CDW Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

I like the people I work with, and also like that we are not micromanaged and can choose when we can take breaks and lunch .
Lots of resouces on sight
Strong management team-The best teach the best
But it is not a job for everyone.

Cons

Wish that the pay was better! $25K is NO way to make a living in Chicago where cost of living is very expensive.
The cons are alot of cold calling and none of these leads are provided.
The book they give you in the beginning, are mostly terrible accounts.
Management thinks there are all of these new buisness wanting to buy technology
Hearing that it will take 2 years to see ROI

Advice to Senior Management

Don't tell us that in order to be successful we need to be there prospecting 12 hours a day. People have limits and a life outside of CDW

Pros

Constant perks - food - giveaways - shirts - etc.
Plenty of flexibility to attend local events and industry conferences.

Cons

Organizational structure sometimes separates groups that need to work more closely together.
Lack of expertise in important markets.
Flexible residency requirements can encourage too much travel.

Advice to Senior Management

Fill open positions faster!
Focus more on services.
Publish more blogs / whitepapers for public consumption.
Cooperate more with "the community" - user groups, events, etc.

Pros

The only thing that is making me happy right now here at CDW is that the vendors are spending more money towards contests and trips that you can win. My pay check over the last 7 years has dropped due to accounts being taken or moved.

Cons

The managers don't know what they are doing half of the time. I have a manager who has been with CDW for less than 3 years and this is their 1st job out of college. The pay sucks and I am back to making the money that I 1st made when I started with the company 7 years ago.

Advice to Senior Management

Like everyone else posts on this site, you need to treat the sales reps with more respect and better pay. We are the ones who are making money for the company to pay your paycheck. Also, you need to trim down on how many managers/directors there are. I feel like I am in the movie "Office Space." Every month someone is being promoted to some new job position that was created out of thin air.

Pros

Constant perks - food - giveaways - shirts - etc.
Plenty of flexibility to attend local events and industry conferences.

Cons

Organizational structure sometimes separates groups that need to work more closely together.
Lack of expertise in important markets.
Flexible residency requirements can encourage too much travel.

Advice to Senior Management

Fill open positions faster!
Focus more on services.
Publish more blogs / whitepapers for public consumption.
Cooperate more with "the community" - user groups, events, etc.

Pros

vendor opprotunities, continually stimulated, knowledge endless

Cons

overwhelming products, prioritizing my day can be complicated, dealing with angry customers

Advice to Senior Management

respect your subordinates and provide realistic feedback with activity, take the time to actually get to know your team, better bonds creates more success for everyone

Pros

CDW has great benefits. I have friends who left that now realize this, after 7 years I will start to get 4 weeks off a year and it roles over so you can bank it.

Cons

You would think that you would have a basic understanding of technology to work for a company that sells computers. Sadly many account managers do not.

Advice to Senior Management

Middle management make this place work. My best advice it to shave a little off the top and go public again

Pros

Flexible time, not micro-managed, nice coworkers

Cons

No real appreciation for work done above and beyond - it's a lot of "what have you done for me lately?" Moral is low and management's response is "If you don't like it, go somewhere else."

Advice to Senior Management

Appreciate your coworkers. Pay them a living wage. Make them feel valued beyond the tag line in the emails that announce how well CDW is doing. All the goals we write and development plans we have to submit are completely ignored and just make it feel like a slap in the face when no one notices all the work you do. Even throwing your own parade to toot your own horn doesn't work.

Pros

Good Training, lots of people to go to. You have alot of Managers, many of the vendors are in house.

Cons

$12 hr/ give you no leads. 25,000 base that doesnt ever move.

Advice to Senior Management

They should pay their employees more

Pros

As a new college graduate, CDW was very good to me in regards to training and teaching me how to successfully work in the IT industry. After 2-3 years at CDW as an Account Manager I had become very marketable to other IT companies in the industry. (Manufacturers and competitors)

Cons

Staying past LOS 24 was a waste of my time.. (for the non-CDW folks, they measure their employees Length Of Service in MONTHS not years.. very telling).. CDW continuously decreases commissions by raising goals and/or trimming your account base by 20%.. They always give a good organizational reason for the changes but the net effect is always the same, less money in your pocket.. After 2-3 years I knew everything I needed to know to move to a competitor in the area that doesn't play games with compensation & accounts.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop playing games with Account Manager's goals and customer bases.. You are encouraging your best and brightest Account Managers to leave.. They will rebuild their success over and over again until they eventually realize they can get off the CDW treadmill and rebuild somewhere else.

Pros

Good benefits. Company is holding up strong, especially for a tough economy... but that is mainly because the employees who are not liked and have talent but have to work so much harder to pull the weight of those who are liked and do not pull their weight.

Cons

Moral is very low and that is company-wide. Leaders follow a "do as I say, not as I do" philosophy and there is ALWAYS a big catch whenever this company is trying to give you something. Work/life balance almost does not exist, but they trying to sell it like it does. Promotions are generally based on who is most liked rather than who is most qualified. Business ethnics needs to improve and it starts from the top down.

When the economy recovers, the talented will definitely leave!!

I am generally not one who complains.... I am just simply stating all the facts!

Advice to Senior Management

Just please stop being greedy and change. The executives preach accountability but yet they hold everyone else accountable for their actions, but blame other for makes they make, never taking accountability. Please take accountability for your actions and start doing what is right.

Simply put, there are many good people working here, both front-line managers and especially at the coworker level and it if weren't for their ideas, hard work, dedication and contribution, you wouldn't be where you are today.

Thank you.