Fun Company, Could Use Tweaking
Pros
-Fun, light hearted work environment with opportunities (though no pressure) for socialization -Ability to move between departments with relative ease. Shadowing sessions are easy to coordinate -Smaller sized company means that it's easy to get to know most coworkers and to make work friends -Everybody is very open and approachable. Even the CEO -Managers prefer to coach somebody to success than to fire them -Company takes pride in it's work and it's employees -Thorough interview process weeds out a lot of bad apples -Competitive benefits package -Within Sales and Service, fairly easy to find shift coverage -Catered lunches 2x weekly -Tons of free SWAG. T-shirts, tote bags, etc. -Sales and service reps are empowered to come up with best solution for customers -Company does it's best not to feel or act like a typical call center
Cons
For sales and service... -Your day is very rigidly scheduled and every break is timed -Quotas are difficult to meet. It's difficult to provide excellent customer service AND hit a certain number of calls per day, especially when you're encouraged to design shirts while you're on the phone with the customer. -The sales and service teams are expected to do a little bit of everything, which is okay but it's better to have a department devoted exclusively to chat OR calls OR emails. My current company does this, and it's great -Training is two weeks long and gives future SS Reps limited phone exposure. More phone exposure would have been nice -Since HQ is in Virginia, there are more limited opportunities for advancement in Reno if you want to go to a dept like marketing, finance, HR, etc. -SS Reps all have to work overtime during busier seasons -Sometimes the company's "customers first" attitude breeds abusive or demanding customers. SS reps are often pressured to bend over backwards in the name of customer service, even in these situations -Young managers often started as SS rep and lack management experience -Low compensation (could be average for call center) isn't really enough to support yourself