Pros
Made some lifelong connections. Basic sales training.
Cons
Not the place I thought it was. Everyone wears rose colored glasses at first, but time and knowledge reveals all. The business model is built on attracting entry level talent (0-1 y exp), paying lower than the industry standard, and capitalizing on their lack of experience to know any better. Simply research what other companies pay and their commission structure to understand that SEP takes advantage of young people who typically have 0 corporate experience, making them bill 9 deals before ever seeing a sad 5% commission (taxed at 40%). Not to mention a base salary that is below what is livable in their office locations across all of americas major (and most expensive) cities. I received decent training but quickly realized not everyone was trained to the same extent. Oftentimes encouraged to compete with and outperform colleagues, and management used our successes to “light fires” under whoever wasn’t coming out on top. Not helpful or encouraging to anyone unless you’re extremely egotistical, and made dynamics uncomfortable as many of us were close in and out of the office. Goals consistently changed and incentives were basically non-existent. 40 dollar giveaways or 20 bucks from your managers pocket to outperform everyone. Doesn’t even cover a full tank of gas to get me to work and back for one week. Constant denial of market change and further pressuring employees to perform while taking away incentives instead of uplifting employees and giving them the tools to succeed in the market. Horrible W/L balance - the job itself already demands so much. Bare minimum PTO and constantly interrogated about why, where, and why again you need time off - especially if you’re in sales. Indirect expectation that you will constantly be available to the job late at night, on weekends, holidays, and during major life events. They will consistently deny this, but will hold things over your head like promotions if you don’t dedicate your full time to the cause. They give endless praise to employees who close deals at midnight, on weekends, etc. Insane micromanagement - every word you utter is subject to criticism if it’s not the exact way your supervisor would say it. You will have your day time blocked down to the 10 minute interval and are constantly thrown into activities/trainings/meetings making it impossible to actually self manage your day. If you are ever asked for your opinion or feedback, save yourself the trouble. Any constructive feedback to the company will result in a forever target on your back and resistance from management. Management treats you poorly when you’re not performing well and no one can be in a constant state of success so be prepared to have your job on the line and relationships impacted at any moment in time. Overall just made me sad to see how transactional the relationships were and how little your superiors cared unless you were billing for the sake of their income. You cannot trust anyone, and really you shouldn’t in the corporate world. Be careful with what you share even when your superiors try to instill trust. This is a place young professionals get 1-2 years experience before realization sets in of how they can get better pay, W/L balance, and culture elsewhere. Those that have stuck there forever feel strangely indebted to a company who I’m sure treats their managers just as poorly (if not worse). This is an entry level job at heart, and if they wanted more people to stay long term they would have a business model and culture that sustains that.