Great staff - Account Executive Gabriel Marketing Group Employee Review

I work with GMG on several accounts, doing a myriad of multimedia work on behalf of a broad range of clients. I have nothing but praise for the team. Everyone is very smart, talented, nice, client-focused and respectful toward one-another. Now, I want to set the record straight on a few scores. I've been in the agency world for a long time, and I've worked for agencies of all sizes. First of all, the agency world isn't for the faint of heart. It's fast-paced, deadline-driven and client-centric. It's not a 10-4 job. You have to work smarter, not harder. Clients put aggressive deadlines on us, because someone's putting those deadlines on them. It's important to manage their expectations and deadlines, while keeping things in scope. That takes nuance, and it takes an employee who's adept at managing that workload with a good work-life balance. GMG recognizes this and makes enormous efforts to accommodate its employees with flexible hours, locations, etc. Second, GMG offers really good salaries, benefits and perks. I've worked a lot of places, and I know what's competitive and what isn't. I'll never forget the first time I walked in the office to see several members of the staff doing yoga! Trust me. You won't see that at Ogilvy. Third, because GMG is a boutique agency, younger staff can actually get to do real work on real accounts (under the guidance and mentoring of senior staff) a lot sooner. That's huge! Try that at an enormous agency. Fourth, GMG has a great team attitude. People actually work together. What a concept! There's no possessive ownership of key accounts. If you want to work on something, and it's a good fit, you get to. That's not the case in all agencies. People horde accounts and choose favoritism over what's best for the client. None of that at GMG. Fifth, lots of diversity--gender, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientation. Everyone is cool with everyone else. Now, I've seen a couple of snarky comments from former employees, and all I can say is what I said from the outset: agency world isn't easy. Not everyone's cut out for it. But, if you want to work with smart people, with lots of great energy, on really interesting accounts (with clients who are literally all over the world), getting hands-on opportunites-- from marketing strategy to broadcast commercials--GMG is pretty friggin awesome and the right fit for you.

The only "con" that I can speak to is that GMG's building doesn't allow dogs. I've considered having my dogs picket the building.

Free food. The office is located is Tysons corner which is a nice place to work. But unfortunately, this is about it.

Any good review you see posted on this page has either been written by the CEO herself, or by an employee who was forced to write it or face her wrath. This place is utter chaos, any employee with an ounce of respect for themselves, the public relations field, or their career doesn't last long. Once they see through the corrupt management and poor treatment, they run. Sexual harassment is hardly even frowned upon yet alone acted on. There are very few policies in place to maintain a stable and professional work environment. People have been fired for being sick, threatened to be taken off of client accounts for doctors appointments, and forced to go to strip clubs with inappropriate clients. While the company lists "flex time" as a perk, it is very much up to the discretion of the CEO and management. PR is very much an around the clock job, but being texted while on vacation to correct a tweet, or called several times when you take the day off, is unreasonable and makes it difficult for employees to comfortable take PTO. All the chaos aside, anyone who is interested in furthering their career should not work here. Titles are not equivalent to those at real agencies and the lack of professionalism and protocol does nothing but set people behind for where they want to be in their career. What I truly did learn from my time at GMG was how NOT to treat people working for you and how NOT to run a company.