Pros
For the most part, good benefits and you will have all of the tech resources you need to do your job. A great entry into the service and SaaS world and an impressive resume builder. They do a great job recruiting and hiring intelligent and fun individuals and if you want an in-office job they will be returning in some form post covid. As an SDR and AE you have the name recognition and a fairly steady flow of inbound leads & you’re able to work and close expansions.
Cons
Of course there were fun times like happy hours and team events, but overall the sales organization at Zendesk was honestly exhausting and toxic. Someone shared this with me and it 100% sums up my experience at Zendesk, “I thought I was at a company with a great culture until I left and realized I was just at a place where I worked with my friends” When I started, people genuinely loved their jobs and had a work life balance - that was not the case for me or many of my colleagues. To highlight a few reasons: - Culture fell to the wayside, and while there were some added benefits for your wellbeing during covid, it was a band aid approach. - While there are 20 PTO and 10 sick days, most sales reps could not take all or even a majority of them because of high quotas. - If there was a “fair” quota, it did not exist for long and sales reps were treated as machines to pump out their number. - Salaries are below market standards with little to no room to negotiate during internal promotions. - This past year there were widespread examples of new reps with less experience (external and internal) with higher salaries than tenured reps. When it was brought up to management, reps were shamed for sharing salaries. - If you are hired into a new role or there is a major change to the department, forget your work life balance - hello overtime, stress & burnout! The level of micromanagement and lack of trust was outstanding. Management’s focus was rarely on what worked well for the individual rep and only on how to keep everyone “in check”. Certain managers discouraged or even prohibited reps from leaving their desk to work in soft spaces around the office, from booking rooms to have meetings/make calls in, or pre-covid from having the flexibility to work from home. There were a few managers that were truly great but they were the exception and oftentimes had to stick their neck out on behalf of their team. Another extremely frustrating part of Zendesk was the career progression. - The ability to transition to other departments was advertised and encouraged during the interview process, but that was not the case. - There was a lack of consistency with internal promotions and of the requirements to be considered. - Promotion requirements went from a holistic approach on brand, contribution, activity, and attainment, to an added tenure requirement, and ended where the main focus was on quota attainment. - Even during a pandemic, internal reps who came close on attainment were not considered, despite consistently high activities and who were qualified on all other fronts. I was honestly lucky with my experience of promotions, but I witnessed many talented and exceptional peers screwed over, and ultimately it all came down to internal politics and favoritism. If you can put your head down and be a compliant worker who shows up, does not speak in opposition, and can ignore everything except what absolutely infuriates you, then you will do fine in the sales org at Zendesk. If you want to feel like you're making an impact and thrive in a collaborative, feedback welcomed culture, you'll probably be disappointed. I’m grateful for my experience and the friends I’ve made, but unfortunately for Zendesk, no one I’ve spoken with has regretted leaving, their only regret was thinking something would change and waiting it out as long as they did.