Hill Holliday Reviews

Pros

Nice supervisors/mentors. Feeling of comraderie amongst intern group. decent office and location, HR and other employees want you to get the most out of experience.

Cons

could have been given more interesting projects to work on. A lot of the tasks were amateur and not challenging.

Advice to Senior Management

give us as much work as you can. No one likes to surf the net at work when we can be contributing.

Pros

1. Great Company benefits - Health, Dental, Vision, onsite haircuts, recycling program, art gallery, and more make it an overall great culture

2. Genuinely smart people - You'll work with a of really great people who for the most part are nice, collaborative, and SMART. Stay long enough and you'll work your way into the fabric of their family.

3. Company is well esteemed in Boston and surrounding area so it's a great boost to your resume for future moves

4. Office is great, the people are great, the intellectual and creative stimulation are unmatched. There is a constant encouragement from company leadership to attain and share knowledge through out the agency. This is great!

Cons

1. NO work-life balance - Absolutely worst part of working here, although this doesn't carry through out the entire organization. Depending on your account, department and managers style of your you can luck out but ask up front if this is something that is important to you.

2. Pay rate isn't always comparable to job description or performance. Trust me, negotiate on the high side, because they will get every pennies worth out of you during the busy times.

3. Like most ad agencies, the creatives run the place and their word is final. So forget about that deadline you have , to present concepts to the client. You WILL be late, and you better devise a back up plan how to deal with situation... but then again a good account person already knows that.

4. Pods! Anyone MS level and down is stuck in a noise, messy environment called the pods. They are a 6 people work bench with 3 people assigned to each side. Forget concentration, for get not being distracted... get ear plugs or plug in your iPod to get anything done. There a few coping mechanisms
                    A.) phone rooms - sometimes you have to wait in line or go to another floor, but if you have to call your doctor or have a quick conversation without distractions, then you can run into a private room.
                   B.) There are common areas around the agency, which if you are Sup level and above and have a laptop... you can get away from the noisy pods as needed.

5. Technology availability doesn't coincide with function/ performance - Basically, anything below a Acct. Sup. has to function with a desktop computer and no BB or email device, but the expectation of management is clearly that you are accessible and aware of email close to 24/7. So you have to self fund a smart phone, and panic when you have back to back meeting of the havoc that could be waiting in your inbox from being away for so long. Not a very productive dilemma to be in, and definitely not conducive to great work. I know for a fact that other competitive agencies in the area (Mullen, Digitas & more) provide laptops to all levels, even their account coordinators on their first day of work.

Advice to Senior Management

There needs to be some sort of compensation for people who regularly work 60+ hours around the clock, I don't know if it's a bonus system, ETO or something but the lack work life balance is unhealthy, no matter how great of a place work is. This should be a theme of the "healthy lifestyle" they promote.

Sometimes it's not the quantity of benefits but the quality. I would recommend that they develop some sort of tuition reimbursement policy if people have been at the agency for a certain amount of time, especially. It would only make the agency smarter and stronger.

Pros

Benefits, prestige, access to huge amounts of connection, ability to work on great brands. Hill has a beautiful office and HR has thought of ever benefit and way to keep employees happy.

Cons

Emotionally run versus business driven company. Favoritism. Lack of process. Company says stuff like "we're all digital," but doesn't back up new mantras by training, setting priorities or supporting staff.

Advice to Senior Management

Think about what each of your senior leaders are doing to move the business forward and how they are contributing to employee morale, growth and the best work Hill can do. Does each EVP/ SVP carry their weight and treat their staff fairly?

Pros

The people are great, the hours are decent.

Cons

THe pay is low, the turnover is heavy and opportunities for promotions are rare.

Advice to Senior Management

i will need to think this question through,

Pros

-Great Rep
-Alot of Team Players
-Business Casual
-On Site Barber
-Wonderful training
-Located in the heart of the city of Boston

Cons

-Low Pay
-"ok" Benifits
-promotions are very hard to come across on
-Hit hard by the recession (just like many of the other Ad agencies)

Advice to Senior Management

Develope an atmosphere that will make your employess "want" to work harder. You get the vibe that many employees are at Hill Holliday just to get the experience, and then leave.

Pros

HH is really a big family. The people are nice, extremely intelligent and all willing to work hard for the client's best interest.

Cons

Not a good work-life balance. Pay for junior staff is extremely low for the work/hours put in.

Advice to Senior Management

Take more time to get to know your people, you could learn a lot!

Pros

Great team, New account, fun organization

Cons

Lack of responsibilities
No direction
Given very basic work to do

Advice to Senior Management

Professional/Career Development for new employees

Pros

It is a well known company with a good reputation. Most people know and respect the name. It is a very posh office.

Cons

You really are expected to be there until the work is done, whatever time that is. It was not uncommon for people to be there until midnight and in some cases people actually stayed and pulled all nighters.

Advice to Senior Management

Try ti understand and be respectful of people's lives and work life balance.

Pros

HHCC does take care of their employees. Even in the current economy they offer additional benefits to all employees like yoga, a walking club, Anniversary Party, Thanksgiving reception, etc.

There are many opportunities for professional growth as the agency is innovative and forward thinking you're able to work in areas that are of geniunely interest.

Cons

It's a hard working Agency. It's not a 9-5 job and sometimes it is 9-5...on Saturday or Sunday. There are times where the work/life balance goes out the window, but typically it's only for a short time during a busy period.

Advice to Senior Management

I actually like the direction the Agency is going in. I think it's smart to constantly look ahead to new innovations and trends to bring and add value to clients.

Pros

This is a good place to start your career and there are a lot of opportunities for growth. It's also a fun environment.

Cons

Low pay for entry level or non-manager positions. Job stability can be iffy in NY since it operates on mainly one account that holds up the entire NY office.

Advice to Senior Management

Better compensation for non-manager positions could help the high turn over rate. They need to also do more new business pitches so they have a wider client base.