MANAGEMENT! 90% of the management is unqualified to do their jobs. The company has people in positions of leadership that would NEVER succeed in the role of those they manage. Paid media has leadership that's never managed an ad account, creatives have leadership that can't discern between a good/bad ad, the NY extension is led by someone who's never excelled at any role they've been in,
and the company has people making processes around project management but no one actually has formal project management training. Besides the lack of technical skills, most of the management also lacks people skills.
The company may pride itself on transparency and feedback, but that's as good as trying to water your lawn behind a glass wall. You can see exactly what's going on the other side, but the moment you try to do something about it, the water just splashes back on you. They always ask for feedback but don't really do anything about it and when you try to give managers "managing up moments," they get defensive and make excuses. So many people actually feel uncomfortable giving their managers unfiltered feedback because they feel that nothing will change and it will only paint them in a negative light to their managers.
You'll be stressed and overworked if you are a media buyer or team lead. These are the people who are responsible for generating revenue for the clients and they take the most heat. If something goes wrong, all fingers point to either or both of those positions. You'll only get celebrated if upper management likes you or if you have a fragile personality, then management will make sure that even if you took a dump in the wrong place, you get props for finally learning how to poop on your own.
The internal company structure is absolute chaos. Every department points fingers at each other for who is responsible for what, but somehow only the team leads and buyers are responsible for revenue. The creative department is unorganized, lackluster, and is the same poorly run cycle regardless of how many times it's been restructured.
Lastly, if you are extremely sensitive about discussing social issues, then this isn't the place for you. The company really prides itself on having women in management, whether they deserve to be there or not. It definitely leans left. If you don't want to share your dreams or dig deep into your soul, then this definitely isn't the place for you. It's mandatory for everyone to participate in a dream program and share with the company AND it's one of your kpis.
