Sapient Reviews in Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL Area

Pros

Great coworkers. Big clients. Laid back atmosphere.

Cons

On some large projects, a great deal of creatives work together. This is not a bad thing, but I prefer to have a little more creative control.

Advice to Senior Management

From my experience as an intern, the leadership seems great. The creative directors do a great job of running the creative.

Pros

There are a lot of talented people at Sapient, and management is pretty good about not micromanaging or getting in the way.

Cons

If you are not "in" with someone on the top, then you are constantly vulnerable. It's really important to make relationships with the leadership. It doesn't matter if you're talented....at the end of the day, you really need to be friends with one of the top people.

Advice to Senior Management

Working at Sapient is like being in high school again. If you're friends with one of the "seniors" then you're safe. Otherwise, you're at risk. I think it could be better for the talented people who don't quite have a personality match with one of the handful of top people.

Pros

Sapient is a great place for aspiring creatives to intern. Interns are exposed to the ins and outs of working in a creative advertising agency. The work atmosphere is great, and interns are given the opportunity to work on actual global campaigns. No coffee runs.

Cons

Interns are expected to perform some menial tasks, such as tracing images for scamps. However, to even be given the opportunity to work on global campaigns as an intern is amazing!

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing. It seems like a great to work full time. Thanks for the opportunity!

Pros

They have offices all over the world so you have an opportunity to work with many people.

Cons

There is no real approach to client success for interactive work, no accountability, continue to make the same mistakes over and over. Not enough leadership.

Advice to Senior Management

Your people are your best assets. Treat them like they matter, figure out a way to deliver projects so that people can still balance work and life. Recognize people for their good work. Show employees that there is a real career path.

Pros

Casual dress, fun and young people. If your boss likes you, he/she will be your best ally and always go to bat for you. It's a really large company, so benefits are really good. Also, name recognition is nice - most people (at least in the relevant industries) have heard of Sapient (although actually this is sometimes a bad thing). Work hours are somewhat flexible, and if you need time off or to work from home sometimes, that's usually ok. The office location is good in that it's near a mall and strip centers, so there are lots of places to go for lunch.

Cons

Definitely a "club" and if you aren't part of it, then you will hate working here. Not many opportunities to expand your knowledge or skill set (in theory, yes - but in practice, no). Lots of turnover, at least in the Miami office. Clients can really suck - lots of decisions by committee and most are not open to new ideas. Pay was pretty low, but apparently they will offer a lot more if you negotiate. Sometimes you have to work really long hours - like all night. Oftentimes work is extremely tedious and feels like busy work. Not many opportunities to be creative.

Advice to Senior Management

Give your employees more opportunities to flex their creative muscles.

Pros

Sapient is very flexible when it some to your work schedule, if you need to work from home for whatever reason you are allowed to do that. Also, compared to other jobs in Miami, Sapient pays rather highly. The culture of the people is very diverse, and its kind of like a family.

Cons

I find the advertising industry to be very stressing, with high valued placements, picky clients, and insane turn around times.

Advice to Senior Management

To take more time to go over with their team their strengths and weaknesses

Pros

Some good clients, some great people

Cons

Management who rarely speaks to you; when they do, it's to talk down to you or yell; a lot of cliques - if you aren't in them, you can't get promoted; they fire people suddenly for often no apparent reason; they fire people if they get a complaint from a client even if the employee has been there a long time - they don't support their people

Advice to Senior Management

Insist your managers follow the procedures set out for promotions instead of having one person have all the control in deciding who gets a raise and who gets fired; have managers speak to employees with respect; have managers follow the Sapient values: Openness, etc.; more communication to everyone, instead of a few holding all the information

Pros

One of the most laid back work environments I've ever been in. More than once we had multiple people using the break room's Guitar Hero to play games and converse with other employee's. Monthly meetings where food and drink were brought in to keep everyone up to date on the happenings of each department were fun and informative, instead of dull and boring. More than one group did a song and dance to present their info.

Cons

A lot of long hours were regular occurrences and for reason that could've been prevented. A lot of the account managers focus so much on their clients that they forget that someone actually has to build whatever they've promised, which sometimes ends in the person building the project to be thrown under the bus because they weren't given enough time to properly complete the project.

Advice to Senior Management

Focusing so much on the clients is good, it shows that the people at Sapient care. But someone has to remember to converse with the developers and artists who actually have to build out the account projects and without talking to those people sometimes the Account Services people write checks that are impossible for the developers and artists to cash. A middle ground needs to be found between both sides so no one gets anything unexpected.