Just because I loved it doesn't mean you will - Sponsorship Coordinator PBS Employee Review

2.0
Mar 3, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Easy to navigate the office politics. Openness and conscientiousness will take you far. My advice, get to know everyone. Start with HR (the three of them) on your first day. At some point you'll run into a rabble-rouser but by then you'll have enough friends that they won't have any power over you. Most of the folks who play office politics are so used to punching down they're not equipped to handle someone willing to challenge/contend with them. Workload is light. Most people regardless of whoever they are in the pecking order are kinda like tollbooth operators (it is a state job after all). If you have even the slightest grit you'll work circles around everyone. Most everyone there is fairly harmless and keep to themselves. Very sweet people for the most part. Benefits are great, especially IF you're a permanent employee (see: Cons). There's a food truck on Fridays and some cake in the lobby sometimes.

Cons

There are Directors with 1 or zero employees. This indicates several things which I won't delve into but you can intuit. Management is in the habit of hiring people as Temps and keeping them Temp indefinitely (years - off top of my head one guy has been there 6 years, no benefits). Some people will put up with it for the experience and because it's a sexy job. Office Politics: If you're a climber, there are people who will watch you like a hawk and take cheap shots. Easy example is you might speak up in a meeting and someone will anonymously submit to HR that they're offended. At what? Doesn't matter but if you don't have enough pull the right person can get you fired, for something subjective and sometimes even provably false. I didn't have much problem with this (see above, Pros) but it's there. A senior official once suggested, in a meeting of ~25 people - in a joking/not-joking way - that I would bring weapons to a company get-together. I came from an impoverished background - which my alma mater publicized - and she could only have known if she looked me up. Now one might say that's cyberstalking in service of fostering a hostile work environment. HR sensed this, and not only was she forced to apologize, HR reprimanded me as well and assigned me a "mentor" - another senior official in management. This gentleman was tasked with babysitting me and gauging what my reaction would be to the incident. HR said via email it was not sanctioned by the organization, but also I could lose my job if I didn't participate. He's an Evangelical, and assigned me various Biblical texts (Book of Nehemiah was one) to read and respond to. I politely indicated that I wasn't religious, and he became decidedly less friendly. My boss's boss's boss had me sing "My Ding-a-Ling" by Chuck Berry in front of a group of 15 or so at an after hours work function. Not a joke, not an exaggeration. Stay on her good side, or otherwise under her radar. You will hear it said often, she can make you or she can break you. This is a Pro if you're willing to play the game, and a Con if you're not. If you know everyone individually, the group will let you get away with murder. But you've got to be very good with people or you'll get derailed.

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5.0
Jun 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Full of people that love and care about their work

Cons

It is a very dangerous time for public media, so opportunities may be limited

2.0
Jun 24, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Job was fairly autonomous and relaxed.

Cons

Complete lack of communication from senior management. Decisions constantly made that affect your work by people who fundamentally don't understand what that work is and will never seek input by those who do. Plans regarding media processes and abilities remain secretive until the last moment from employees, channels and partners. Senior management on the media side of things comes off as delusional towards their knowledge and capabilities of the systems they poorly implemented. Would rather take the advice of vendors trying to sell a product than the staff who knows what needs to be done and how to do it.

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