Reed Elsevier NV Employee Review

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier NV

Pros – Good place to learn the ropes of being a knowledge worker. Entry level positions provide opportunities to learn and practice customer interaction, process management, time management, etc. that are applicable in other roles in the company and/or in other companies period. Good performance at the entry level puts you in good favor with middle management.

Cons – Recruitment is shady. Sometimes, promotions out of one position into another may sometimes be driven by middle management's need to fill a position rather than the need select and hire the most competent candidate. Though, how can they be blamed when their managers and directors, the departmental and divisional managers, show favoritism towards certain employees and display a habit of announcing people into positions -- positions that were never opened for application INTERNALLY? This has all led to my distrust of the managers of my department and division -- I question their intentions and their competence when good and valuable employees feel shafted from opportunities because they never had the chance to apply because they never knew a position was opening up. SHAMEFUL!

Advice to Senior Management – Time is no excuse for preventing people with the opportunity to apply for a position. All it is is a cover-up for how poorly you've developed your reports and how poorly you managed your recruitment process. There are a lot of people that work hard at Elsevier that deserve the chance to prove themselves -- all they're asking for is the chance. Why is that so difficult to give?

I cross my fingers that Ian Smith can make some great strides in this part of the culture.