Pros
I believe Gartner is a fantastic place to begin your career (great resume builder). You receive great training, learn about how to run your own calls, territory management, retention strategies, etc. It’s a great place to be if you are passionate about sales. - Benefits are fantastic, 20 days of PTO, 4% 401K match, EOY bonus, $250 fitness stipend, and more. - Depending on your manager, there is quite a bit of freedom and flexibility with your work hours. - You get to meet some great people and make a lot of connections. The teams have made a lot of effort to make sure everyone is still interacting despite not being in office during COVID. - Everyone is very willing to help you out and answer any questions along the way, no matter how tenured you are. - Relatively easy job, you’re writing emails, dialing, running calls, and making sure that everything is logged in the CRM for your account manager. - Clients generally already want to take the time to speak with you since they’re already paying so much for a membership.
Cons
I am not a disgruntled employee, but I think it’s fair that you have a clear picture of what you’re signing up for: - There is quite a bit of turnover, this translates into the probability that you will have more than one manager within the course of your tenure. - The program lacks diversity and most of the promotions that happen within the program generally do not go to POC. - A lot of your success is dependent upon what territory you are supporting and who your account executives and sales managers are. Everyone is put against the same metric regardless of how much spending power there is in your territory or how long you have worked within it. - Every month you’re going after a new campaign to hit the metrics, so if you are not someone who is motivated by “how many calls can you schedule this month?” This is not the place for you. - This role has gradually turned more into a business development style role over an account management role. There is a lot of emphasis on growth over retention. - Some of the tasks you’ll be doing just end up feeling like busy work. It’s easy to sometimes just feel like you’re a secretary. - If you are not a new college grad you will not get the hefty sign-on bonus that the new grads get. - Do not expect that you will be able to move into any area of the company (marketing, HR, research, etc.) after completing this program. Despite your manager’s best intentions, unfortunately the business need usually calls for an external hire with more experience.