PSAV Reviews

I worked at PSAV full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Largest A / V company in the country
Room for growth

Cons – The merger between Swank and PSAV caught employees off guard
The merger between Swank and PSAV was not a smooth transition and many opportunities were missed.
The change in the CEO after three months left many feeling uneasy
Terminating VP, and Executive Management after the merger left employees uneasy

Advice to Senior Management – Hire enough labor at the individual hotels to execute Flawless Delivery.

I worked at PSAV full-time for less than a year

Pros – -Great company to work for
- Lots of room for personal growth within the company, and many opportunities for professional growth.

Cons – - Pay is 40% below industry standard.
- No respect from customers / clients. We're walked all over in the name of 'customer service'.

Advice to Senior Management – -Customer service and bettering the company costs something to the client - they're paying for it. The employees you're pushing around should be fairly and equally compensated because we're the ones doing most of the work. We are not your slaves.

-Recognizance of strengths and personal goals goes a lot further than you think. Sometimes an employee's goal isn't to work for PSAV, but to use the experience gained as a stepping stone to something better. Management needs to remember this at all times.

I was not fired, and left the company on good terms once I landed a better opportunity.

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

I have been working at PSAV full-time

Pros – I've been working at PSAV as a tech for a few years. Coworkers are great., and sometimes there's awesome opportunities to work with great clients.

Cons – I've gotten a lot of experience here, and could easily be promoted from my current position. Instead, I have to take a bunch of tests and THEN go take a hands on test with someone to prove that I'm worthy of moving up.

Here's the issue with that: I've seen a lot of people get hired by this company who have the same skill set as I do now, and they get in to the higher paid positions. One guy had NO experience whatsover, but somehow got the top tier position. He talked such a big game, and got awesome pay out of it before the company realized what happened. He had is high ranking title taken away, but they couldn't take his pay. These people were not required to take any PSAV testing for their high ranking positions. They were hired to those positions. Tis a tad bit ludicrous, if you ask me.

It's not always full time, so it's very hard to pay your bills when you don't know how much each pay check is going to be. It becomes very stressful, especially when it's already slow and they tell you your 8 hour shift was cancelled because someone cancelled their AV.

Not to mention how disheartening it is to have a bunch of awesome AV skills and not be recognized by some of your upper level management. You can do the job very well and know your property like the back of your hand, but outside techs who don't know your property are brought in to do the same job and sometimes are put as a lead on a set...then things get messed up...which wouldn't have happened if you were the lead tech...you get where this is going.

Advice to Senior Management – We work in a hotel environment. Don't get mad if the night shift ends up having to stay late. Correct us if we're wrong, but don't hold it over our heads for months (or even years) afterwards. Also, when you give any kind of criticism to your employees, don't verbally attack them. Overall it will affect your working relationship with them.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at PSAV full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Get to play with nice sound gear.

Cons – Unpredictable schedule due to working in hotel environment. 16 hour days happen. 6 day weeks are the norm.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at PSAV full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – There are great team members and property staff are always great. Great perks including property stays and travel discounts. You also get to work on some pretty interesting events.

Cons – Upper management will keep you at a certain level regardless of qualifications. Sales team are hired "salesmen" and not technically savvy. This work will consume you if you let it so work/life balance is important. Sometimes management doesn't understand this and you can feel taken advantage of.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire Sales from within. This will payoff immediately by reducing cross rentals and labor costs.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at PSAV full-time

Pros – Pay, connections, good training, cool events.

Cons – Not enough pay for hours worked

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at PSAV full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Sometimes there are interesting events to work on.

Cons – Almost everything else. Hours are way too long. Pay is way too short.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop treating your employees like numbers on a spreadsheet and start treating them like real people.

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

I worked at PSAV

Pros – Latitude given to employees to negotiate with clients.

Cons – Swank no longer exists as a result of the merger with PSAV.

I worked at PSAV full-time for more than a year

Pros – A fast pace enviroment. Management always was willing to lend a hand and help when needed. Talented crews and managers who care about provided best service possible. In the time I was there I grew professionally 4X faster then anywhere else. It was a great stepping stone to other oppurtunites.

Cons – Sometimes it was an overwhelming amount of work. Work life balance could be better.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue on course and keep growing talent. Love that you promote from with in.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at PSAV full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Largest company in our field. Ability (in theory) to move and find work in most major cities in U.S. Opportunity for scale of work which may be hard to find in smaller AV companies. Opportunity for advancement.

Cons – Overtime & weekends, even in management positions. Compennsation is questionable for the work/life balance. Recent merger between Swank and PSAV has left a lot of things uncertain - mostly the sort of environment it will be going forward and decisions about pay, scheduling. I worked with Swank before and our CEO Greg Diekemper was appointed the CEO of merged company. Three months later he's the "advisor" to the board of directors? That's a little troubling.

The merged company and both Swank and PSAV previously were owned by venture capital firms. I think the need to profit off this investment will cause some decisions to be made contrary to employee's best interests.

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