Imagination Publishing Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Imagination Publishing full-time for more than a year

Pros – I started working at Imagination in December of 2010. Because my wife, a teacher, was in the middle of a school year, management did everything in their power to make our move and transition possible, allowing me to work remotely as my wife hunted for jobs in the Chicago area. This is just one example of how they care for and take care of their employees. The leadership team has created a great culture, and I'm sad to leave. But they've helped make my time here a fantastic experience. Imagination is a great place to work.

Cons – This is a company that's doing big things. As such, it's a rapidly growing and fast-changing atmosphere, and for those who struggle with change and flexibility, it might be a bumpy ride. But if you're flexible, future-oriented and are looking for a small business with big influence, this is likely a place you'll want to check out.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the good work. Don't stop telling the team the stories of where Imagination has come from, and where it's going.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

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

Pros – They have a good list of clients to work on.

Cons – working with no clear objectives or goals in a high school type environment with dart guns being shot all around you.

Advice to Senior Management – Have some faith in your employees and understand the details of every position.

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

Former Employee – worked at Imagination Publishing full-time for more than a year

Pros – Creative employees.
Exciting clients.
Creativity is encouraged.

Cons – Hiring decisions are made in a bubble.
They are likely to hire from outside than promote from within.
Conversations with HR about leadership don't seem to matter.
The CEO makes a scary amount of decisions on things he's not close to on a day-to-day level.
Account team is spread very thin so hours are long and duties spill on to creatives.

Advice to Senior Management – Trust your people, they know what they are talking about and actually understand your clients.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Imagination Publishing as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – The team is very friendly, organized and they all seem to get along well with each other.

Cons – The work is not that exciting, or conceptually rich.

Advice to Senior Management – Management was great. I think the work is not as rewarding as one might like, because that’s the nature of their industry.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Imagination Publishing full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Hard working employees. Beautiful loft environment. Good location. An amazing mixed bag of people, working together as a team.

Cons – A very bad manager! On any given day you'd never know what to expect as far as if your manger would come in in a foul mood, or just super late. Always having to second guess tasks done, due to lack of confidence, training and patience from your manager.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to your employees. If a member of your staff states that his or her manager is abusive, do something about it! Don't let good talent walk because a VP shouldn't manage people. Not everyone is cut out to be a manager. Jim Meyers is a good guy, but he needs to pay closer attention when even his own daughter tells him that a member of his executive staff is verbally abusive and demoralizing, bulling them and making them not want to go to work. Seriously, it's a big problem. I've often thought that maybe this person has something on Mr. Meyers and that's why she's still there!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Imagination Publishing

Pros – - nice enough office space
- people are friendly enough
- some decent brands to work on
- fine work/life balance for a lot of people, because they've been there long enough to figure out how to make other juniors / interns to do their work
- if you want to cruise in and out, receive no career guidance or strong leadership, make someone else a lot of money and not get duly compensated, then Imagination is the place for you

Cons – - staff turnover is scarily high and HR does nothing to prevent it, except recruit more juniors and underpay them
- CEO is completely disconnected from most clients, except his personal favorites
- poorly structured so people at the bottom have very little room to move and get no guidance from above
- terrible leadership committee, with the exception of one member
- incredibly tight when it comes to employee compensation and rewarding employees with other extra benefits
- complete lack of internal HR - the "tough" issues are just not addressed
- "middle-management" must be v dissatisfied because they all just keep leaving
- no one really knows what anyone else there does. There's a complete lack of cross-team collaboration.

Advice to Senior Management – Get back to what you were. The promise and core of Imagination was great, back in the day, but it's since been so mismanaged it's a wonder you keep any clients. Especially with all the account people who keep leaving. Talk to your staff more, do more internal reviews and implement people's feedback. Be more transparent and get back to caring. And up the pay already, it's a joke.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Imagination Publishing

Pros – Attractive office (both the space and the employees) with an open work environment. Encouragement of collaboration as well as individual initiative (with a very strong emphasis on the latter). Access to a wealth of smart and creative people. Opportunities for travel and direct client engagement. Solid benefits. Overall, a great place to begin a career in the nebulous world of 21st century publishing, as there's a little bit of everything going on (print, digital, mobile, SM, B2B, B2C, etc.) at Imagination.

Cons – Perpetual shuffle of departments, management and employees. Preference for hiring youngsters on the cheap vs. the development & education of existing employees (anyone remember "Imagination University" or the Mentors program?), making even lateral moves within the hierarchy a challenge for the less gregarious. 'New money' is rewarded with champagne and promotions but saving money is barely acknowledged. Frivolous, fast-cash social media campaigns have begun to overtake good content and design as the preferred stock-in-trade. Though a small company, upper management can at times come across as detached, nepotistic and disingenuous. Tendency to overtax and undervalue good developers results in constant turnover in digital department and frustration for everyone else.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't lose touch with the qualities that made you a success. While it's fine to profit from trends, I fear you may fall victim to them. A capricious company identity and those inconsistent attempts to be everything to every client are not sustainable. You arrived where you are today because of many talented people who worked very hard to create high-quality editorial , digital and design content, not kids tapping out Tweets about cupcakes and cake batter.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Imagination Publishing

Pros – 1) Well, I was going to write something about working with big, recognizable clients. But many agencies have those kinds of clients. What we have are some really smart clients who enjoy pushing boundaries. That forces us to learn more about our own jobs and learn more about our industry. And that is *always* a good thing.

