Don't fall for the bait - Architecture photographer CoStar Group Employee Review

1.0
Oct 1, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent pay Decent gear Company car

Cons

This company will hire you under the false pretenses of being a full time architecture photographer with benefits, fly you out to their headquarters in Virginia, showcase the fancy, shiny commercial properties that only a lucky few photographers have managed to take, and almost instantaneously turn your day to day role into one of a sad excuse for a photojournalist taking pictures of complete strangers in towns you've never heard of while berating business owners with a door-to-door salesmen style speech of collecting pictures for neighborhood galleries for first time homebuyers. This is NOT an architecture photography job. Depending on your region, you might have 4-5 real commercial photography assignments (called media shoots) a YEAR, while the rest of the miserable time is spent planning your own shoots, finding your own content, shooting, editing, captioning, uploading, curating, and a books worth of useless, arbitrary tasks that could and should be the responsibility of other departments, all aimed at making sure you're pulling off your own quota every week. A wholly arbitrary, incredibly bloated and unreasonable quota set by senior management who all gaslight you into believing it's a "reasonable workload" every time you raise concerns. This is a job that will work you to the bone doing things you never even remotely signed up for, and within a year you'll be asking yourself why you were even interested in photography in the first place. There have been plenty of weeks where I find it difficult to even get out of bed after working 2-3 weeks straight with no weekends and barely any time to spend with family who have had no choice but to have bore the brunt of this experience along with me. This has been a degrading, depressing, exhausting career move. Never in my 17 year career as a professional could I have ever imagined it was going to be this bad. The grand irony is that I can't even find time to find a new job since I'm working 6-7 days a week for this company with barely any time to see my family, let alone send out resumes. A feature to CoStar management, I'm sure. If a recruiter reaches out to you, even for the associate photographer roles that are now flooding the market, stay far away. No amount of money is worth this amount of stress.

Explore other reviews about CoStar Group

5.0
Jul 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The opportunity to build skills and income.

Cons

Low ramp up in sales

1.0
Jul 9, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This company makes a strong first impression during the interview and training process. Unfortunately, my experience after onboarding was very different. Decision-making is highly centralized, leaving employees with very little autonomy. The company emphasizes ethics and integrity, but my experience did not consistently reflect those values. Favoritism also appeared to play a significant role in how employees were treated and how decisions were made. HR presents itself as a resource for employees, but concerns often end with, “It will be up to your manager.” That can be frustrating when the issue involves your manager or requires an impartial review. CoStar has developed a reputation for these issues, and from what I experienced, it wasn’t always this way. A few years ago, the company at least appeared to prioritize its employees. Today, that commitment feels diminished. The return-to-office expectations can also be unreasonable. During severe weather, employees are still expected to report to the office even when many other companies in the area allow employees to work remotely for safety. Finally, performance expectations and metrics are frequently changed, making goals increasingly difficult to achieve. Combined with inconsistent communication from leadership, it creates an environment where employees often feel unsupported and uncertain about expectations.

Cons

Good Health Benefits for families and singles Decent pay

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