Learned at lot--at the expense of happiness
Pros
- Since it's a high-pressure environment, you will be forced to adapt your skills to learn quickly and multitask very well. The skills that you learn will be beyond valuable for you throughout your career. - You'll learn a lot, and this learning will not be limited to the advertising industry. You'll learn about work, people skills, communicating with others, etc. - Promotion opportunities can come quickly. - There are some fun people there. The fun is created out of misery. You have to have a personality to survive there. It's kind of like being in jail: You're already in a bad place, so be nice and make the best of it. - If you are lucky, you'll find middle management that is willing to guide you and give you opportunities to learn. Should you find them, keep them forever--even after you've left. - When people see Zimmerman Advertising on your resume, they will be impressed. The company has a bad reputation, so people will be surprised that you made it out alive. People with whom I've interviewed say things like, "Oh, you worked there? How was that? I know people who hated it." (Hint: If you're asked this, talk about the skills you learned, as mentioned in pro #1. Keep it classy.) - Benefits aren't too bad.
Cons
- This place is an above-ground sweatshop: lots of work, no pay. Don't expect to live off of your salary. - Oh, you want a work/life balance? No. Not here. - Upper management does not care about employees. At all. The company bends over backwards for clients at your expense. When they say "24/7," they mean it. If you have to stay at work until 8:15 p.m. because the client suddenly decided they need something tomorrow, suck it up and stay. If someone calls you on vacation, you'd better answer. - The work isn't good, not because people in the creative department aren't creative, but because their creativity is stifled by an agency that cares more about driving sales than about building brands. - You will be absolutely miserable. You are expected to put the client's interests before you own, and by "interests," that means your interest in having a high-quality job that you actually enjoy.
