Pros
- Fast promotion cycle - $$ is competitive
Cons
I normally wouldn't leave a review but some of the ones I've been seeing lately have pushed me to write this. Let's break down the cons: - Skills non-transferrable: Everything in Diffusion stays in a vacuum and is non-transferrable to other agencies. The 'unique' tracker and billing system, forecasting, time, etc. The 'best practices' you learn (i.e., how to draft a client email, how to handle bad news) are backwards. I feel bad for JR staff as they learn the building blocks of PR. The promotion systems moves JA's up to fast... some of these "AE's and SAE's" are in for some real trouble when they leave. - No real creative campaigns: There is no opportunity to work creatively here. No media strategies to draft, no big ideas to sell in, no creative campaign nada. It's truly a pitch shop. - Con clients; We promise clients the world and then con them into paying big $ for small listicles. They all leave after 6 months it's a rotating door and you're being flung constantly from account to account. The way the programs are set up creates insane pressure for the team. You can't predict hits or force media to write, why are we backing ourselves into this corner? - Micromanged: If you started an email with "hi, hope all is well!" they'd change it to "hello, hope you had a nice weekend!" -- bizarre power trips and holier than thou syndrome over there. They clearly have no trust in the people they hire, big red flag. - Unsupportive: Creative out of the box thinking is shunned. Good ideas have been shot down because they're not what the MD has in mind or she doesn't like the person speaking. New processes and ideas are shunned because it's "not the way we've done it before". No growth allowed, no forward thinking. - Sorority: Predominantly a white, all female identifying agency. Very cliquey based on the day and the stars. Major gas lighting. No diversity or outside perspectives. Put employees on blast and make them answer very mean and inappropriate q's. - Toxic: They'll make you think that people are leaving because they couldn't "handle the challenge" or "weren't a right fit" -- anything to avoid addressing the main issues of the agency. The work life balance is off, the stress is insane for the insignificant value of the work we do and there are really only a few people who want to see you succeed, truly. The rest are out to get you. The way "issues" are handled in an open forum like you're being voted off of Survivor. Probably some major confidentiality laws being broken there, but I digress. I cannot stress enough how miserable I was and how I actually regressed professionally. I was second guessing my writing skills, media relations, client relations -- everything. Sad logging onto work, not inspired, not supported. Do yourself a favor and don't answer the recruiter email.