What is the salary like at Zenith Prep Academy?

Great pay, great support system, lots of resources.

High client load, makes organization/communication challenging at times.

It's a true shame because the pay is competitive and there was a time when you had real autonomy over managing your own schedule. My former colleagues are also some of the kindest, most dedicated people I've ever met, but there's a palpable sense of dread as everyone knows they're on a sinking ship. The good elements only make the toxic corporate mindset and the blatant disregard for both employees and students even more frustrating.

Of all the places I've worked, the relentless focus on profit over people here is truly disheartening. The sole goal is to maximize caseloads, with an explicit target of 100+ students just to be considered for advancement. You are under constant pressure to add more students, regardless of your capacity to provide quality service. It's abundantly clear that money is the only priority, not the actual well-being or education of the students. This greed is unsustainable and will be the company's downfall. The culture of distrust is cemented by the requirement to install spyware on your computer, so they can micromanage "productivity." This isn't about efficiency, it's about spying to disprove your claims of being over capacity, ensuring they can force even more students onto an already unsustainable caseload.

Great pay, good people, flexible schedule. Good training, it's a good position.

It's a sales job but not presented as a sales job. It was a good job, just not for me.

You create your schedule, you manage your time and caseload, rewarding, 1:1 mentorship for staff and students, good pay

Must work some nights and 1 weekend day, occasional unreasonable clients

salary, some flexibility with schedule

changes since new CEO took charge- work schedule used to be very flexible, but is now very micromanaged

Pay is pretty good, especially coming from education background Benefits Flexibility 401K

Training wasn't very supportive, and the admissions counselor role is a sales position, and though the training contains a great deal of company information, there's very little sales skills training, which would have been helpful.

Remote and flexible schedule. High pay, but doesn't really matter because they hire you just to lay you off later.

I was completely blindsided when I was laid off from this company after performing well in my role and holding a master’s degree in education. Just one day before the layoffs, the president held a company-wide Town Hall claiming we were in a strong financial position. The next day, several hardworking employees, myself included, were let go without warning. No severance was offered. Leadership said the company was “not in a position to offer severance,” which directly contradicted the previous day’s message about our financial health. While working here, I saw firsthand how many families were dissatisfied with the services they received. Complaints became so overwhelming that the company had to create an entire department just to handle them - concerns that are echoed in the numerous public 1-star reviews. A company that presents itself as caring about students and families, yet consistently fails to demonstrate the same care or consideration for its employees and their families. I cared deeply about my work and the students and families I served, which makes this all the more disappointing. The lack of transparency, empathy, and support shown during this process spoke volumes about where employees truly stand in the company’s priorities.

-Most of the people are incredibly nice and mean well -Starting salaries are competitive -Fully remote company

-Zenith may have started out data driven and with good intentions, but they are now completely revenue-focused. Leadership doesn’t care about doing quality work or bandwidth of counselors. -They lie about client retention and transfer rates between counselors. They only care about service and retention until families have paid their senior year bill and can no longer get their money back guarantee. -Counselors constantly leave abruptly or are let go without warning and students have to be shuffled around, which leads to even more retention problems. -Staff are graded on retention and Google reviews. They constantly push counselors to hound families for Google reviews. -Families and counselors constantly ask for data, but there is none to be found. -Management is beyond unorganized and there is no professional development and minimal training. -Zenith hired a bunch of people, let them quit their jobs, and then implemented a hiring freeze out of the blue. They also fired multiple people with no warnings or performance improvement plans. -They are implementing spyware to track performance, active work hours, and even keystrokes. This seems like a reaction to not having enough “proof” to fire more people for performance. -They are clearly having major financial troubles.

For every pro, there is a bigger con.

Fully Remote: Everyone is intentionally isolated and communication channels are limited. There is no company culture, teams, or relationship building. Compensation: In the industry, this is considered a high starting salary. Raises are based on student numbers, gender, and the "good ole boys club". Training: Training is watching videos from the early 2020's of meetings with students and parents. There is no student curriculum to follow, no program outlines, or plan to train employees. Ongoing training is non-existent. Leadership: the group of admin who are making decisions for the entire company have no idea what's actually going on with their employees. Policies change weekly and new leadership is announced and then turned over. Positions are dissolved/laid-off/restructured and then immediately rehired. Culture of fear: There are no clear guidelines, structures, or an employee handbook. People are let go at will for "performance". There are no KPI's, PIP's, or effective ways of giving feedback resulting in thinking that you're doing something wrong all the time. Mass confusion: What they sell -- data, robust programming, proprietary secrets -- doesn't exist. Therefore, employees can't be trained on what is being sold which results in angry clients and customer service issues. This typically results in the employee being fired for poor performance. Data: What data? The "proprietary data" that is widely advertised on their website and ads does not exist. The data points advertised on the website and in sales calls are random numbers that sound good for marketing. These marketing points are not backed by actual Excel spreadsheets with actual numbers and actual application results. This company has zero year over year data. Systems: What systems? There is no way to know what student is assigned to who and where they are in the process because there is no client management system accessible by all. Employees are not valued: Employees are expected to have 80 students or more. Your worth to the company is how many students you are assigned no matter the personal cost. If you are a woman, you will not be promoted or taken seriously. Student Services: making money is the goal of this organization, not student mentorship and success. Work Life Balance: Does not exist. The lack of systems, reliable training, and management support results in working long hours. People who have been promoted here have prided themselves on working 24/7. Financial Concerns: it seems that this company is having major financial difficulties consistently "restructuring" and letting people go. Bottom line: What they market and sell is not what they do. Revenue and paying out investors is always first priority over employees and the student experience.

It's a true shame because the pay is competitive and there was a time when you had real autonomy over managing your own schedule. My former colleagues are also some of the kindest, most dedicated people I've ever met, but there's a palpable sense of dread as everyone knows they're on a sinking ship. The good elements only make the toxic corporate mindset and the blatant disregard for both employees and students even more frustrating.

Of all the places I've worked, the relentless focus on profit over people here is truly disheartening. The sole goal is to maximize caseloads, with an explicit target of 100+ students just to be considered for advancement. You are under constant pressure to add more students, regardless of your capacity to provide quality service. It's abundantly clear that money is the only priority, not the actual well-being or education of the students. This greed is unsustainable and will be the company's downfall. The culture of distrust is cemented by the requirement to install spyware on your computer, so they can micromanage "productivity." This isn't about efficiency, it's about spying to disprove your claims of being over capacity, ensuring they can force even more students onto an already unsustainable caseload.