Pros
An operations role at NTG is a solid first job if you just graduated college. You will learn a lot about the logistics industry in a short period of time if you truly want to. A good amount of people around the company are a real pleasure to work with. If you are an account manager, your opportunity to advance is based strictly on your ability to land new accounts and broker deals. A lot of luck is inevitably a part of that equation so keep your expectations realistic. NTG a great starting point in your career if you want to develop your general business skills.
Cons
This will end up being one of the most stressful jobs you will ever have, regardless of whether you are in operations or sales. The average age of all of the employees at NTG is somewhere around 27. So consequently most of the leaders on the brokerage and Carrier Sales side (team leads, general managers, regional GMs) are all fairly new to their roles in management. They will be very eager to achieve good results but simply lack the experience to effectively handle some difficult situations. That's great for business, but that comes at a human cost - especially in an already stressful industry. If you are in an operations role and reasonably competent at your job, the overall approach taken by management is to give you more and more work until you eventually can't keep up - it's really quite brutal and that practice is rooted at the highest level of management in NTG. Most of the brokerage leaders come from sales and don't have any real business acumen or experience with operations management or business process design. Often times if a failure occurs because the process can be improved, the managers will default to blaming an individual instead. High pressure management and blame culture is part of the DNA at NTG. As a result, there are too many people working on the front lines that rely on a certain ADD medication in order to meet the expectations asked of them. There have been a number of times when a newly promoted leader at any level will try to assert dominance in some incredibly toxic ways. Again they are very young and new to leadership in a complex environment, so their default reaction may be hostile if they feel like their authority or competence is being challenged. There are some truly exceptional leaders who are good mentors and a real pleasure to work, however there are a few that you want to avoid at all costs if possible. You will need to be a good multi-tasker to be a success. Expect to be constantly making phone calls, receiving and sending hundreds of emails a day, and texting. The more of that you can do at the same time, the better. Noise. Music will be played in the office at a high volume, everyone in the office sits in close proximity and will be on the phone constantly, and people will be shouting across the office at all times about any number of things. If you can't concentrate on your tasks in a loud environment, you will have a real challenge on your hands at NTG. In operations, there is no real practice for how to advance in the company. You may have a bonus structure depending on your role, but that's not guaranteed. NTG's identity is rooted in sales and opportunities for operations people to advance or have opportunities for increased compensation are rare. If you become experienced and effective in your role, you may find yourself in a position where you are putting in just as much effort and getting the same business results as someone in sales but getting paid at least three times less than the salesperson.
