Oh boy here is where you hear the stuff the recruiter didn't tell you. First off I took the gig to see if this would be a good fit or not, in the end it wasn't for me and I left on my terms. But here is what you should really know, (the stuff that makes this site so worth it for sure) Only seriously consider this company if you are starting out in sales ( fresh outta college) sales and are in between gigs and looking for a paycheck. Dave Schaffer is the one leading the show, and apparently everything goes through him. And I mean everything. IMHO that’s too much power for someone that has the company traded on NASDAQ, but I digress. This is to give you some perspective on why you should or shouldn’t consider Cogent. They have four main sales roles: NAM, RAM, GAM and ISR. National Account Manager, Regional Account Manager, Global Account Manager and Inside Sales Representative. I was a GAM, so you get to hear this from my perspective. The GAM is a high profile role with little upside unless you have been there about 3-4 years. As a GAM what does that title give you? no travel, no opportunity and more pressure to make 50-80 calls a day using sales force as a metric tool from a call center, work from home is not an option. Also you have to do your own prospecting, there is no Marketing support, so don’t expect a book of leads to come in your way. They call the mornings the golden time to prospect, they all start at 830 am eastern and end at 5pm eastern. Yes you are frowned upon if you leave early, get the picture? You have to do your own research and Cogent does no national advertising. They only do data center tours as their largest marketing push. The call centers are converted old PSI net properties and it shows. Generally warehouse buildings with call centers in front or data centers with low, low cubes, possibly sick buildings, and a frat house/ High School Click mentality with staff and management. Sounds like fun right?
The people at my location in VA were nice that were there longer than 1 year in tenure for the most part, but don't expect to be there long, they have a very high churn rate. If you like living in the early days of telco (2000's) with a passion for a company that has no desire to sell more than 4 products and NOT sell to the federal government and lives by the motto “dumb pipe for smart people” and provides a backstabbing cliquish High School mentality then go ahead, knock yourself out. Financially realistically when talking with other folks and looking at my numbers you won't make more than 125k after your first 12-18 months on the job or in fact probably not much more than that year over year in your career in one of the 4 positions if at all. There is a low-ball base and a monthly target goal that is impossible by design to reach after your 4th month on ramp up, unless you have been there 4-5 years( and if you are there that long well then good for you) But please look elsewhere if you want to make more money with the amount of stress and misguided management that runs the company.
There I have said my peace, you are old enough to make your own decision, I would say avoid them and try your luck with other ISP's that treat their employees with better pay and products that are relevant for the 21st century customer. Like a Verizon, AWS, GOOGLE or Level3 etc…that make smart pipe for smart customers and care about their employees. Or if you still like your gig with Starbucks stay there, it's less hassle for your time. No one job is perfect, nor is one company, but I was very disappointed even for the low bar standards I set for myself with Cogent. Good luck and happy Job hunting, hopefully this was helpful.
