Pros
The SmithBucklin Event Services unit is seen in the industry as event planning bootcamp. People in the industry seek out SmithBucklin event planners because of the level of excellence shown in our events and how hard of a worker SmithBucklin shapes its event planners to be. From day one, it's sink or swim, and not for the faint of heart. The pace is fast and you are responsible for more in your first year than you likely would be in your first 5 years at a private company or standalone association. This is awesome because you will learn heaps in a short amount of time and always be learning industry-leading best-practices from industry leaders. Event Services does a great job of ensuring the unit stays on trend with the industry in the hundreds of events they plan a year. The leaders within Event Services are consistently recognized by MPI, PCMA, ASAE, ILEA, etc. for outstanding achievements, or as innovators or leaders. The department has strategic partnerships with every vendor you could imagine so you really get to know a whole lot about multiple facets of events very quickly. If you are looking to work hard and willing to grow, this is a perfect fit.
Cons
It's sink or swim, it's seen as bootcamp, you have tons of responsibilities, and you are expected to work very hard for little pay and inadequate support. Every person's experience at SmithBucklin is different because your experience is entirely dependent upon your unit/boss/clients. In some units, people have one client and one boss and are able to come in and do their job and leave promptly at 5. In other units, you have 5 clients, 1-2 bosses per client, and a PDL (manager) and you never know what the day will throw at you. It's uniquely difficult because SmithBucklin is a matrix organization so there isn't another you in the whole company. You are the only person in the company with your set of responsibilities so there is no looking at how someone else did it/comparing to see if there are improvements to be made in your workload. SmithBucklin expects you to just innately know that you've been overscoped (even though you could be brand new), or know that you are doing work that you shouldn't be doing (even though your boss told you to do it and you do it on other clients). SmithBucklin absolutely fails its employees in this way by having many, many blind spots into its employees lives. They recently started using Glint (a survey service) to gain more insights but at 4 times a year, it's not really keeping a pulse on units and the general morale when 5 people quit in one month and no replacements have been hired. Bottom line: If you're working at SmithBucklin it can be a great experience, but from the day you start your days are numbered because of the high rates of burnout/turnover caused by the current model. There are at least 3 people in Event Service that have had physical health repercussions due to the amount of stress they were put under at work. THIS IS NOT OKAY. The running joke is "another one bites the dust" when people quit or that they "finally lost it". This is not a forever job, just a great learning opportunity. Unless you're into the whole "I can barely take a vacation and have to check my email over the holidays and get paid way less than my peers outside of SmithBucklin for double the work and poor support" thing. Then you could stay.
