Educational Testing Service Reviews

Pros

Good people Variety of jobs/departments Good mission Business Resource Groups/Affinity Groups Good work/life balance High quality work to be proud of

Cons

Old organization trying to catch up to the newer EdTech companies Lots of restructuring to stay competitive and reduce costs in the past decade

Pros

Challenging but rewarding. Client relationships are well built. Agile workplace.

Cons

No work-life balance. Workload can make you feel like your drowning.

Pros

Good products. There are still a lot of knowledgeable employees.

Cons

Lower level jobs are being outsourced to India causing massive layoffs. Morale is all time low.

Pros

Good people who are passionate about their jobs Work hard towards creating accessible and trustworthy content

Cons

Hard workers are only rewarded with more work Change is promised, but only layoffs happen instead

Pros

If you get on the right team, working at ETS can be great. There are some amazing people who work there and some of the managers are wonderful and supportive. I worked in R&D and that department in general is very put together and processes are clear. The training was thorough and procedures were in place. ETS tries to make up for their low salaries with a great benefits package, starting with plenty of time off and an extremely flexible work environment.

Cons

ETS does not pay anywhere close to the market rate for their employees, most jobs I looked at doing similar work pay at least $20k more than I made. There have been many rounds of layoffs recently and ETS has also decided to outsource work in many departments to India. It is a disaster, I have no idea how they are going to work with the time change and many of the people they are laying off due to this outsourcing are extremely intelligent with decades of experience in the company and doing the work. There is no way to replace that with someone in India. They might be saving money short term, but in the long run, I can't see it ending well, and at that point, they will have lost their most valuable asset: the people of the company. Many people I work with have been very dedicated to the company and cherish working there. I understand that standardized testing is not doing amazing right now, but it doesn't seem like the right way to go about cutting costs. They are also changing the systems they use, for example, the new connection service is much slower than the VPN they had. While it might be cheaper on paper, it taking twice as long to do the same task because the connection is so slow is not cheaper. I am honestly glad I left when I did, the company seems to be going downhill, which is heartbreaking because I had an amazing time working there for most of my ten years with the company. I was also lucky to be on a good team. I know many coworkers who had an awful time on other teams with managers who were not very supportive, or downright bad at managing. Part of the problem is that for a Data Analyst, once you reach a certain level, there is no more opportunity for growth unless you become a manger. That is a poor construction of promotion because many people are not cut out to be managers, but have a lot of fo value to the company.

Pros

Hybrid / Remote positions are available for most job titles. The staff make the difference. Good benefits and work /life balance.

Cons

No job security. Layoffs occur monthly for the past year. New CEO has promised to grow the company but instead is cutting the staff beyond sustainable levels. Remaining staff are overworked / low morale with no end in site.

Pros

This is the sort of organization where people spend entire careers and where the employees care about the company, and the company, about the employees. Generally well-meaning non-profit.

Cons

Rapidly changing. Might be different by the time you get here. The top is very reactive to markets, and not forward-looking.

Pros

- Insurance and retirement benefits were very good. - The colleagues I had in assessment development were smart, kind, and driven. It was a good atmosphere. - Team managers always made themselves accessible. - Telecommuting options are good.

Cons

- Salary increases didn't keep up with inflation. Salary could also be better given the skills required to develop quality standardized tests. - There were rubrics/standards for promotion (which is a pro), but sometimes managers would not make enough space for people to actually develop the skills/experience necessary to meet those standards (con). - Diversity could be better (although the company is making an honest effort in the right direction toward inclusivity). - Temps have very little security and may or may not be hired long-term. Many temps were eventually brought on full-time with benefits before Covid (and were all let go during 2020/2021), but in many cases, temps could be held without any benefits indefinitely (some as long as 10+ years!). - Covid was hard for everyone everywhere, but the upper management was very cagey about layoffs (except that they would happen eventually) when they initially happened. After the first round, they had a series of unannounced layoffs. Morale was terrible, and some people in some programs were absolutely overworked, while others had very little to do because of project cuts. I can forgive them for the layoffs, but there were multiple mornings over the span of a few months where we'd have a last-minute meeting, only to find out that colleagues were let go (a week after upper management said that more layoffs are possible but not imminent). This happened multiple times, and everyone was walking around feeling like they had a target on their back. It was handled poorly.

Pros

Most of the people are really great to work with

Cons

Leadership is laying people off and overloading the staff that remains.

Pros

Good mission. Able to manage your work independently.

Cons

Not a great work life balance. Lack of job security