Pros
The best reason for working at CDW is that it is not going anywhere anytime soon. In the year of 2007 the founder of the company gave back to it’s employee’s by setting up a fund based off all of the money he made on us being purchased by MDP. He gave each employee $200.00 for each month they had worked for CDW. Some people made over $40K! But I was lucky enough to get a little over $8K.
Cons
1. CDW sales reps do not have a base pay. We have what is called a “draw” of $25K. We have to make enough in profit for the company in order to get a pay check. Unlike most companies where employees can count on a certain amount each month and budget we don’t have an idea until 2 days prior to the last paycheck of the month. 2. The management is like a giant clique. If you are good friends w/ your manager or are a “Super Star” already making over $200K you will continue to make even more money because you are given the best accounts out there. 3. There are TONS of grey lines between business units. Small Business 100 – employees are their targets. Corporate 100+ employees are their targets. I had over 50 accounts pulled from me in the Corp group and moved down to the Small Business Group. But did I get anything back? No. That was over $500K worth of business that went missing. 4. The company is hiring WAY to fast. You have to watch your accounts like a hawk. If you do not one of these “Academy” or “Newbie’s” will call into your account and or have the account moved into their number with-out your knowledge. When I was hired I was told to do research prior to calling into any account to make sure that it is not a duplicate. I have had this problem with 2 new people on my team who thought they would not get caught and now I am out to get them. I look through their account base and see what I want to steal from them. 5. Living in downtown Chicago the cost of living is so much higher than those who live in the burb’s near our Corp headquarters. This company does not take this into account. • Cost of food higher – we do not have a subsidized cafeteria like you do up north. • Cost of parking. $14.00 a day to park in a parking garage downtown where as those who work up North have FREE parking! • Cost of living. Cook County Sales Tax (add in all of the additional taxes) we are at 13%. Ouch…that is a huge hit on me. My rent is $800.00 per month; add cable, gas, phone and groceries… I think I have $300.00 left to spend on myself. • Gym – Corp has a gym onsite and they only have to pay $25.00 per month. Those who work downtown and want to go to a good gym other than Nasty Ass Bally’s have to shell out $80.00 for a SINGLE per gym membership. Does CDW pay for any of it? NO – NO – NO – NO • Subsidized Dry Cleaning & Day Care – do we have it downtown? Nope 6. No pay/merit increases. Our Government division is paid on total sales and not Profit like the corporate side does. Most people have to make no to little profit to win deals and hit their sales goals. However we get paid on profit not total sales which really does not make sense. So, basically you make no money here. 7. No matter how hard I work I just can not seem to get ahead here. I have worked at CDW for over 3 years and each day gets more and more discouraging. I am always keeping my eyes and ears open to see if any of our vendors are looking for reps here in Chicago. I was told when I was hired that I would be making enough money to be “comfortable” by at least year 3. Well it has come and gone and I am making the money of a person who just got out of college. I think I might need to look into bartending to get by. 8. The new people that they have been hiring are like Children! Also this work environment is very hostile to women. The girl to guy ratio in sales is crazy. It seems as though this company will always be a boys club and none of the direct management are women. It is all men. 9. Our Benefits suck. Yes we have a PPO, HMO, Vision, dental & 401K but nothing really else. 10. MANAGEMENT – LISTEN TO ME. THE REASON WHY WE ARE NO LONGER ON THE “BEST PLACES TO WORK” IS BECAUSE YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR EMPLOYEE’S. LOOK AT WHO HAS BEEN ON THE TOP OF THE LIST FOR THE LAST 4-5 YEARS AND GET A CLUE AS TO WHAT THEY ARE DOING FOR THEIR EMPLOYEE’S. FROM THERE IMPLEMENT YOUR OWN IDEA’S. FROM THERE WE MIGHT GET BACK TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE. Otherwise we will continue to be robots that don’t care about their job nor want to give high ratings on the survey that we receive from them.
