Kaplan Reviews in Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL Area

Pros

Kaplan provides a tremendous vehicle for accomplishing real change in for-profit education. The culture is extremely entrepeneurial, and the potential for career advancement for strong contributers is unlimited.

Cons

smart, passionate people can be demanding. long hours are often required.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on developing talent.

Pros

Great Cafeteria
Nice work area
Not too much micromanagement

Cons

Management is C-L-U-E-L-E-S-S
Behind the times on technology

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in technology
Stop using code that is 8 years old and try not to sweep everything under the rug

Pros

Benefits are good, 401(k), medical, dental, and Gift of Knowledge programs are all fantastic. Definitely take advantage of their Gift of Knowledge to earn a higher degree.

Cons

Too disjointed to organize itself effectively, at least for the subsidiaries they owned. Too slow to recognize different business units require different ways to manage. They manage as though all businesses ought to follow the same structure, benefits, and technological standards.

Advice to Senior Management

Accelerated growth from a few middle-to-upper management decisions may prove outstanding for the bottom line, and the careers for said management, in the short-term; yet, the long term sustainability of those decisions ARE disastrous. Steady, smart growth with always the focus on student outcomes from their entire experience at Kaplan is always the priority. That experience includes, but not limited to, the very first call they receive from a recruiter to their last conversation after they graduate with a good, better paying job.

Pros

Start-up
Constant change
New acquisition which will help with revenue and leadership issues, hopefully
Fast paced
Helping at risk students get a high school education (some graduates are the first in their family to graduate from high school)

Cons

Lack of strong leadership
Leaders not held accountable
Communications are weak therefore employees start to create their own explanations/stories
Overload employees with work and a lack of support to accomplish their job
Virtual company, but headquarter employees can not work from home, only the virtual employees
Minimal training is provided in some jobs in too short of a period of time to assess new knowledge and be successful
Set new hires up to either sink or just have their head a little above water

Advice to Senior Management

Get organizational development assistance

Pros

Kaplan, especially Kaplan Higher Education has many opportunities for advancement. They do a good job of pretending that tocare about their employees.

Cons

Kaplan Higher Education was not organized. There was no organization or standard operating procedures. I and my fellow employees also had many complaints about doing tasks that were outside of our job descriptions. The biggest down side is compensation. Kaplan pays well, but I you are a hourly employee they are very reluctant (if not unwilling) to compensate their employees for overtime. Overall, all Kaplan cares about is making money at any cost, even if that means deceiving potential students.

Advice to Senior Management

The senior managers thatI worked with were young and inexperienced.

Pros

If you don't mind starting at a low salary and can be a "puppet" there is opportunity to move forward in the company. I hear that there are those that have been with the company for a long time...there is always growth in the Education field so there should be growth in the company. Their health benefits start on day 1.

Cons

Unqualified Suspervisors/Directors...it's very clicke-same type of people group together. Being a public company-they care more about meeting numbers and not the students being enrolled. Most of the positions are underpaid. There is a lot of turn around. Overall, I find the company very tacky/unprofessional.

Advice to Senior Management

Do not make Employees wait at least 6 month to transfer to new positions. If they are qualified and there is a need-let the employee make the move. Spend some time on the "floor"-maybe you are too far removed from the daily grind?
Pay people what they DESERVE!

Pros

They are excellent at keeping motivated employees motivated, by allowing the IT department to make the IT decisions and involving every one on the team instead of just the upper management. You feel important on the team.

They are accommodating to your personal life including flexible shifts ranging from 7:00am-4:00pm to 10:00am-7:00pm and work from home one day a week.

The work is exciting and we always get to use the newest technology for product development. We are currently using .Net 3.5 in both C# and VB.

It is a stable and growing company to work for as a permanent position. Open communication with the employees, you are not in fear of your job and you know of the concerns from the President prior to hearing anything in the press or research. You are more likely to help the company make good decision when you know your job is not in jeopardy because you disagreed, which leads to a good plan in the end.

Cons

Overtime is not compensated for with Comp-Time or additional pay. The pay raises are minimal, even with high quality hard work.

Advice to Senior Management

Get a tech review from co-workers on a team before promoting a developer to a development manager.

Pros

The corporate culture here at Kaplan is fantastic, its an enormous company that feels very small and young. In a real sense, the company is so young, and they are growing so quickly, it is nice to know you are on the upside of a company, when so many others are on their way down.

Cons

Because the company is growing so quickly, there is some overhiring going on, with responsibilities not distributed properly. And, promotions are handed out so quickly, sometimes they can be a bit questionable.

Advice to Senior Management

Slow growth can be smart growth. Don't overrun your funding. Kaplan has a long road ahead, and be sure to use all of it.

Pros

The best reasons to work at Kaplan is the opportunity for career growth and advancement, great people, and the international and domestic network of affiliates. Depending on one's division, advancement is plentiful. The work/life balance is a priority and this is evident in the paid time off provided as well as the work from home option for several departments.
Kaplan's parent company is the Washington Post and because of that connection, even more opportunities for advancement or lateral movement is available.

Cons

lower level employee consideration pertaining to insurance and educational benefits. Communication and training deficiency of new hires. Enrolls incompetent students to make a profit which creates a poor work environment within some departments. Kaplan is a reactive environment rather than proactive, waiting for enough negativity or poor ROI before making changes.

Advice to Senior Management

I would ask for better health insurance or more options, free education, the enrollment of more computer literate students, instructors and employees considering that KU is an online university. I would like to see communication between departments take place more frequently as we seem to walk around so removed and in the dark about what's going on one flight up or a building over.