Pros
Pros: They pay you. If you're a white male with a fraternal attitude, you'll do okay here. There are opportunities for commission and switching roles if yours doesn't suit you. There are some really gem employees here who are a joy to work with so long as you can get around the misery, misogyny, and micro-managing.
Cons
Cons: This is a small company of around 15-20 people. For anyone who is different, intelligent, nerdy, geeky, of color, non-Christian, or if you are a woman, you will not feel welcome here. You will be surrounded by inappropriate, inconsiderate, or just plain unintelligent comments by the owner as well as several of the others in the office. This is not controlled or remedied. There are PI and HR violations all over this office. There is no HR to whom to take your issues with management. There are unrealistic (immediate) goals, so everything is an urgent priority, making employees constantly stressed and behind. Employees are contacted on their days off from work. There is zero drive to be considerate of employees in the office or of the employees who interview for their clients. You may as well work at a hectic corporate office because at least the benefits will be better, and they have an HR department. The office space is an open-air concept with low wall cubes, so you can see and hear everything and everyone all of the time - and half the employees are recruiters, so they are on the phone almost all day. The owner is by far the biggest bottleneck and negative influence to the operation and the employees who work here. He often tells people to do things, then later yells at them for doing them, but there's no email trail for defense one way or the other. He does not read or reply to most emails, important or not, which allows for missed deadlines (your deadlines, his deadlines, company deadlines). He is disinterested in whether or not his employees have what they need to be successful at their jobs, let alone be happy with a desire for growth. He sits at a tall desk at the front of an open room so he can keep an eye and ear on all his employees at once (a reason he is proud to support), and then yells out questions or instructions, either to the group or individuals; this is distracting to everyone, it is inefficient, it allows for inconsistencies, and makes it difficult to concentrate. Rude remarks are made about employees during company meetings - that would clearly be HR violations - in order to drive a point. He belittles or is condescending to almost all the women who work here (and some of the men, too). He is consistently argumentative with a fixed mindset rooted in antiquated methods and a refusal to be swayed by facts, laws, or technologies; there is only the desire to be correct and absolute. Any mistakes made by the owner are redirected to the employees, which shows a lack of accountability let alone leadership. Any simple request to make work easier or more efficient is plainly refused. The owner grossly misuses corporate terminologies which only confirms that he's not accurately educated on how to run a business, and his employees in turn are not correctly educated either. The company in general is a fixed environment, not a growth environment. There is no accountability, honesty is only used when convenient, facts are inconsistent, aggression runs laterally to hubris, constructive criticism is absolutely denied, immaturity is rampant, and there is frequent (and I mean frequent) retaliation toward employees. This is not an uncommon problem for many companies. A very select few small companies manage to figure out that perfect mix of culture, growth, and business, and this company is not on the short list. The only culture that exists here is in the two-month-old Tupperware in the refrigerator. The only diversity is in the day of the week. You are not trusted to work from home, so if you have young kiddos, this isn't the place for you. You will be reprimanded for having to take sick days.