2) You'll be asked to create or produce things you've never created or produced before; things that currently are not in your repertoire. You'll have to figure it out. Which means thinking. Which is good.

3) Enthusiasm and a positive attitude save the day around here. Often. If you are enthusiastic about your job, your skills, your client, our company ... people will want you around. And when people want you around, they remember you. And it is those enthusiastic, positive people who are promoted to new opportunities. Not the people who've been here the longest. So, if you want to be noticed, do something to get noticed and then promote it!

4) If you are the type of person who enjoys, nay, relishes learning new things, things that may not (on the surface) have anything to do with your actual job description, you'll be on cloud-nine around here. If you are the type of person who wants to come in and have people just leave you alone so you can "do your job", well, remember: this is an agency. No one's job description is set in stone, b/c what our clients need us to do is ever-changing.

I've been with Imagination for 10 years in a number of different jobs. My career has gone from editorial (client facing), to marketing (client and media facing), to website analytics (huh?) to managing developers, producers, search marketing specialists and website analysts (account team facing and client facing) ... a trajectory I never would or could have predicted. And it would not have been possible without: 1) management giving me the opportunity to transition into these roles, and 2) my own willingness to learn new things about which I never thought I'd be interested.

Cons – This is more of a 'heads up' than an actual "dislike":

There is little to no hand-holding here. Management--and the account and content teams--fully expect new hires to jump in with both feet. There is very little ramp up time and little tolerance of wallflowers. Its OK to be the "quiet type"; it's not OK to be the person who never contributes in meetings or is afraid to sell your knowledge or abilities to clients and colleagues, or the person who constantly seems to be waiting for someone else to help you figure out what to do. If you cannot persuade others of your expertise, you'll have a difficult time here.

Also, as in nearly every other agency:

1) You'll be asked to produce many of your deliverables in compressed periods of time (i.e. the client missed their deadlines, but you cannot miss yours).
2) You'll wish you had another set of hands.

But, hey. That's agency life.

Advice to Senior Management – Be more proactive about hiring additional staff.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Imagination Publishing

Pros – Outside of the work environment, the people are great. Let me rephrase that; the non-managers are great. There seems to be an air of elitism among people with offices, despite the fact that most got them because their boss got fed up with their position in the company and left.

My direct report was extremely willing to help our department with anything. Even that person's boss was very willing to help when they could. I'd love to say who these people are, because they deserve the recognition for being good managers.

And I agree with the other reviewer who said there are 'some very intelligent people (particularly in the IT department).' They're overworked, underpaid and no consideration is given to their timelines. It's amazing ANYTHING got to clients on time with the barrage of requests those guys and girl had to put up with.

Cons – Where should I start? No compensation or recognition for helping the company save money; only for bringing in more business. To Jim (the president) only the top line matters. Most of the non-management is grossly underpaid. It seems nowadays that most employees are hired as interns and then made to feel 'lucky' that they were hired full-time, but at an extremely low salary. There is little room for personal or professional growth within the company. They have no budget for conferences that will help the company, only things like SXSW.

Advice to Senior Management – Appreciation for the work of ALL your employees would be wonderful. Recognize talent and dedication where it exists and reward it. This summer's quitting streak should be a big clue to the existence of flaws in your system. According to their website, three high-level people left the company in only a couple months. The constant reorganizations should tip you off to the lack of a stable direction you have for the company.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Imagination Publishing

Pros – Great place to get an internship, creatively-designed office, frequent office parties, opportunity to travel, high-profile clients, regular brainstorming sessions, some very intelligent people (particularly in the IT department), up-to-date technology, very nice break-room/kitchen

Cons – Felt like I was back in high school again; exclusive employee cliques, loud socializing during key office hours, senior management are often technologically inept, painfully obvious favoritism toward certain employees (regardless of qualifications or experience), extremely artificial sense of respect expressed by most employees. Also, frequent "re-organizations" with little or no forewarning. Diversity is somewhat of a joke; extreme bias toward women. CEO is in the office maybe once or twice a week, if that. Surrounding area is mostly industrial.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop relying so much on interns and try to get some diversity in the workplace. Offer opportunity for advancement to ALL employees, not just those dealing with key clients. Conduct some basic technology training sessions for upper level management. Cut down on inner office socializing and noise volume.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend