EF (Education First) reviews

I honestly am struggling to figure out where to even start. EF is a beast to review. The job pays horribly. It always has it always will, because at its heart, the company cares about profit to the hult family, not any care to their employees. They will tell you an earning potential and I can guarantee that less than 10 people in the entire company in the TC role hit that. In the Denver office you have to be one in one million to get promoted past the TC role. Most directors inform their employees that they have to work for them for 4-6 years in the TC role at barely minimum wage hitting every goal to be even considered for a promotion. If you manage to be one of the million promoted (pre covid) they don’t actually fire anyone so employees get stuck with barely competent managers who don’t even know what the role looks like. TCs are stuck working with employees that managed to have the “magic spark” but yet can do the basic role. Managers also play hard favorites blatantly. Goals are set at an arbitrary 10% growth number. Anything less than 10% is unacceptable and you will be forced out. Why 10% you ask? Great question, literally no one knows. The biggest publicly traded companies in the world don’t even have 10% growth. Also there are a limited number of school in your territory and a limited amount of parents and students that can actually afford the tours. The product (international tours for students with their teachers) keeps getting more expensive and the quality keeps going down. The company is now desperately seeking solutions for a self made problem where they can’t physically support the number of tours they require TCs to sell because there aren’t enough hotels or restaurants to hold them. The hotels are barely inhabitable, especially in the summer, putting the students in inhospitable conditions but it’s never EFs fault. Manager are given free rein on their teams so bonuses, promotions, how work is done is completely to their discretion. This leads to some teams being mandated to have at least 10 sales calls during a global pandemic where others get to sit home and do nothing all day. Pre-covid, certain teams were held to expectations of hours worked where others were allowed to barely show up. This unequal balance resulted in one team getting $5,000 bonuses that weren’t tied to goals where others weren’t ever allowed to see this money for employees that were equal. Watching their treatment of employees as they have started to lay-off has been disappointing and sad and yet proves everything about them. Watching their treatment of their clients has shown even more. Do you want to party all over the world? Work for EF Do you want to grow in your career and advance and learn? Don’t touch it with a ten foot poll.

I am not a person who complains. Honestly, I've never written a complaint or gone out of my way to write a review on anyone. However, my time at EF Tours working as a tour consultant burned me out within the first few weeks and has lead to me feel compelled to share with others. I read ALL of the reviews before I even interviewed with the company. A lot of the complaints were the very reasons I quit only a few months in (a few of those I trained with followed suit shortly thereafter). EF hires people straight out of college with the intent of paying very little and working you into the ground with little or no appreciation. When I say paying you little, what I mean is they aren't paying nearly enough for the amount of work that is expected of you. If you're on time, you're late. If you leave on time, you're leaving early. Weekends are expected of you. You must make arbitrary goals to keep your weekends. I was shocked when a manager tried to band-aid working late hours by actually buying alcohol to have at the office to drink while on the clock and talking to clients (yet they preach professionalism and management skills). They describe the position as a glorified teaching job with travel incentives. In reality, you work for a calling center and spend most of your day begging secretaries to let you talk to a teacher. You travel––possibly once a year if they don't fire you within the first 4 months (truth). If you're a young professional ready for your first job and are considering EF, I would encourage you to look at ALL of your options and really consider some of the honest experiences people have had with this company.