Pros
Job is a decent starter job after college with a fun environment and great introduction into the marketing world. I was able to join one of the biggest accounts Wavemaker has and learned a lot from the people there and genuinely enjoyed working with them. Also great for moving quickly within the industry as you can typically expect to be promoted after a year to two to a sr. associate, and then a year to two and a half to manager. You also have the ability to work with millions of the dollars which is great experience for someone out of college. Culture For the most part, people at Wavemaker are extremely easy to get along with typically younger crowd so it's a nice transition from college into the work life. Another benefit of working on the larger accounts is that vendors will take you out on outings to get your business. Time-Off Employees have a very flexible vacation days. All employees can take up to 19+ days if worked for a full year with directors getting up to 30 days off.
Kontras
Overall Would not recommend working here. Salary is lower than market value, unable to get raises unless you have outside offers. No culture from company due to high turnover, very dependent on the team you join or what you cultivate. People are very average, not very many exceptional employes. Company talent is below average, hard to find mentors. Be prepared to work late with no OT if you're a sr. associate and up. Company future very dependent on new accounts received. Salary Biggest con is probably the salary. The salary is around 10-20% under market value and as a result attracts less talented employees. I was fortunate enough to have intelligent mentors but talking to other teams I can just see the disparity between my previous teams and their teams. Standard is $35k for associates with OT, $50k for senior associates no overtime, and $70k for managers with little room to negotiate if you're promoted within the company. Upper leadership has little sway on your salary, it all depends on HR and if you have an outside offer which doesn't really facilitate feelings of employee value from the company. If you think you're doing well at your job with upper leadership support to back it up, that's too bad as GroupM and WM really just don't have any money. Would recommend that you work here as an associate and move to another company and boomerang back as a manager. I had the lowest $/hr as a senior as you still are heavily involved with the training the newer hires, the extensive day to day, working with upper management, have the longest hours and don't receive any overtime. Ridiculous they expect you to live in the NYC with these salaries and work the hours that some of us do. Culture As mentioned, many of the people at Wavemaker are genuinely easy to get along with, but almost no one on my larger team 25+ that I would consider anything more than just work friends. I prefer working/hanging out with people from all walks of life with different perspectives and avid passions or hobbies, but have met very few people that stick out or have anything big going on for them. Wouldn't recommend sticking here too long otherwise you will get complacent and start to gravitate towards the people that work here. In addition, company culture isn't really cultivated from the company but has to come from the team on the account. Turnover is extremely high (I've had 15+ people leave on my accounts alone since the two years I've been with WM and seen up to 40+ people leave) so it's really up to existing employees to carryover or create the culture for the newer employees. Company planned events/parties come once a year at the holiday party, but that's practically it. Benefits Get great vacation days, but almost no other benefits besides that. No travel subsidiaries besides pre-tax, $100 for the gym for the whole year, basic dental, vision, health, etc., no food expenses unless you work past 8pm. Compared to pretty much any other agency or publisher I've seen, we rank last. Company Talent As salaries are under market value, the talent WM attracts is definitely below average compared to other companies. We have people that are competent at doing what's tasked of them (excel docs, flowcharts, billing, invoicing, powerpoints), but no one that really tries to think outside of the box and advance the company further. This is the downside of the aggressive promotion plan they have in place as I've seen incompetent people in every single position all the way to Sr. Director. If you find someone that you think you can learn from, make an active effort to learn form and stick with that person as that's pretty uncommon in WM if you're coming from a technical or experienced background. Terrible environment to learn from or to challenge you. Work/Life Balance Be prepared to not be only be underpaid but work long hours. When I was an associate and sr. associate, I would regularly work 60+ hour weeks and on the weekends if I had to. This isn't uncommon at all on the larger accounts and new businesses. I would say that maybe 50% of the teams across the company work longer hours like we did, but juts be prepared if you do decide to join the company.