I don't look back on my time at AE with any animosity. No I personally wouldn't recommend working here to a friend, but I think that some of these recent negative reviews and personal attacks on George are uncalled for which is why I wanted to try and refocus back on the business.
1) The overwhelming workload: This is really true of agency work in general but from what I've gathered from people I working at other marketing agencies (including previous AE employees) the workload and expected extra effort seems to be on the higher end, especially for this pay bracket. If it was only happening to 1 or 2 people, I'd say they were the problem but since it is a pretty common theme in these reviews (even the positive ones) it's hard to blame the employees.
2) Working while on AL/SL: I didn't really like that I was often asked to complete tasks while on sick leave or annual leave, despite management implementing a policy to avoid this. Sometimes it was just a text or short call but I was also asked on more than one occasion to virtually attend meetings or produce content. Then despite working while away, my AL/SL would still be depleted by a full day. I should add that it was often a difficult choice to work or not to work while on AL/SL because taking leave would only increase your workload upon your return as the team was often too lean to cover your work.
3) Information gatekeeping/lack of true growth: While I am very grateful for everything that I did learn during my time at AE, I noticed that management compartmentalised a lot of processes and strategies to limit how much one person could really grow. That isn't to say that you couldn't move up within the company. There were certainly a number of internal growth opportunities. But as much as you can grow within AE, when I eventually left and started interviewing for other jobs, I realised that I had huge gaps in my knowledge. You may be able to transition well to another social media agency but if you try to become the social media manager for a single brand or try to move into a broader digital marketing role, you will quickly realise how much you don't know.
4) Spinning the data: I think that the data we presented in our reports could be too easily spun in a positive light. I really did not like having to clients who were clearly haemorrhaging money on poor preforming campaigns just because their audiences were growing. Some campaigns went years without a conversion but because we used accumulative numbers in our reports there was always growth. I understand that it is a business not a charity and the goal at the end of the day is to make money, but when you are the the point of contact and you've build a relationship with the business owner and you really care about them, it feels horrible to lead them on month after month.
*If you are considering taking a job at AE, by all means, it may be valuable for you. The cons I've listed above are based on my experience and it may well be very different and more beneficial for you. But I think it is important for potential employees to have an honest review of what the working environment, management, and expectations are like.
