Pros
I see a lot of people writing that the only pro is remote working, but I felt there were many more benefits of working with AE. The team is very supported by the senior counselors, which the Co-Founders oversee. I never felt like I couldn’t go to any of them and discuss my challenges and client conflicts. In fact, while the co-founders are pretty intense and deeply invested in the Comapny, they never call out any counselor in front of the client, and they always accept the blame if there is feedback being given by families to us. They actually care about their clients, its not just optics like many other consulting firms, who collect the money and then act pricey with their clients and don’t give enough contact time The CEO is constantly traveling around the world to meet AE clients in-person, and ensure they feel the company’s physical presence They invest deeply in coach communication and relationship building with universities and everyone has an opportunity to travel and meet various families. I traveled at least once a quarter, so it made my job more dynamic
Cons
Long hours definitely, but that’s because this is one of the most high touch consulting firms I have ever seen, no one gives more contact time to their clients than AddedEducation The hours are very similar to hospitality industry, but that is the nature of this industry. Parents and Children are only free to communicate on weekends and after school, so you shouldn’t be joining this industry if that is an issue for you, nothing to do with the Company. It is the nature of the industry. Company Processes are quite a lot because its a fully remote company. It took me a while to adjust to this, because I am not used to working in a remote environment, but once I got the hang of it, it was quite easy. Lots of reminders from managers are provided so I never felt like I forgot to do it, but if you are someone who feels like this could be micro-management, then it might come off that way. Stress levels are high!! You are in such a tough emotional business, parents only have one kid going to college, they are nervous, they have paid you to alleviate their stress so you have to have thick skin. I learnt very quickly that you cannot take parents feedback personally, cause they usually just don’t know how to communicate their child’s issues in any other way.