Pros
-Work from home, or really work from anywhere
-Very flexible work schedule- very easy to make appointments, run errands, or work out for an hour during the day
-Company car- all car related expenses (gas, insurance, maintenance) paid for by RA if you are in sales or qualify for a fleet vehicle
-Travel time counts as work time
-Very friendly company, people always willing to help. You just have to know what to ask for.
-Light workload. On a busy week I maybe work 30hrs
-Create your own schedule
-Good commission split- 80/20
Great job if you are a parent with kids and need lots of flexibility, or if you have lots of hobbies and a very active lifestyle outside of work. Workload is cyclic, there are very busy and very slow times, but overall the role is not that demanding. Quite flexible and laid back
Cons
-Ambition not rewarded, actively discouraged even. I am often told "take it easy" or "don't stress yourself out" when I ask for more responsibility/opportunities
-Remote work can be isolating, especially as an early career person. Hard to build a social network or maintain mentor relationships
-Not many young people. Early career folks typically leave after 2yrs
-Inconsistent work flow. Weeks can go by with nothing to do- no one seems to think this is an issue
-Vague job descriptions. Lots of ambiguity when it comes to determining tasks and responsibilities. Lack of on the job training. Expectations not always clear or defined
-Professional relationships between internal resources and external sales/distribution partners can be complicated to learn
-Very slow learning pace. Promotion timelines can be quite long. Early career training programs can last 1-2yrs before you even begin performing the role you were hired for
-Constant re-organizations and change that results in inefficiencies
-Not a lot of women
As an early career professional, I've found this role extremely challenging due to the isolating nature of remote work. The ambiguity of the role makes it difficult to create a schedule and identify productive ways to spend the considerable amount of downtime. You must be very self motivated to learn because you could very easily get away with doing nothing, which is a bad habit to develop. Early career training/development moves at a very slow pace- takes several months/years even to feel "busy" and begin contributing and seeing results. I don't feel I have developed as much professionally as I could've had I been in a faster-paced, higher pressure work environment with more regular interaction with coworkers and mentors