Pros
- Great coworkers. XA's hiring process is thorough and you will work alongside many talented peers and directors. - Exciting industry. I got exposure to many interesting projects and innovations in the chemical manufacturing industry. Gives your work a sense of importance even if most of your tasks are brain numbing. - Autonomy. Every team is different, with your director setting the tone, so I can only speak to my experience. I had great autonomy and the ability to make decisions for my business which was great experience.
Cons
- If you already have AM experience, I highly recommend not joining XA. Pay is below average, with an unfair bonus structure. If you are looking to get your foot in the door as an AM, I do believe XA is a good option. As said in another review, churn and burn is the rule here, not an exception. - KPIs. I hope by the time that you are reading this things have improved. We were repeatedly told changes would be coming. During my time at XA, AMs were measured on one KPI only, and I believe that AMs had little ability to genuinely impact the metric you are measured on. With Customer Service Reps taking on more AM work, your ability to impact this metric has been further diminished. Do not go into this role expecting to be able to reach your targets through hard work alone. All AMs across all businesses are measured the same way despite large differences across each business. Some require outbound selling for growth, others upsells, others are handed business from their clients, yet all AMs are measured the exact same way. - Culture. XA has an identity crisis. They want to set a new bar for the distribution industry, even claiming to be more than a distributor. Unfortunately leadership is focused on old school management styles which are more on par with chemical manufacturing companies than tech companies. What are you measured on if no one hits goal? Two things primarily, the amount of time you spend in the office, and your outbound activity volume. But even if you lead the company in outbound activity, you will be reprimanded by c-suite execs for spending less than your expected 8+ hours at your desk. XA will either innovate, or continue to stagnate until they die. - Technology. The tech stack at Xenon Arc is awful. They recently implemented a large systems upgrade, and it is still terrible. You are required to manually log every email and phone call you make/receive. It is time consuming, and the CRM across the board is a mess. There are no collective hubs of customer or business information for any exterprise, making 'tribal knowledge' necessary for business continuity. Unfortunately there is a very high churn rate, so there is a good chance you will have to refigure everything out yourself. - Onboarding. XA has the worst onboarding I can imagine. You sit in the role for 2 weeks, with no plan, and are then considered 'ramped up'. It takes months to learn the ropes and take on responsibility for your business. Most likely you will have very little work to do for a significant amount of time. - My final gripe. I was laid off in Q1 2024. I worked the entirety of Q4 2023 and earned my bonus for that period. Bonuses are not paid out until 6 weeks after the end of quarter and I was laid off weeks prior to this date. I was told that because I was no longer employed at the time the bonus would be paid, that I was not eligible to receive my bonus. Despite being laid off due to my role being terminated rather than choosing to quit. Shady.