CoStar Group Reviews

Pros

Nice office building. Convenient location

Cons

Low pay. Too much micro management. No information sharing among different departments

Pros

Good benefits package, HR is very professional, growing company with good enough financials, not afraid to spend money on offices and finishes, $80k is reasonable first year expectation (one can at least pay the bills)! Smart CEO, great company events, products have value and fit a need

Cons

Terrible downline management, unqualified management from vice president level down to field (with a few exceptions) - maybe a result of trying to let people grow into their position? (unlikely) Regional vice presidents and regional managers literally do nothing (this isn't a disgruntled judgement, as I actually like the company) and have zero power or influence (no p&l accountability, etc.) just quota responsibility, which can easily gloss over the glaring lack of managerial talent due to sales people succeeding without at least mediocre leadership. Success is often determined by external factors (of course personal ability and desire are factors too) such as your territory economics, how many other costar employees are competing against you, and your managers on-boarding and training ability. No long term potential here if career growth matters. There are many longtime account execs though, very happy with their roll and paycheck, knowing that they will never go have more responsibility than their account exec job - many of them make very good money considering their roll (low 6 figures)

Advice to Senior Management

Get serious about Managment. Andy has done a terrific job, and is super smart, but having a sales vp that shows a slide 3 months in a row saying "see the correlation" when none clearly existed makes clear how much andy has surround himself with people that do not make him stronger as a CEO, but only reinforce his importance to the long term success of costar. When I went to dc for my on-boarding, my RD told me if i were to see Andy, run the other way.' Being a former and current executive, I was appalled at both his statement to a new recruit and his fear of the CEO, all the while he used to gripe about how ineffective he was because senior management 'tunes out' the RVPs and RDs - clearly there is a dearth of leadership, with Andy being the exceptional exception. Get a new team of managers Andy, surround yourself with people better than you at the tasks they have to perform... I think in the long run you and costar will be better off.

Pros

Benefits, exposure the real estate industry

Cons

No collaboration, no opportunity for advancement

Advice to Senior Management

The company could be doing even better if employees were listened to and permitted to participate in innovation

Pros

Free Food and nice building.
Good Coffee and Fruit Bowls

Cons

Everything that had to do with Management
Unrealistic views and ideals.
Horrible I mean Horrible training.
They Have a turnover rate of 50% that they will not tell you.
Mid Management has no ideal how to motivate and or develop team members.

Advice to Senior Management

Well.... The first thing I will tell you is that you should stay away from this company if your looking to start a Carree. Half the people who stay for over 5 months turn into zombies that are controlled be the fear that they can be let go at any time. The call you Research Associates but you should be called Robot one and the buddy sitting next to you Robot two. I was amazed to go through the company directory and see the majority of the staff is at or close to one year with the company, just shows you how much turnover this place has. I know things will never change because the company is making money and some might say have a excellent product. Now onto the training, It sucks and having the opportunity to have worked in other large corporate establishment in management this is where the company has the most opportunity. I truly believe the high turnover rate is a direct reflection of the initial training. Because after you get out of training you are expect to know everything as if you have been with the company for 20 plus years. Just understand that this is a company ran by a younger management team. Many people will see this and understandably say this was writing by someone who is bitter and or was not good at his job, maybe so. But I will tell you what you are told by the recruiters and what you have to do is totally different. All I have to say to all the college grads and or People looking for a change of pace, Buyer beware!!!! College Grads I recommend going to Enterprise Rent A Car, They have a great Management Program and basically have their stuff together. Plus it's gold on a resume if you want to start down the road of sales and Management. And for all who have decided that they need a change of pace.... You should looking to picking a trash route up! That will be a better option then this one. Good Luck!

Pros

Great Benefits. A very good place to grow professionally. Collaborative environment. Tons of nice people. Fun perks like free bikes and Segways and healthy snacks. Senior management is passionate and prides itself on being the best information company in the US.

Cons

Company is still growing into its size of 1500 employees. Everything is not perfect but senior management is looking into ways to improve it.

Advice to Senior Management

The company is growing fast and large and in order to maintain the corporate culture, more communication internally will be necessary.

