My experience working at CONNECTIVE Agency was a complete nightmare in less than 90 days. The agency has no official onboarding as a new hire to gain alignment on the job and business strategy, setting everyone up for failure and disappointment. The agency partners recruit prospective employees with charm, jokes, and perks like free lunches, drinks, and snacks. However, when the work environment runs on pure chaos because of a lack of strategy and clear direction, it causes extreme burnout. The agency partner is also everyone's manager, which causes so much disorder due to unnecessary micromanagement. Also, since the agency partner is everyone's manager, scheduling a 1:1 is difficult, which causes a lot of miscommunication and misunderstandings on assignments that are all flagged urgent. Another issue was the lack of diversity, which in 2023 is very concerning - out of the 16 employees, there were only two Black employees (that included me). When CONNECTIVE involuntarily let me go, only one Black employee remained. Also, as a director and not being a part of their management team (predominantly white staff) or included in their meetings was alarming. The agency lacked clear roles and responsibilities that contributed to a work environment that was constantly confusing and disorganized. As a director, I was isolated from the team and positioned in the agency as a sole contributor compared to everyone else who was part of a team or had resources. I practically had to beg for tools to do my job. Doing things manually at the agency is encouraged versus embracing technology to work smarter and be productive. Additionally, CONNECTIVE's turnover rate is outrageously high, with no one staying at the company for more than a year or two. I did my research and looked up their former team members and noticed a pattern that more experienced professionals don't stay at this company. One of their employees shared with me that one of their team members left because the workload was unreasonable, I can attest, especially compared to the pay, which is not competitive in this market. The agency lured me with a salary on the lower end of my range by offering contingent bonuses such as a sign-on bonus after I complete my first 90 days, then another bonus after six months, and another one at my first anniversary. Unfortunately, the agency partners let me go two weeks before the 90 days resulting in me not receiving my sign-on bonus. The agency partners also retaliated against me for filing unemployment by protesting my claim to try and prevent me from getting that benefit, which was very evil and nasty work and honestly was the cherry on top of my terrible experience at this unprofessional establishment. In conclusion, I would NOT recommend working at CONNECTIVE Agency due to the lack of diversity, poor and inexperienced leadership, disorganization, mistreatment, and toxic work environment.
