Pros
It’s been over a year since I worked at Populus group. In that time I have had plenty of time to reflect on my tenure there. To give you some back ground Populus was the first company I worked for after spending the better part of a decade in the military. I was nervous about crossing over into corporate America. I had interviewed for a few other companies and had a couple of offers that looked like they would be coming in. My first round of interviews with Populus, showed right away that this organization was different as far what they valued. I was asked questions about character, behavior and influencers. The resume was brought up but only as a spring board to get to know me. Long story short after the third interview I found out I had lost on the position I was applying to another more experience candidate. I went on with my job search. I was getting ready to accept another offer when the call came in that there was another opening that they thought I would be a good fit for. I went in for one last interview as it was with another team in the same office. I was very impressed again at how much they wanted to get too know me as a person. I received an offer that same day in writing and accepted. Three days before I started I received a call from the CEO to welcome me to the team. I found out later that he calls every new addition to make sure they know they are important. We talked for almost an hour. The one that stood out to me was that he asked me to contribute to make the organization better and to: “Judge the company harshly by our actions!” In order to evaluate if they really lived up to what they said they stood for. Populus is truly unique in the aspect of what they believe and how they work. Many organizations and people don’t actually try to follow the ideals that they profess to believe in. I say try because no organization or person is perfect. The difference with Populus is that instead of trying to pretend to be perfect they give agency to you as an employee, and say: “how can you help us get better while we help you get better?” This seems a bit philosophical for glass door so allow me to elaborate. My first two weeks were a combination of training both role focused and company culture focused. Every executive leadership member from across the country and some point made contact with me to welcome me aboard. If you have worked in any producing role with metrics attached, you know this is a rarity. They want to make sure you know what you need to know before starting. My calendar for lunch was booked solid for the first month as everyone in the office wanted to get to know me. The CEO of the company Bobby made it a point within my first 3 months to take me to lunch to talk through some important aspects of the company and my personal goals. When my daughter was born they were only required to give me a couple of days of PTO. They gave me over two weeks of PTO in addition to sending gift baskets and throwing me a baby shower. I learned more about recruiting and sales and the behaviors that make you great in my time hear that I truly believe will be a big part of my foundation for success in the future. Customer service is something that was very important to the organization and if the mark was missed it was very important to get it back on track. It is important to note that is by no means a fiscally small company. And yet they give/require access be given to all employees to leadership, for idea cultivation and implementation to mentorship and career planning. I have seen many people create positions and opportunities for themselves. They make a very strong effort to not look at only a person’s credentials but a person’s character and behaviors in order to determine if he or she is the right fit. When I went through some personal problems and was going to have to relocate the policy would have normally been to let me go once they knew that I would no longer be there. However, they extended every possible courtesy in order to help me try and stay with the organization if possible. When this became untenable the CEO was reference for me and helped me transition to a new role within two weeks. If you want to work for a company that values your personal and professional growth. And, if you want to work with a team that values your accomplishments and will make you better than this is the place for you.
Cons
This might seem counterintuitive from the pros section. However, at first I didn't like the interview process as far as length is concerned. I loved the questions, but had too much pride and thought that they should know within 2 to 3 interviews if I was right or not for the role. I then realized how protective of the culture and team they truly are there. They are careful who they allow into the circle as quality enhances quality and vice versa. So once I realized why the interview process was more drawn out it was no longer a con, but a pro as I realized that the person sitting to the right or left of me was selected for the right reasons and not just a check list or knowing the right person.