**Re-posting as my last review got deleted, which seems to be a trend (scroll to other pages to see real, honest PA reviews). All of the info in this review is factual so please do not delete. Also, recruiters are asking brand new Partnership Associates to leave reviews to flush out the negative ones, so more recent reviews are not accurate of what working for Paper is actually like.**
I would not recommend working at Paper, and I will share why, below:
As a former educator I entered the company excited to be in the education space, and dedicated to the mission of equity. I quickly began to find out that while the company preaches equity, they do not hold true to that value internally. For starters, there is a TON of favoritism on the sales team. Promotions are not based on performance, leadership qualities, prior experience, or really any set criteria; they are based strictly on how well-liked you are in the company. You will see certain people get promoted twice in 6-7 months, without applying for a role, and having no prior sales experience, or any leadership qualities. If you are well-liked by higher-up's, you will have promotion opportunities. If you are not a favorite, or if you buck the "system" in any way, you will not be promoted and risk being fired. The leadership on the sales team is incredibly young and inexperienced. Many if not all lack prior sales experience until joining Paper, and many also lack education experience. It does not make sense how an ed tech company can be ran by people in their mid-twenties who have never worked in a school, or worked in a prior sales role. I asked multiple times for written promotion criteria, and was never given any, because it does not exist. If you are a male, a prior hockey or golf player, you will do well in this company.
Secondly, the goals/quota are unattainable. Any seasoned sales person understands that goals should be challenging to reach but also attainable. They should be based on several factors such as: time of year, region you are selling to, days in a month if doing monthly goals, how long the salesperson has been with the company, etc. That is not how Paper does things. The quota is 4 demo's booked a month. That is attainable in Q3 when schools are looking to implement new programs, but not in other quarters such as Q1 or Q4 when schools are going on/coming back from holiday breaks. When you ask leadership where the goal comes from, they will tell you they do not know, but that it won't ever change. This once again shows the complete lack of experience in management. When interviewing, I was told over 80% of Partnership Associates hit goal each. month. That is a lie, as you can see who hits goal, and it's 15% or less.
Thirdly, the pay is sub-par and under market value for a Business Development Representative, which is what a Partnership Associate is. This ties directly in with my second point of the goal not being attainable each month. When you pay your sales people 40-50k only as a salary, and commission is next to nothing ($1,300 after taxes for hitting your monthly goal), that is not a livable wage in 2022. That is an entry level paying job, at best. Pay is also not truly salary, it's hourly, but you're not allowed to do overtime. Even when you work more than the set 40 hours a week, which most do, they will not pay you for it. I literally had a manager tell me if I work an extra hour a day he would not approve my overtime. Most demo's you book do not turn into closed sales, and if they do you get 1% of that closed sale. Many people complained about the pay and not being able to survive off of 40k, and it took the company over a year to bring the base salary up to 50k. The on target earnings are not at all realistic; I don't know a single PA who has hit on target earnings, but most also leave before 1 year because they realize what a toxic place Paper is. Recruiting is not honest about the on target earnings, or the percentage of people that actually hit goal each month. It seems as though the company preys on teachers who are desperate to leave the classroom by making false promises; it's really sad.
Lastly, it's really hard to work for a company that is built on lies and deceit. As the CEO, to say that you were a former teacher when you NEVER actually taught outside of tutoring and student teaching, is offensive to those of us that were actually educators. The entire management team form the CEO down, and the company in its entirety, is full of red flags, and gives We-Work vibes; if you haven't watched the documentary, watch it before working here.
