Journal Communications, Inc. Reviews

Pros

-Hybrid work model (WFH FT if you want) - Very supportive team from the top down. The sales manager, Jordan Moore, is everything you could ask for in a leader. - Opportunity for travel

Cons

None. It just wasn’t the right fit for me.

Pros

You get to travel and can be pretty bad at your job without getting fired

Cons

I think this company once started out as a good idea, but has sold it’s soul to stay on life support in the dying print media market. You’ll go sell ads to a magazine that no one reads and which is often left in the closet of a local chamber of commerce, while shaking down small businesses to buy four figure ad spaces. If a business doesn’t participate you then go to a Chamber sponsor who then tries to guilt them into “buying an ad” and supporting the Chamber. After a while you can’t watch good people waste their money on a worthless magazine that just copy pastes census data or a “town website” that gets about ten visitors a day.

Pros

Do not work here, waste of time.

Cons

Waste of time, management only cares about their numbers.

Pros

Great Benefits, wonderful people, good location

Cons

Long hours, paying for parking

Pros

With COVID the work was virtual and I didn’t have to see these people.

Cons

Poor management, small group of middle managers have huge sway over decisions. CEO is checked out.

Pros

Small, nimble company in niche print publishing

Cons

Great relationships but not alot of opportunity for growth

Pros

Traveling, unless you have to be back in the office on Thursdays.

Cons

Using your own money until reimbursed, Too many VP’s, Manager try to take bigger accounts from you

Pros

Other sales reps and manager are great and supportive. Good 2 weeks of sales training if this is your first sales job. You travel every week which can be fun but is also exhausting.

Cons

Product is not competitive. You sell ads in a magazine that no one reads and on a website that only generates traffic to a handful of pages but in a sales pitch you essentially mislead the client/prospect communicating to them that their page on the website will get that traffic. In reality most of the magazines that are printed sit in a closet and are never distributed. You are paid on a draw so stress is very high, health insurance is super expensive, you dont have a CRM to track leads or pipe ..its all on an excel document, your food stipend is $20 per day. Bottom line is this is a great job to cut your teeth in sales and learn how to build value for a product that has no value and get a ton of rejection. I hit my goals on all my projects but taking money from good, honest, hardworking businesses for advertising that was complete garbage ( and everyone in the company knows it) was sucking out my soul so I left.

Pros

Very young, hip work environment on the surface, and truly talented, hardworking coworkers, albeit very few for long, so swap contact info quickly. They do a great job of hiring very talented people who continue to produce a great product for them.

Cons

Beware: Not much good to speak of with this company. It's all show. Very toxic, dysfunctional work environment once you get in there. They hand out great titles, make big promises, but don't let anyone actually do their job. Micromanagement at its very core here. The president doesn't trust anyone. Only he and one other person in the company make any decisions, and everyone else just runs around madly trying to implement them before they change their mind and have everyone running around redoing everything again. Then, the cycle repeats. All under the guise of being "innovative". They will demand ideas, but are only interested in their own. And, you better be too, if you want to work there. Very narcissistic leader; very demanding with a very schizophrenic leadership style. They prey on young professionals without any real life work experience, in the hopes of keeping them because they don't know any better yet. Anyone with any previous experience in an actual professional work environment doesn't put up with this long, so they continue to have a high turnover, while refusing to recognize it, or value any of the high caliber people they continually burn through. They have nice offices and a good facade, so they just go hire more. The cycle continues.

Pros

If you are a "travel" animal, it's a great way to see the country, but beware, its a sales "churn and burn! You will always start out good, because that is the way the system is set up. Everyone is typically nice to you. Great company outings and the appearance of a good company to work for. Good overall products are produced. *this is a very true review, I wish I was enlightened before I started here*

Cons

Be careful of what you are "not" told, that is what gets you. Watch the conversation about the draws, their goal is to get you to think you will do well, and such, not "lose" any money when you don't! The back end bonuses are a fable. You are "not" given your bonuses because chances are you won't last that long. They only want you to have a few successful projects, and then, the push is for you to leave because they see that you will figure out the gimmick! If you do accept a position as an Integrated Media Manager, listen to your "customers!" They will tell you the company's communication is poor, and for the most part, they are 100% correct!