From our data the Segments create new mail strategies, pricing initiatives, and new partner deals. Other groups also use our data to trend overall bank performance and predict future returns.
I have been in my position now for just under 6 months, but have been with the bank over 2 years. I am extremely challenged and content in my position. I especially love working in the group I am in at present–they are great folks! In the future I foresee my next challenge being somewhere in the Bank, probably in a similar analytical role, but dealing with a different application, such as Customer Support or Portfolio Marketing. There are so many opportunities within the Bank I know there will be something that will challenge me just as much in the future!
