1. Also con: Work isn't challenging; it's quite repetitive. The challenging thing about this role is the insane pressure you're under to hit your numbers and make X number of calls/day, etc. It's a lot of multitasking--talking on the phone while frantically writing, asking the same questions about someone's employment history and salary negotiation.
2. Also con: Everyone is young and out of college. There is quite a bit of drama and gossip around the office. People don't stay here a long time so the culture of young, attractive, often immature people seems to linger around the country.
3. The pay is pretty low for those just starting out. There's a $10k bump after 6 months or when you're promoted to Account Manager. Even then, as an AM, you don't get to earn commission until you make a certain amount for the company first. I know people who have been AMs for years and still are sitting below $45k. I know AMs who were basically making commission right as they got promoted because someone above them quit and passed down their money-making accounts. There's no objectivity or same starting line. Even at training, they'll tell you it's 50% luck--it's much more than 50% though.
4. This basically feels like a fifth year of college but longer hours (7:30-5:30), less mentally-stimulating and more pressure (to look good, smile more and stay longer than your 10 hours).
5. Every day, you're required to send out your daily numbers in a mass e-mail to the whole office. Not just management, the whole office. You're competing about who can make the most phone calls and talk to the most people. I'm all for healthy competition, but writing the amount of commission that each recruiter and account manager is making on a white board for the whole office to see and walk past every day is just discouraging.
6. The industry is about luck. I've lost out on about $2k of commission because one of my candidates didn't pass a drug test and therefore didn't get a job, or because one of my candidates clocked into work 8 minutes late one day.
7. People lie about hitting their numbers (and they admit it) and get petty rewards for doing so. They say they made 50 calls out but they really made 35 so they get to leave early Friday or get an extra day of PTO while everyone else who's being honest and thorough in their work gets berated by management for being an underachiever. That's the real culture here.
8. It's completely overstimulating, loud and invasive. No private space or cubicle to focus. You see and hear everything and everyone all the time. It's an open phone line, so anyone answers it and redirects the call to whoever it's for. Rather than calmly and quietly walking to the desk of the individual and telling them, they stand up and scream across the office to the other person about who's on the line. This is extremely annoying and occurs every few minutes at least. I can't even hear the person I'm talking to over the phone because of how much yelling there is or because of the incessant phone ringing that is constantly occurring throughout the office (at least once a minute, often 2-3 times per minute... EVERYONE'S phone rings.) It comes across as very unprofessional to anyone on the other side of the phone.
9. You're micromanaged. Nothing is private or personal. You're always being watched or listened to.
