Pros
Net Conversion is currently on a hiring spree in response to a resignation spree, so hopefully this helps someone. Casual dress code, parking pass downtown, YMCA Membership, office amenities (scooters, big kitchen, coffee, La Croix/Soda, arcade games, in-office bar) Pre-Covid activities likely(?) to be reintroduced: weekly catered lunches, groceries to go in the big kitchen, company Uber/Lyft accounts to take you to monthly team Happy Hours You develop close relationships with the people you work with. The people who have been with the company for years have a wealth of knowledge and passion for what they do, and it’s very cool to both learn from them and watch them in their element. Everyone is extremely proud of the work they do. Agencies are a concentrated, fast-paced environment to learn about the marketing/advertising industry. For the most part, you are not micro-managed. You have enormous freedom to come up with your own test ideas and solutions to improving campaigns and trying new things. Flex Time is very flexible, albeit extremely unregulated. Rather than getting sick days or personal days, you get 10 vacation days, and then if you need to go to the doctor in the middle of the day, you just chat your manager “is this cool?” and put it on the company calendar.
Kontras
It would be easy to chalk up many of Net Conversion's issues to growing pains, as their culture thrived when they were at a smaller size, but they have struggled recently and unfortunately some cultural issues could have been avoided with proper guidelines in place. The crossroad I believe Net Con is at is 1) small startup with your buddies and 2) big agency bringing in big bucks. Unfortunately, they can't choose both. (Or, they shouldn’t, because it’s not working. Net Conversion will be quick to tell you how Not Corporate they are, but rules exist for a reason). One issue is with hiring. In the past two years, Net Conversion has repeatedly hired an outside friend (of friend, ad nauseam) to fill a position, often times over an internal employee for that role. Usually, those hires are not fully qualified. (In fact, several of those "friend of" hires have failed, and those people are no longer with the company.) One of the Friend Hires was Human Resources. This has created and will continue to create turbulence. This is frustrating to current employees, especially when outside hires come in at levels higher than their own. What hope do current employees have of working up and getting promotions when it's more likely the company will hire someone else for that role. (And for more money. At the time of writing this review, there are two employees in the same role, with the same title, and same educational background. Employee #1 has worked for Net Conversion for years. Employee #2 was just hired, and makes double Employee #1's salary. Does this mean that Net Conversion values external experience more than their own?) This bleeds into promotions. The people are hungry for them, and it’s because that is seemingly the only way to get a raise (which the people are hungry for because for many, the salary is not great, although there is a wild variance). There is a chasm between title and competence. There are people who are Senior Analysts or Leads and move the chains way more than people at a “manager” level. Another issue is with work/life balance. It is an unspoken expectation (although sometimes spoken) to have work email and chat on your phone. If a client needs something over the weekend, part of our “service” is timely replies. This may be industry standard when working with live campaigns, but exhausting nonetheless, especially when Net Conversion is constantly touting Work + Life and not Work vs Life. They benefit from a Work + Life perspective, because then there is no separation. See the earlier review from September, “An Honest Review” for details on weird social favorites. I can’t say that no one listens to you. Managers/Execs have open door policies and they will hear you out if you go to them to talk. While they will listen, sometimes they will just disagree with you after. And it’s usually when it’s about a criticism. In 2019 and 2020, Net Conversion had double digit turnover each year. This is not great for a company with ~50 people. I sincerely hope Leadership is able to make changes to stop the trend.