Have friends/family? Strong work ethic? Job NOT for you! - Field Energy Consultant SolarCity Employee Review

For all the many and appealing reasons you may wish to work in the solar industry, just be sure you know what you are committing to before getting into the trenches with SolarCity. Ask questions and ask to speak to former employees. I have worked as an Field Energy Consultant on the East Coast for close to a year. I have seen a very high turn over rate. Some people were hired, not given a fair chance and then fired while sales have been down. If you are seeking a position in sales, be aware this is really 80% project management and maybe 20% sales. Sales goals & demands are very metric driven. You will be a number and your performance will be measured in more charts than you can imagine. You are expected to sign up customers and then keep in touch with these customers, answer their questions, and resolve unexpected issues as needed. This customer service needs to be provided all the while you are expected to seek and sign up your own customers. Keep in mind it can take months from the time the customer signs up until the system is actually turned on. If someone else in another department doesn’t correctly do their part in the installation process, you will be expected to cover for that department, resolve the issue and keep the customer on board. I had no idea prior to taking this position the multitude of steps and possible issues surrounding the installation process. Once the customer is up and running with solar, they may still call you with questions/concerns. It’s in your best interest to keep in touch with all customers and continue to provide service as you will want them to refer their friends to you. It’s just more and more time you commit to the back end work that pulls you away from working to sign up new customers. When you finally get your commission check, you might be thinking the amount of time spent with some customers versus the commission paid really breaks down to way less than minimum wage for all that you did. You will be told this is your own business, which also means if you wish to hand out promotional items then you will need to pay out of pocket for these items from the company store. The leads provided by the company are not qualified… which means you will want to contact the leads and hopefully be able to qualify them prior to taking time to go visit them. Not sure why they choose not to qualify leads when it's more time efficient to ask the homeowner questions just prior to schedling appointment. Qualifying leads later just makes it more difficult and time consuming for the FECs to accomplish prior to visiting with homeowners. You really need to have a very flexible schedule in order to get appointments scheduled, and then be prepared to have canceled appointments. If the homeowner doesn't go on the computer or is not comfortable signing an agreement online, then you will need to go and print off the proposal and agreement for the customer, bring them the paperwork, pick up the paperwork and then scan it to headquarters. While you are busy managing your schedule, some of the customers who you previously signed up will be canceled for various reasons. Customer orders get canceled often and for reasons beyond your control. For instance, you sign up a customer and provide service to them for a couple of months and then prior to installation the customer cancels, this cancelation will also become a negative against your quota goals. There will be situations that come up and it's up to you to find the answer. The company doesn't provide competitive information. If you wish to plan a vacation, that’s fine….just be aware that whenever you take a vacation you will still be required to meet your sales goals for the month. Vacation time won’t be 100% relaxing because you will still check your emails and be reminded of the work you are missing. The Sales Managers talk about striving for work life balance, but .you can never give enough because the goals change so often. Even when you think you made your quota for the month, there will be an email from a senior manager asking for more sales. Reps can use their personal cell phones as their SolarCity business line and get compensated for the use of the phone, however customers and the company will still be calling you while your are trying not to work. Be sure to ASK what payment options SolarCity prefers you to promote and WHY? The most popular times homeowners want to meet are evenings and weekends, and you will be expected to work on the long holiday weekends. Many employees go on a PIP (performance improvement plan) and get fired before they get time to find another job. Most often you will not feel job security, and this just brings on feelings of anxiety and frustration which then effects job performance and personal life. It’s an insane cycle of churn, burn, get PIPed (put on warning) and then either sign up who ever you can to get off the performance evaluation or get fired. Due to stress & fear of job loss - some might be tempted to encourage homeowners to sign on with whatever methods works. All this stress does NOT make one feel comfortable promoting solar to family and friends. Sales managers help by hmmm-----they will send you constant emails on sales contests which is suppose to motivate you, but also serves as their reminder of what they expect you to accomplish. The sales contests just throw salt into the wounds of most sales reps because we would rather have quality leads and work/life balance than a $50 gift certificate. There is no territory protection. Never understood the motto..."One Team, One Dream". Most people on my team are feeling depleted and tired of worrying about meeting quota. If you choose to work 60 plus hours a week to make money….then why not look into a more stable company where that 60 hour grind will ultimately bring you a true promotion opportunities, job security and real “vacation” time with a company that values employee professionalism? I wish I did!