Ladies, you know that one relationship you regret. You wasted a two years on a guy hoping that someday (SOMEDAY) he would appreciate how wonderful and talented you were, how smart you were, how much you took tasks on that he'd never had to worry about, how little you asked for in return...how much you really cared. How LOYAL you were.
Welcome to my relationship with AvalonBay. If AvalonBay were a boyfriend, I should have dumped his worthless behind long ago.
I interviewed with multiple years experience in property management under my belt, coming from a management role. I accepted an entry level sales position with assurances of quickly forthcoming advancement that never materialized (all the while watching non-industry, outside candidates be placed straight into management).
Lots of favoritism for the corporate brown nosers at this company. Watch out for those people because they will quietly stab you in the back to look golden to management -- also to hold you down because they're terrified you'll leap-frog them a promotion. Once that happens, you can forget about any kind of advancement. As others have mentioned, if you're not a POD favorite you may as well start seeking alternate employment.
Pay at AVB was always low for the respective industry but now they've introduced a sparkly new compensation program that they've billed as our opportunity to make more bonus. In short, they reduced the hourly pay of all employees by 12% (with the exception of managers, of course) in exchange for what they claim is a massive opportunity to make more bonus on leases. Best wishes to AVB hiring good talent at $13 an hour because this bonus structure only benefits the company, not the employees. And good luck finding a manager who can actually even explain the bonus calculator in a transparent way. Smoke and mirrors.
What AVB's essentially done is create a culture of teams scrambling, clawing and stepping on each other to claim the best leads and making shady exceptions to get leases on the board -- I mean, if the Senior CC's going to hold out an apartment seven days instead of the mandated three, why wouldn't I? #GREAT
Additionally, the bonus goals are set borderline unattainable, so corporate, who set them, is banking on one or more consultant on a team missing in any given month. What's that mean for shareholders? $$$$$ Yup. Hey investors, hope you're enjoying riding the backs of AVB livestock!
Avalon employs corporate sheep for a reason. Plod along, don't ask questions, don't challenge authority, brown nose at every turn, do your manager's work, accept pay decreases with a smile. Bow to corporate. Bow to abusive residents. Get this! Our manager was so afraid to get a bad review on social media that he actually waived a person's move-out charges to get them to remove a one-star Yelp. How do you look up to or aspire to be a manager like that???
Cute for a company that benchmarks integrity as a core value, isn't it?
Opportunity abounds at other PM companies...don't waste your time with Avalon unless you enjoy the corporate game as opposed to being valued for your intelligence, entrepreneurial spirit and experience.
