Gannett Employee Review

Former Employee – worked at Gannett full-time for less than a year

Pros – A paycheck. And prizes for most calls made during a "power hour." All to make up for a lackluster lead list.

Cons – FYI - Gannett DESC is a subsidiary of CareerBuilder. You sell ads for both online and the print publications.

Expect to be given a list of about 1700 or so businesses that have already been worked over by Gannett DESC's big brother, CareerBuilder. These businesses are "cold" businesses that haven't advertised in a year. You are not allowed on the internet, so you make about 100-120 calls a day - this means you will finish this list in about 17 business days. What to do for the rest of your time? Start over on the same list. "Uh, I know I just called you less than a month ago, and you weren't hiring then, but are you hiring now?" You never get any more leads. Your 1700 is all you get until you leave.
If you do make a big sale, and the business is franchised, the deal will immediately be turned over to CareerBuilder for the credit, which means you get NOTHING. No commission, nothing.
Many of these places are mom and pop businesses that cannot afford high rates and employ family. I was actually told that I needed to convince the owners that their nephew/cousin/etc. aren't performing as well as if they were to use CareerBuilder to find an outside worker. Shameless!

Speaking of commission, don't expect to make your goal, ever, unless you are given one of the few prime markets. The people in those markets make their goal each month, while everyone else falls short.

We have daily morning "stand-ups" which are ridiculous. They last about 45 minutes to 1.5hrs and are all about nonsense. Basically just trying to pump up the team for what is surely a completely boring and useless day pounding away at calls sure to yield very few results. It gets quite monotonous, and you start to yearn for your desk and daily set of calls. If you don't make the required 100-120 calls a day, you are questioned why and "warned," which goes in your file.

Turnover here is absurd. When I was hired, I casually asked what the average turnover was and the HR person told me "100%." Yikes!

When you are wanted out, expect to be picked on. An employee was written up for walking quickly to the door at 5pm (quitting time for 1/2 of the employees) due to a 5:30pm engagement she had - she was told that she was disturbing others with her quick walk and large swinging purse. Really??

Honestly, if you work here, don't be surprised if you're calling to the beat of a slave drum, because that's what you are.

Advice to Senior Management – Get employees better leads and for heaven's sake, allow them to use the internet to break up the day!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company