WHAT. THE. EFF. - Event Coordinator MANA Group Employee Review

Excellent company with fantastic corporate structure. The training system for sales and marketing on major campaigns is incredibly solid, and reflects real-life matters in and out of the filed, from conducting oneself as a professional salesperson, to running a team, and ultimately opening a business. I was very fortunate to have worked here under the talented and naturally driven CEO, Bart Yates, as well as the talented office owners, team leaders, and hard-working executives. Let me make a very clear point here. Please pay attention. Yes, I've read the various reviews of ex-employees, as well as everything I noted during my time there. Any mode of training that prepares people for real success is hard. I mean HARD. And it is meant to be. MANA does not lead you to believe that this is some kind of 'anyone can do this with no effort and win' mentality. Their principles are based on real sales & marketing clout, as well as business strategies that work. The development program is superb. And FREE. I witnessed the investment right there before my eyes. The job invariably weeds out who is meant to do this from those who may want to focus on other career pursuits. They look for driven winners who want to win. Their is a structure in place that looks past the 'wham bam thank you mam' image of some realms of sales. This is a rigorous training program that really places emphasis on molding an account executive into a complete, competent, business-oriented sales person. One who can not only organize and succeed with multi-faceted aspects of business and sales, and fundraising, but develop others in the process.

I never saw any cons at all. This was an experience in business training -- one that sees it as a test as well as a lesson right from the get go. If anyone sees any cons here, then this is a matter of perspective. By that, I mean if people complain that this is/was tough, hard, full of long hours, required absolute focus, dedication and relentless fanaticism about the tasks in hand, then they may need to go and read up on how successful people achieve their success in life. I saw some incredibly talented individuals come through this program. The hours and levels of input required are incredible. No joke. This is HARD. And that's a GOOD THING. Do you see what I'm trying to say here? It's not for everyone, which is a good thing i.e. not a con in any way. MANA (as well as the other successful offices opened under Bart Yates) states this from the beginning, and does not try to mollycoddle anyone into thinking it is easy. Instead, it focuses on solid strategies and game plans devised to take people through the process; success development; the forging of winners. On an obvious side note, that's what it often takes in life to be a winner: input, drive, sacrifice, learning, following successful examples, and relentless practice in order to improve. Correct if I'm wrong, but no one should expect a path to success in life that's a walk in the park. What else do you expect from doing well in the corporate world, business, sales, marketing, start-ups, or going it alone, and so on? Please.

There is a legitimate opportunity to make decent money and there is a pyramid structure you can move up in.

Regarding the Pros - Very few people will actually reach that top tier of success. During my 2 weeks there I noticed only 15% - conservatively speaking - are making enough money to justify the work. And only a small handful will make it to the end-goal 100K position. Don't let the luster of working for charities blind you from the obvious downfalls. It's tremendously tedious work being on the field and trying to stop unsuspecting NYers and tourists and attempting to have them sign up for recurring donations. The vast majority of the few people that do stop for you will not be wanting to give you credit card info. The atmosphere is almost cult-like. The fellow employees can be awesome people to hangout with but I would not recommend this to anyone. If you are looking for a pyramid scheme like this then I would suggest going to a legitimate organization like Yelp with their Account Executive positions that works more or less the same - but at least at Yelp you have benefits, a fully stocked kitchen and you're indoors. Hours are also kind of brutal - especially if you travel to get to the office. I was only a 25min subway ride away but would enter the office at 10am and leave at 8pm on good days.