Pros
The account executive position is a grind of a sales job, with the potential to be really rewarding. However, the success rate on AE’s that make it to that point is pretty low. Not all of that is on Longship, as the freight industry is in a rough place and extremely over saturated with other brokers calling the same prospects as you 24/7. If you grind the cold calls super hard or are just lucky, you can make a ton of money here. If you have an established book of business that’s bringing in money, you’ll be given a ton of freedom by management regarding hours/time off etc.
Cons
I think it’s really important to understand what you’re getting into. Again, this is a sales job in a tough industry with a low barrier to entry. You’ll be asked to cold call all day to customers that hear the same pitch from the 100 other brokers calling them until you start bringing in some money. A lot of people quit or are let go before that point. It’s also important to note that freight is a 24/7 job. You are responsible for your book of business. This includes nights, weekends, holidays, and “time off”. If your client needs help on Christmas Eve, you’ll be handling it which can lead to crazy burnout. This job is also 100% commission based. You’ll be paid a $40,000 salary for 6 months. After that you’ll be placed on a “draw” where you still get paid that salary, but all commissions will go towards paying off your draw. Once that’s done, you are completely commission reliant. This also results in you not truly having any Paid Time Off. If you use vacation time you can choose to tell your clients that you won’t be available to help but you also won’t be earning anything because you’re 100% commission. This too can lead to crazy burnout. Do some research on Freight Brokers online to get a better idea of the day to day life of the job. I also have some thoughts on upper management. There was a lot of turnover before I left in 2023. Longship has been growing fast the last few years, and seems to have lost its way a bit. Sales managers will tell you one thing in performance reviews, and then say something that completely contradicts that during the monthly team meeting. If there’s a problem on a shipment, the claims department at Longship will feel like your enemy. They will try to find anything they can to pin the issue on you. If they can’t find anything, they’ll comb through your other shipments to try and find issues there to get you in trouble. I’ve never seen a job where more people got written up or disciplined.
