Where do you begin? One of the best things I learned from my time at Roth was how to interview and make sure my next company wasn’t anything like it.
As far as work-life balance, this is an illusion. You get every other Friday off, and though they’d never say it directly, it always felt as if you were discouraged from truly utilizing vacation time. People bragged about having “never taken a day off.” Management always warned that time off = numbers dipping and needing to hustle harder. I cannot stress this enough, numbers > your well being.
You worry constantly about the state of your ‘desk’ when you are out, because they’ve created an environment where people are only willing to pitch in if they get a piece of the pie, which leads me to another point.
So many times colleagues, and even branch managers, capitalized on such opportunities by ‘stealing’ candidates, when really, they forgot about a candidate, and then wanted them back so they get the commission. People get into squabbles over who’s candidate/client is who’s purely from a numbers standpoint, and rarely because it is genuinely the best-case scenario from a service standpoint.
You should know that learning their MVV is a tiny cult-like ritual. Management will glow if you nail it right away, gloat if you don’t. Under absolutely no circumstance should you question whether anyone’s behavior is misaligned with said ‘values,’ or you may as well consider yourself the black sheep.
The amount of turnover you see in the industry, and company, is alarming. In the interview, every manger will say it takes at least a year to get your groove if you’re new to the industry, but it’s ironic to me how often they hire someone and decide they ‘just are not a great fit,’ and they let them go after a short three-six months. With such high turnover, it begs the question - is it the candidates, or the company that is the problem?
To touch back on those values - are we not trying to make a remarkable experience? Then why is there not more transparency in the internal interview process? How about with candidates and clients?
Beware of a job/company/interviewer who has to work so hard to sell you on why it’s so great. They push culture from day one, but from I witnessed, the people who genuinely step into the role to do their best at helping people, have the hardest time. Sharky sales tactics are rewarded, because again, numbers > people.
So long as upper management is hitting numbers, they’ll never be questioned. The accountability falls on those who aren’t equipped with the tools, leadership, or autonomy to do their job well.
