Pros
I worked at Carvana for just under 8 months and I genuinely loved it most of the time. 1. People - as many of the reviews for Carvana will list, the people are fantastic and the company culture is one of helpfulness, friendliness, and fun (most of the time) which work together to make for a very enjoyable working experience. Kudos to the recruiting team for hiring people that mesh well with the existing environment. 2. Pay - The pay was very good. Definitely among the highest I’ve seen offered for the level of experience required for a base level customer service position. 3. Benefits - They offer multiple and extensive medical, dental, and vision benefits. There’s also paid time off given as a lump sum when you start, rather than accrued over time. There are employee discounts, employee-exclusive retail items, and fun freebies given out at random (think: t-shirts, food, and toys). 4. Growth opportunities - Because they were still growing rapidly, there were lost of opportunities to learn new and useful skills via cross-training and learning a specialization. This really facilitated people finding where their real passion was and then moving teams to focus on what they liked. We were also encouraged to apply for completely different positions within the company as we would be considered over outside applicants and our daily job performance would be reviewed as experience. 5 . Business ethics - This one may be strange to highlight, but it was very important to me. While I was there, we were encouraged to be 100% honest with the customer - meaning if we messed up, we owned it as individuals and as a company. There were no lies to keep track of, no step in the process that we weren’t allowed to share (aside from anything detailing confidential information, of course) which really helped to create a basis of trust for customers, and made the job a lot easier because we didn’t have to be careful about what we disclosed.
Cons
1. Hiring freeze - Management enacted a hiring freeze when they really shouldn't have because their customer base and popularity was still rapidly growing (they’ve at least doubled in size each year they’ve been in business). Then, shortly thereafter they froze interdepartmental transfers and cross-training because there was not enough staff to keep up with the incredible workload. That last part is especially important because it stopped employees from moving teams to do what they enjoyed - and more importantly, what they were good at. This left a lot of employees feeling stuck and frustrated, myself included. 2. Outside hire managers - the number one thing that I disapprove of in any large business is an outside hire into a management position. Especially with a company as steeped in carefully-cultivated culture as Carvana prides itself on being, it takes a while for *any* new hire to get a hang of the social/interpersonal expectations, much less the details of their actual job (and there's a LOT to learn). Putting someone in a management position when they aren't familiar with the company and proficient in the department/position they're supposed to be leading is a one-way ticket to frustration for all involved. Thankfully outside hires only happened rarely, but the issues created were (in my experience) so severe that it was one of the two leading causes for why I eventually left the company. 3. Metrics - When I started, metrics weren’t #1 priority. Instead, the promoted goal was to just be as helpful to the customer as possible no matter what that meant or how long it took, which was so awesome. In my experience, that often meant lots of detailed explanations of how the unique Carvana purchasing process worked so that the customer would have the correct expectations and end the conversation with a good impression of the company (for this point specifically, we were encouraged to inject our personalities and have fun with it, which was a wonderful and very welcome change from other call centers I’ve worked in). During the aforementioned hiring freeze when we were no longer able to keep up with the amount of work flowing in, management seemed to see this as productivity being down despite all teams working their tails off each day. In response, lunches were cut in half, numbers became prioritized over quality of service, and competitiveness was encouraged over camaraderie. This was the other leading cause for why I left, though I sincerely hope that it has changed since then. Even after these issues that ultimately caused me to leave I still admire Carvana and I love the change that they’re working toward - creating a simpler, easier, more straightforward car buying experience that puts the customer in control. I still recommend them to others looking to buy a car, but as for internal operations they are clearly a new company (not even 6 years old at the time of writing this) and they are still learning and adjusting.