Pros
You work with some of the most experienced people in the industry alongside a company rich with history. The CEO/President/Executive branch in general are great to work under and care about every party involved. They produce and promote incredible events, and if you fit in, your co-workers will become a community of friends and support. Ultimately, I'd recommend this job to someone who is detail-obsessed, loves live music, and is patient re: growth. Nearly everyone who's been hired has stayed, so while everyone is passionate, there's objectively little room for vertical growth. Horizontal growth seems like a cool possibility though! I've heard of people in Marketing take up Artist Management responsibilities, people go from Admin to Creative direction, etc.
Cons
The company has only recently posted job listings on their site. Prior to this, it's been extremely rare for "outsiders" (i.e. people, like myself, without connections to the company) to start full time. Everyone else hired full time in the last five years either knew someone, started part time, or was an intern, and interns are only hired if they go to UC Berkeley or somehow know the president and CEO (this is common knowledge in the company). I fought hard to get their attention in the hiring process, and was really excited to join the team because of the Director's long-term goals of innovating/digitizing their marketing strategy. This description fit my background of marketing strategy & reporting, media buying, budget analysis, digital planning, etc. In reality, they just needed someone to pick up detail-ridden slack and I inevitably felt like my growth was being stunted. None of my ideas were ever met with excitement, let alone considered, outside of the Director who, while was well-intentioned, was too busy to execute any potential change. *They are fast-paced when it comes to promoting, but not when it comes to changing the way they do things.* Aside from that, while my direct supervisor/trainer was incredible at their job, it was clear that they had never managed someone different from them. Instead of trying to understand my strengths or attempt to build a relationship, it felt like they were waiting for me to get fired over my last 3-4 months with the company, (I only started with a 6 month contract.) While being friends with coworkers isn't necessary, it definitely helps when they say that they're a "family" and describe the position as a "lifestyle job." All this said, I don't blame them because the company had already put enough on their plate. Managing a human completely foreign to the company was likely the last thing this person wanted to do, especially given their work load. I want to emphasize that everyone was an amazing *individual* but they're insanely cliquey as a group, and there's little incentive to change that dynamic.
