Cvent Reviews

Pros

The people are young, the environment is laid back (jeans, open floor plan, snack day) but you really will develop a strong work ethic. You can make this job your own. Flex hours allow you to come in between the hours of 8-10am as long as you stay the full 9 hours.

Cons

Long hours, bad traffic around HQ. If a loud, chaotic work environment where you can hear people laughing and swearing in the background sounds distracting, then this may not be the place for you.

Advice to Senior Management

Streamline the training process. Have designated employees who have been trained as mentors act as new hire trainers. Though part of training could be throwing new hires in with the mix of experienced employees, it would be helpful to have the new hires working closely with someone who understands the psychology of teaching: the benefits of positive feedback, consistency, etc. This would avoid other employees getting frustrated with people shadowing them, and a smooth out the rough start for new hires as well.

Pros

Travel, early opportunities, professional development, and higher income are some of the many reasons Cvent is an excellent employer.

Over several years with the company I was able to visit over 20 cities and a handful of countries. Within that time I was able to move up in the organization through promotions 3 times. I learned multiple aspects of business, including HR, finance, technology, and of course sales. Most companies only provide a specific field of knowledge for employees to focus on. By teaching all aspects of business Cvent management makes sure their people are given all the tools to succeed. Lastly, I was able to increase my income well past the average of those friends around me with similar experience. This is critical to developing well rounded employees.

Cons

Cvent must scale and grow with the speed of their products. Management must find ways to expand leadership positions for more employees. More middle management!

Pros

After being with the company for 5 years, I've been promoted multiple times and have a team of people working under me (I've been in charge of a team after only 18 months at the company). I've gained great experience as to how to be an effective business professional, and I am constantly given feedback (and praise when it's earned) on a weekly basis. I have been traveling on business for the company on almost a monthly basis to visit cities all over the US. Management is open with employees about future plans for the company and the development of our software, and it is very easy to approach senior level management and even the executives (VPs, CEO, etc) to have meaningful conversations about your work. As long as an individual has a strong work ethic and the drive to get promoted, it is easy to excel at Cvent (as there are many opportunities for advancement, especially since the company is growing so fast - it had 300 employees in 2007, and has 900 currently, with plans to grow to 1,000 employees by the end of 2012 - so plenty of room to move up in the ranks) and increase their bonuses/compensation package. Work days are about 9 AM to 6 PM or so, so the hours are not even remotely grueling.

From a social standpoint, the atmosphere is friendly and there are many company-sponsored Happy Hours and holiday parties at great locations (the 2011 Christmas party was at the National Museum of the American Indian (a Smithsonian Museum in DC) and the 2010 Christmas party was at the House of Sweden in DC, just as two examples).

Cons

It can sometimes be easy to potentially slack off with regards to your work schedule or daily performance, as there is no clocking in when you get to work or clocking out when you leave. You need to manage your schedule so that you do work the appropriate hours. People without self-discipline may find it easy to fall short of the expected work hours, and would thus find themselves at a disadvantage compared to those people who put in the effort.

Advice to Senior Management

Some kind of 401k matching program would be great. That's one area I believe could be improved upon. I do realize, however, that our base salaries are higher than similar jobs earn at other companies, so it is a bit of a give and take situation. Perhaps more contests or incentive programs for the sales team (we do have a lot, but perhaps do a smaller monthly one as well).

Pros

-lots of growth, and opportunities for promotion
-fun, smart, young workplace, casual attire
-management is very accesible
-incentive trips, happy hours, company outings
-hard work is rewarded
-you learn A LOT and the training is fun (you start with a class of your peers)

Cons

Entry level pay is competitive but it takes a bit to start making a lot of money

Advice to Senior Management

Keep employees informed on direction of growth

Pros

Growing! Compensation. Professional growth. Promotions. Free healthcare options. Work from home opportunities. Talented colleagues. Very smart senior management. Not stuffy.

Cons

healthcare options for families.
young employees with a false sense of entitlement. It's a great company but kids don't realize.

Advice to Senior Management

As the company grows, you are hiring older employees with more experience. Need cheaper family healthcare and better 401k.

Pros

youthful culture - so you would make new friends

Cons

50 hour weeks-
and crappy pay even for a regular 40 hour workload standard
too much politics

Bond period,

Advice to Senior Management

If u have 300% growth , pay ur employees too. or else sulk over high attrition rate

Pros

Garage parking.

Free soft drinks and popcorn on Fridays.

Cons

Poor management.

Long hours.

Micromanaged work days.

Constant pressure to produce.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a management course or two at the local community college.

Pros

- Good place to get your feet wet in sales without having a lot of pressure
- It's a young environment & you will make many friends
- Although you have to be in the office for long hours than normal, it's a pretty relaxed environment while in the office
- Good event management software

Cons

- Other than the CEO & co founder (sometimes the VPs) no managers have any sort of decision making power
- They make you sign a 2 yr contract and have now added to the contract that you cannot work for certain companies that are NOT even competitors after you leave Cvent
- New initiatives are unrolled too early where there isn't enough bandwidth to get anything done and managers aren't accessible because they are busy with other things
- Pay is poor. When I was interviewing, every employer & recruiter said that I was underpaid for my abilities as a sales person.
- Management judges your performance by # of hours in the office, not by production. If you want to succeed and move up be prepared to work from 8am to 7pm. "Standard" Cvent hours are 8:30 - 6pm which is already a long day but trust me, that is the bare minimum.
- Brown nosing is rewarded
- No training whatsoever
- There are 3 products at Cvent: Event Management, Cvent Supplier Network, & Survey. If you decide to sign on, make sure it's on the Event management side. The Supplier Network you are selling advertising to a finite universe & the Survey division is overpriced and is a struggle. Event management is Cvent's bread and butter & you aren't selling to a finite universe.

Advice to Senior Management

Decide whether you want to be a small or large company. Understand, that large companies have work life balance and even though you would try to dispute this, you judge performance by presence in the office rather than production. Not everyone should have to brown nose and ask stupid/irrelevant questions in meetings in order for you to think that they care...there are others that care, just can figure out the answers to obvious questions that others are asking during these meetings. Give mid level management more decision making power.

Pros

One of the fastest growing BPO's (funny how they call themselves a software company) in NCR.
They pay about 5% -10% more than other call centers .

Cons

The HR strategy is -

i>hire the best by giving them a few extra bucks
ii>squeeze them for 2 years. After that they'll burn out anyways.
III>block their exit paths with legal obligation a.k.a training bond = 2.8 lakhs ransom
iV> don't develop them or else they will have better skills thus, better alternatives
v>After 2 years, sell them another 2 yr bond. If they don't buy, hit them where it hurts - bonus/appraisal
vi> If you still cant hold them, doesn't matter. In a population of 1.2 billion, suckers are not hard to find.

The owners rejoice as they rake in more blood money. The wine glasses overflow.
The employee gets poorer day by day and weaker with every drop of life sucked out by ruthless taskmasters.

And so the cycle repeats itself. No one notices anything, cries are muffled.
Profits soar and people are paid to state that this is one of the best places to work.

Moral- think twice before joining companies run by lawyers.

Advice to Senior Management

If you wish to retain people, improve conditions. Chaining them with bonds will not help you for long.
Nurture them, they will work wonders for you.

Pros

Senior management is strong and coordinated in general

Good youthful culture and nice coworkers willing to help you

Growing company

Cons

Cvent relies on cheap workforce straight from college

Higher turnover than normal causes training and knowledge problems

Pay isn't competitive compared to other companies

Advice to Senior Management

Provide competitive compensation and benefits and encourage work life balance more, to reduce turnover and good hires quitting and setting the company back