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Initiative Reviews
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Full-timePart-timeApprove of CEO
Mat Baxter
9 Ratings
Pros
Super nice people and work environment (in 17 reviews)
People are nice as well, and you can speak casually to one another (in 8 reviews)
Cons
Low pay, long hours, worthless work (in 37 reviews)
Reality is turnover can be high because people get burnt out and work/life balance varies from account to account but this is standard (in 15 reviews)
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"Associate"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI worked at Initiative full-time
Pros
Good place to get your feet in the door
Cons
Teams may be silo'd at times
Initiative 2017-08-17 13:36 PDT![Initiative Logo]()
"Digital partnerships"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendApproves of CEOI have been working at Initiative full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
Office space and people and/or team
Cons
Salaries and advancement timing needs to improve
Initiative 2017-08-05 09:17 PDTHelpful (1)
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"Great place to learn a lot!"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Initiative full-time (More than a year)
Pros
The work is challenging yet rewarding in that you are tossed into the fire very quickly and you learn a lot. Great place to get familiar with the media/advertising industry as you get exposed to and get to work with lots of different teams and parts of the business. Additionally, Initiative has a lot of corporate resources under the IPG umbrella so taking advantage of their trainings and courses is also a huge plus when trying to expand your knowledge and skillset.
Cons
It's the agency life baby! You work long hours, get ground to dust and if you're unlucky enough you'll be stuck putting out fires most of the time with endless client fire drills and their demanding untimely requests. Reality is turnover can be high because people get burnt out and work/life balance varies from account to account but this is standard.
Advice to Management
The rebrand is cool, the agency seems to have become a bit more cohesive especially with the work-showcases every couple months. The culture is growing slowly but surely; keep it up.
Initiative 2017-07-12 22:09 PDT![Initiative Logo]()
"Great to Start"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsNeutral OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at Initiative full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Experience fast paced, fully integrated multi channel environment
Cons
Need improvement with upper management
Advice to Management
Organization/Mentorship needed
Initiative 2017-07-20 20:03 PDT![Initiative Logo]()
"Mediocre At Best!"
StarStarStarStarStarI have been working at Initiative full-time
Pros
Office Space
People
Location
Free Coffee Bar
Beer GardenCons
Lack of career growth
Lost of clientsInitiative 2017-07-18 14:00 PDTHelpful (1)
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"Financial Analyst"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
Neutral OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Initiative full-time
Pros
Culture of the company is amazing. Very laid back.
Cons
The job is very fast paced. You need to keep up with the daily ad hoc requests. Also, there's no real team structure.
Initiative 2017-07-12 12:25 PDTHelpful (1)
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"Beware - get ready to compete in a show off competition"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI have been working at Initiative full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
Cool office space, lots of free beer, free coffee.
Cons
Snobby attitude, egomaniacs, cliquey groups, people talk about each other constantly. Everyone is trying to prove they are smarter than everyone else.
Advice to Management
Send a serious crackdown message to upper mgmt about how employees should be treated. Play fair. Don't show favoritism. Stop with the double standards. If one employee is wrong for doing something, the next should not be held to a different standard.
Initiative 2017-06-03 08:26 PDTHelpful (2)
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"Great team environment"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOPros
Excellent professional environment that fosters team building and leadership skills.
Cons
Turn over is fairly high
Initiative 2017-05-08 11:52 PDTHelpful (1)
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"Inconsistent Experinces"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Positive OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at Initiative full-time (More than a year)
Pros
-Perks
-Office is incredible (NYC)
-Great accounts to work on
-People are great
-VERY generous with expensing transportation, food etc when working after hours or are attending work events.Cons
-Hours were insane
-High turnover
-Team organization changed constantly
-INCONSISTENT depending on client/team: some teams worked decent hours, while others were VERY under-staffed and worked very, very late on a regular basis.Initiative 2017-05-19 06:07 PDTHelpful (2)
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"Terrible company losing clients"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at Initiative full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
Young office with a lot of recent grads
Typical perks that come with working in media
Beer Garden
Some cool clients
Pretty good about letting you take time off
Promotions cycle is pretty clearCons
Horrible pay-- below industry standard (even for media) and they won't let you negotiate.
HR is joke and a half-- When we were looking to hire a new team member they just dumped 50 resumes in my email without prescreening them.
Losing major clients -- not quite sure what their future holds
Some teams are super cliquey and spread office gossip (drawback of a young office)
You'll be asked to work on new clients or take on the role above you due to high turnover which sounds exciting but will never be compensated.
Not a place to stay for more than a year or so to build up your resume.Advice to Management
Reward your current staff and listen to their complaints
Initiative 2017-05-11 19:41 PDT
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