Pros
- You’ll learn a lot quickly and gain solid foundational PR experience.
- Opportunity to build media relationships with well-known outlets.
- A few genuinely kind and talented coworkers who try to support each other despite the culture.
Cons
Micromanagement is constant, and junior employees are overloaded with unrealistic expectations and impossible deadlines. The rules are inconsistent, favoritism is blatant, and speaking up about unfair treatment often backfires. Some managers are unprofessional, inappropriate, and clearly on power trips, while others are just stretched too thin to lead effectively. You can work late, deliver great results, and still feel like it’s never enough. The culture rewards compliance, not creativity, and it’s hard not to feel anxious every single day.
What’s worse is the inconsistency, the same leaders who insist on office attendance often work fully remote themselves, many not even based in Texas. It’s frustrating to be required to sit in an empty office just to join Zoom calls all day when collaboration doesn’t actually happen in person. It is a culture of “do as I say, not as I do.” And when it comes to HR at Ruder Finn, (Touchdown’s parent company) things only get worse. Complaints aren’t handled seriously, responses are defensive and dismissive, and there’s a clear lack of empathy or accountability. The HR team treats people like liabilities, not humans.
And if you don’t believe me, ask half the team who left within just a few months. That kind of turnover doesn’t happen in a healthy environment, it happens when people are burned out, underappreciated, and tired of the toxic culture.
I genuinely believe I did everything I could to succeed here, but this environment makes that impossible. There are far better agencies out there that value balance, respect, and actual people-first culture, this is not one of them.