Pros
Exposure to a variety of client accounts and industries, which provided good hands-on experience managing social media campaigns and content.
Cons
The main difficulty was the leadership dynamic. Ideas were frequently requested but rarely welcomed in practice. On more than one occasion, concepts shared internally were later presented by the Creative Lead as their own, which made it discouraging to contribute creatively. The Creative Lead’s approach combined heavy micromanagement with an expectation for constant new ideas, leaving little room for autonomy or actual creative ownership. The CEO had a very strong personal influence over the workplace culture and often expressed strong personal lifestyle views in the office. At times this spilled into day-to-day workplace behaviour in ways that felt unnecessary and uncomfortable. For example, after openly expressing disapproval of dairy products in the office, I once found my milk in the fridge tampered with despite others regularly consuming dairy products themselves. Incidents like this made the environment feel less professional than it should have been. Overall, the culture made it difficult to share ideas freely or feel respected for your work, which is particularly frustrating in a role that relies on creativity and initiative.