Pros

Good benefits
Stable company with cash on hand

Cons

Churn sales people and research so that customers have no respect for the people who actually represent the company. Base salary is lowest in the sector and is based on your past 3 years earnings, not your previous work experience. Management is afraid of the people at the top and are all coverings themselves and leave sales people to fend for themselves. Commission structure changes every year, and is not competitive with other sales jobs. Metrics are too much of a priority. The company is not in touch with the rest of the business world...they do things the "CoStar Way"

Advice to Senior Management

pay sales people better. base salary needs to be higher and stop churning through sales people. it would create stability in the organization and clients would actually start to look at the company favorably.

Pros

Cannot say much good of this company. They paid salary on time and the office was clean. A lot of people I worked with were nice.

Cons

There appear to be a few reviews that have been written by HR recently. Let me tell you how it is. Any feedback to the contrary will be answered.

1. You have to do unpaid overtime because there is not enough time in the day.
2. There is an air of depression in the call centres (thats what they are).
3. Staff are talked down to and belittled.
4. The team managers are not there to help but to watch you.
5. Bonus is almost unachievable and if you do get some it will be minimal.
6. I have seen untalented people and cheats get promoted because they say the 'right' things.
7. Feedback is not listened to.
8. There is a mentality that thinks it is acceptable to hire and fire at will.
9. The upper management resent the staff and treat the foot soldiers like scum.
10. Most people are looking for a way out.

All of the above is true and can be proved.

All in all it is a soul destroying place to work. Do not settle for this.

Advice to Senior Management

I have given feedback as have the entire company. They will not listen. They, especially the founder, are not interested in their workers.

Pros

The benefits were awesome. The building was great, the break rooms were always well-stocked with coffee and healthy snacks. The location was also good. Most of the people who work there were very friendly and sociable.

Cons

Pitched as a no-experience-necessary sales job, yet from day one you were expected to be a seasoned sales person with little training. Turnover was extremely high, which is not surprising in sales as a whole, but when everyone you started training with are fired within two months of starting, there's an issue. In fact, very few people seemed to have been with the company for more than a year. You were given very little chance to redeem yourself once placed on the chopping block. Management was often unwilling to give any helpful tips or advice when trying to make improvements in order to succeed. They were also quick to reprimand when you weren't doing well, but it often went unnoticed when you were doing well.

The job itself was basically telemarketing, dial after dial until someone picked up, then spewing out a pitch before they could hang up on you. You sat in a cubicle all day, headset on, just making call after call. There were entirely too many salespeople calling a too-saturated market. Potential customers often upset over the constant calls from not only sales, but research also, and they often didn't know the difference between the two. Entirely too much emphasis on getting the sale, rather than customer service.

The base pay was low and the commission structure was less than desirable. Definitely a job rather than a career, and a short-term one at that.

Advice to Senior Management

Way less emphasis on the metrics, and more emphasis on keeping your employees, and more importantly, your customers happy. It is far too evident to your customers when your salespeople are made to feel like mindless drones day in and day out.

Pros

The pay is higher than any other job position around.

Cons

Metrics driven job, call center type of atmosphere. Brokers don't respect CoStar and really don't like to bugged by us.

Pros

The benefits are outstanding. I've worked in a variety of business environments and none of them compare to CoStar in terms of benefits or work atmosphere. There is a clear emphasis on health and wellness, from the fresh fruit, juice and snacks provided daily in each kitchen to free in-house yoga classes and a state of the art gym. The health benefits are great and we have regular health screenings in the office for free. There is also additional leave time provided for weddings and maternity. Someone starting at CoStar as a first job may not recognize how important benefits like this are, but this is above and beyond the norm, and CoStar continues to seek ways to add/improve benefits while most companies are taking them away due to the economy.

Cons

I think your experience can vary widely depending on who your manager is and the department you work for, but senior leadership is aware of that and actively working to fix it and create a more consistent experience for employees across departments.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you're doing. It shows that you genuinely care about the people that work here and not just the bottom line. If its people continue to feel valued and appreciated the sky is the limit for this company.