If you're that desperate to work here for the little pay that is typically offered, which is well below the industry standard, I'll give you some advice. Keep. Your. Head. Down. Go about your business and avoid the individuals who create drama. If you find yourself on any manager's bad side, they WILL treat you differently and you'll have little recourse.
Be prepared to work in an extremely chaotic open studio, with the managers contributing greatly to the noise level (occasional yelling, etc). There are some very toxic members of management who are often passive aggressive and have a tendency to micromanage. Higher ups will always side with the managers when there is a problem. They only care about things getting done quickly, and do not care how the designers are treated or how the managers behave. There are certain managers who skip a ton of work and come in last minute to make a ton of revisions right before a huge presentation deadline, forcing designers to stay late and redo plenty of well done designs. If anything goes wrong, you will often be thrown under the bus, so a thick skin is necessary. There are also managers here who feed on drama, so don't trust them. With time, you will find out who the good ones are. But be aware...tears in the bathroom aren't uncommon.
There is about a year-long learning curve for a designer role, but your managers will expect flawless performance after a few months of working here, unless you work with a select few managers who show more empathy. Avoid mistakes when printing and doing mock ups, or else you'll be shamed. Just stick to designing even when you're out of briefs to work on and your manager has been MIA for hours. Try to look busy or take the lunch they don't want you to take.
Avoid going over exactly one hour when you do take lunch, otherwise you will get an email calling you out for it, with everyone in the studio copied so that it's less clear who it's intended for. Still, everyone will find out anyway because gossip is their favorite form of communication. You will know that there are always a couple of vultures watching you: when you come in, how much time you spend in the bathroom, if you spend time chatting with a neighbor, how much time you spend on Pinterest or Slack, etc. However, they don't mind when certain people constantly miss work or take long lunches due to favoritism. If certain individuals tattle on others first, they get brownie points so they can get away with doing the things they report others for doing. The so-called open door policy is especially open, as everyone will find out about confidential and personal information shared with HR, often only stirring the pot more.
Last but not least...the busy season, which lasts at least 5 months out of the year, is hell. You will be overworked and burned out from working 12 hour days with no lunch break. Be prepared to have no work/life balance. If you leave on time after your daily 8 hours of work and don't stay to work overtime, management will complain about you. No matter how much overtime you work on the weekends, they only appreciate the unpaid overtime worked during the week. It's SO much sacrifice for no reward, and they don't understand the concept of positive reinforcement. Promotions are scarce, although people quit more often than they prefer to admit. There are more junior designers than senior designers in the studio because there are few promotions from within. The company would rather hire someone new from outside the company than work with someone who has less experience in order to help them grow in their role and advance. This is why this company has such a high turnover...the vicious cycle won't end until THEY admit their wrongdoing and actually be proactive in making positive changes instead of only promising to do so for years on end.
TL;DR: Don't do it. Request to become a freelancer instead of taking a full-time position. Maybe then they'll have the decency to pay you fair wages and you won't have to deal with the chaotic work environment.
