Pros
Let me start by saying, this is a great opportunity for college grads who have no experience and are looking for their first office job with a salary and consistent schedule. If you have nothing to compare it to and love to drink on the job, you'll think it's the best thing since sliced bread. Also, if you legitimately love property and casualty insurance, here's the place for you. The training program I was apart of was extremely thorough and helpful. I felt valued and had never been apart of such a program where I felt like everyone genuinely wanted me to succeed. You're also given the chance to bond with 5-20 other people in the exact same position as you which makes starting a new job a little less nerve wracking. Everyone is extremely nice to you while in training and generally are also afterwards. You are given opportunities to earn extra paid time off by working on Saturdays. There is a lot of free food. Some of the free food doesn't even have strings attached.
Cons
When you interview or speak with anyone employed there, you will hear over and over that the best part of working here is "the people." This is true. Why is this true? There is literally no other redeeming or enjoyable aspect working here. This is a salaried job (with no overtime) which should be hourly. The company has done an amazing job catering their recruiting to those fresh out of college looking for a salaried job. You go in thinking you'll be at work at 9, leave at 6, and have the weekend to yourself. If this is what you are looking for, LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE. There are few people who don't arrive at least 30 minutes early and leave an hour late, minimum. You are expected to stay late. You are expected to take more calls after your shift is over until there is an acceptable amount of calls remaining, per management. Your work week will turn from what you thought would be 40 hours into a minimum of 55 hours a week. You will be earning a pay equal or less than someone who works in any other service industry aka retail/food. And at least at those jobs, you get a 10 minute rest break without someone breathing down your neck waiting for the exact time of 9:59 to hit 10:00 so they can crack the whip and get you to take another call. Also expect your managers to come find you in the restroom when you're on a break too long. I literally had leads tell me not to take a bathroom break because there were too many calls waiting to be answered. I've heard people try to reason why they need to take a bathroom break. This is not healthy. This is not ok. There are consistently mandatory meetings during lunch that are apparently ok because lunch is provided. Sometimes lunch is catered on or after peak days. You are expected to go to countless "bonding" activities and give more and more and more of your time to the company if you expect to further your career in anyway. These are all tactics of making you tell yourself that staying any extra 5-10 hours a week and having no other life outside of this company is ok and will benefit you. If you're rolling your eyes as you read this just ask yourself when the last time was that you spent anytime with anyone not apart of the "flock" was? And if you can answer that question, can you say you didn't spend the majority of the time talking about work to them? Managers are there to crack the whip and chop it up with their favorites and that's about it. You constantly have eyes on you. If you take more than a minute to finish your notes or note anything in the case, you hear, "you good?". They are not asking if you are ok or need support. They are asking why is it taking you so long to take another call. The focus has been on having clients hold less than 2 minutes. People don't care about their hold time if they can be sure you won't screw something up that makes them call in again to fix it. The culture of a short wait time has caught up with the company because there are E&O situations left and right. You should expect to encounter at least 5 a week. These mistakes won't just be made by newbies. They will be made by manager favorites and managers themselves. And guess what? It's now your job to fix it! You do have the option to passive aggressively tell their leads about the situation so they can be coached after you fix it, though! This leads to no corrective action, by the way. (Corrective action is specifically for attendance related matters but that's a different section.) The "case ownership" which turn you into a jaded, angry soul. You will regularly take a call that has been a weeks-month long situation someone else has been trying to resolve but since they are on another call, it is now up to you to decipher what is going on in less than 5 minutes and figure out what you're supposed to do. You good? They do not allow any flexibility for time-off requests. Don't expect to get any sympathy if you're not a favorite and your mom is in the hospital. Don't expect to have any Fridays off for the next 3 months. Don't expect to work a half day when last minute situations arise. Do expect to be written up for any ridiculous attendance infractions as soon as you're coming up on your one year mark and they don't want to pay your bonus. Your time will not be respected. Your outside life will not be respected. Your personal opinions and attention to detail will not be respected. Your hard work will not be respected. Respect yourself and stay away from this company.