Not Actual Size Reviews

I joined NOT ACTUAL SIZE as a Strategist after being made redundant from my previous role. The company was aware of my situation and seemed genuinely interested in my experience. However, my time there was short-lived and deeply disappointing. After only a month and a half of employment, I received an unexpected email about a "job update" call. To my shock, this call was a thinly veiled attempt to inform me that I was being made redundant. The company offered no concrete reasons for this decision, other than a vague claim that my skills didn't align with their current projects. This seemed particularly strange given the rigorous interview process I had gone through. The way this redundancy was handled was incredibly unprofessional and disrespectful. I was denied any opportunity to discuss the situation with my team members or to reconcile my work. My access to company platforms was immediately revoked, leaving me feeling isolated and undervalued. NOT ACTUAL SIZE prides itself on "RADICAL RESPECT," but my experience was anything but respectful. The company's actions were cold, callous, and completely lacking in empathy. I would strongly caution anyone considering joining this company.

On the surface a nice place to work let down by muddled internal hierarchies, unclear direction, low ambition and a general lack of experience from the top down. There are regular changes to team structures, ways of working and agency branding that creates confusion and a lack of confidence in decision making. Promotions happen fairly regularly, but the lines between junior/mid/senior/director are blurry and inconsistent. There’s a serious lack of salary consistency. The young senior leadership team is formed mostly by internal promotions, leading to a lack of experience and management skills at the top. There’s a preoccupation with protecting the NAS image, which means serious complaints are ignored and if you raise issues, you’re more likely to be dismissed as not being “positive” enough or a team player. The work itself is uninspiring and repetitive, with a very small number of clients. You will mostly work on one main client that takes up far too much time and resource and prevents the agency moving forward. Eg there is a desire to be known as creative agency, but they don’t really foster creative work and rarely pitch for new business. There is a lack of creative leadership, with the approval of creative and management of creative teams often left to content directors (effectively account managers).