Pros
- SBI is ideal for someone early in their career. You get a lot of exposure to a lot of different parts of the business and different industries, which can look impressive on your resume. - The team is a pretty tight-knit group. Most of the staff are friends outside of work, and the office has a friendly atmostphere. - If you work with events you get to do a lot of traveling for client events. - Working with nonprofit clients can be rewarding. If you are someone who is purpose-driven in their work, this could be a good fit. - New staff training is top-notch. The SBI training staff spends thoughtful consideration on how to train new employees, and what they should be trained on. The training is very comprehensive and better than anywhere else I've ever worked.
Cons
- The salary and benefits are nowhere near competitive for the Seattle area. They need to bump the salary range at least $10,000 for every department in order to be in the same ball park with other Seattle-area companies. - The executive team is inexperienced and it shows. They do not know how to manage staff, and they do not know how to manage a business. They are unable to make the tough decisions necessary to run a profitable company. - There's very limited career pathing. Even after I had discussions with my manager for over a year about my next step at SBI, I never had one productive conversation about where I was headed. Like I previously mentioned, they are positioned well for entry-level professionals, but not anything above that. After a few years they simply don't know what else to do with you. - The turnover rate is incredibly high. It seems that we're always covering for someone who left, and we're never staffed adequately. It's created an unstable environment and makes it challenging to just do your job every day. - No HR. Because of the constant turnover, not having any HR professionals in the office makes a big difference. There's been several missteps in the hiring/firing process of several staff members because SBI hasn't had a competent HR staff member in the office. - Emphasis is on quantity over quality. The focus is always on completing as much work as possible in the shortest amount of time, not producing the best work. - Lacks transparency. SBI claims transparency is one of their core values, but does not act on it. Staff are constantly in the dark about their position, their team, and their clients. There's hardly any communications from the top-down.