Pros
I will be fair, Aerotek is not a bad place to work for your first post college job. I did learn how to effectively manage my time, and I got a lot of experience cold calling. I can't speak for competitors, but in terms of what Aerotek brings to the table for companies they represent, there is a dedication to fill the position with the best person; and I learned a lot about different manufacturing industries, which has helped me greatly in my new position.
Cons
The Cons to Aerotek FAR OUT WEIGHT the pros. I'll preface this off with the fact that having been in the military for 3 years before college, I know what long hours, not good pay, and I have thick skin to handle criticism. This is important in the comments to follow. There is ZERO work life balance at Aerotek. When you interview, they tell you that the hours are from 8-5:30; but they don't tell you that 8 is the morning meeting, so you need to be there at 7:30 to meet with your manager first; and before you do that, you need to make sure that you've checked any emails, voicemails and alerts, in case you need to let your manager know, so everyone is really in the office at 7:00. What's more, you are told, that you may need to stay late a couple times to handle any issues (to be expected when you hear it) In reality, recruiters are there until at least 6:30pm on most nights (most of the time, hanging around out of fear to look "not serious" by being the first to leave) Add this with at least 4 hours on most Saturdays, and an hour or so calling contractors about work on Sunday, you work around 60 hours a week, which comes out to $13/hr. FOR A POST COLLEGE JOB! And management will tell you that you put the work in now, to reap the rewards later in life. I wholeheartedly agree with that generally, but when you have no life now, have fun trying to get one when you're 40. That is why you will almost never see anyone over the age of 35 in any Aerotek office. To continue, management would try to turn recruiters on each other, and expected that we tell them if someone is unhappy, under the guise of helping them out of their rut. In reality, the recruiter would be called into the DBO's office with their AM and force to put in their 2 weeks notice. They can do this, because they don't value their recruiters who are the driving force of the company. Recruiters don't make good money until they make $10,000 a week in revenue for the company, until then peanuts might as well be your commission. Management at the top are the ones who reap the benefits of the work at the bottom. That's how a free market works, so I'm not complaining against that, I complain against the little value and loyalty they show recruiters. One of my biggest problems with the company is the level of unprofessionalism that from what I've seen is not restricted to one office. It's a "bro" heavy environment, essentially no one in the office ever left the frat house. This sounded great in the beginning, but got old quickly. Having come from a military background I've always been around sexual jokes and other inappropriate jokes, but in a professional environment that is completely unacceptable. I heard on numerous occasions, fellow male co-workers talk about the "hotties" and "notties" in our office, or talk about their bodies and what "they'd do to them" I should not have to hear about that or be asked what my physical relationship with my girlfriend is. I would tighten my lips, and not say anything, for a couple reasons. First, I do have loyalty, so I would tell them I don't want to talk about it, and that way "out of sight, out of mind" and that showed them that it was unacceptable. But second, I don't think a thing would have been done about it. Another big problem, is that many of the managers don't know how to lead or manage. They've been promoted by sucking up and "buying into the Aerotek culture." So instead of trying to explain wrong doings to recruiters, they would belittle them to the point were you would see recruiters in tears. Managers treat recruiters like "freshman pledges" and that "you have to take my brow beating, because that's what I got when I was a recruiter" Stop trying to micro-manage every minute of a recruiters day. Having 4 meetings a day, was not only micro managing "so we could hold each other accountable" but also a waste of time, which is already short. As a brunt type of individual, they Kumbaya environment was awful. Everytime something happened, we had to all talk about our feelings... You can't make this up... Probably the worst of them all.. The Cult that is Aerotek. From day 1 you're supposed to Eat, Sleep and Breathe Aerotek. Anyone who isn't 100% committed to the "Aerotek culture" is let go, even if they are performing where they need to be. This Kool-Aid drinking environment goes hand in hand with the Kumbaya. I'm sorry, I don't care to hear, how the 3 day trip to Miami with all the other goal hitting recruiters was. It didn't motivate me. I rolled my eyes, and though "wow, what a waste of time" I'm pretty sure, if you were to ask the "bleeding blue" Aerotek employees they would rank Aerotek somewhere between God and Country in levels of importance. I'm sure there is more Cons that I'm missing too.
