*Applicant beware - it is NOT what it seems* - Account Executive Birdeye Employee Review

IN SHORT: BirdEye is more interested in people looking busy than in making sales, gaining market share or empowering their staff to be successful and they won't hear a word of input, suggestions or reason. They don't want ideas or outside-the-box thinking and the only answer given on how to get some traction is doubling down on what isn't working and making more calls. They claim to be agile and aggressively expanding but they are obstinate to making a deal with anyone. They expect the market to bend to the way they want to do business rather than making it an easy choice for them to implement their software. They can't be bothered with creativity and have no room for introspection and asking how can we be better at what we do or how can we be more effective. If you love to be micromanaged, then you'll be right at home. The only way they could micro-manage more is if they require a bathroom sign-in sheet. DEEPER LOOK: I was completely mislead about the position during the interview process. I interviewed several times with several managers, including senior leadership and asked direct, specific questions about the position, it's expectations and the method by which I was expected to prospect and sell. I was told my results were what was important, not how I got them and that my specific experience was of heightened interest to BirdEye as they were very eager to break into the market I have had years of success in and that duplicating that success at BirdEye is the ultimate goal. To be direct, I specifically asked if there were call expectations or if other means to prospect were embraced and utilized at BirdEye because I was not the guy to come in and dial a phone all day - not because one can't be successful doing so, but because there is a much more effective way to sell into the market I have a proven history of success in. The answer to that question was not at all, we want you to bring what has made you successful and apply it to our product. I was told to "kill what you hunt". This is exactly what you want to hear from a potential employer - looking to break into new markets, eager to hire experts in these markets and are open to new ideas on how to gain market share, offering full autonomy to use formulas that have been proven to be successful and apply them to an exciting, growing company with a great product that has a solution to a huge problem. All very compelling...until my second day out of training when I was asked by upper management "what do you do all day? Where are the calls?" It caught me a bit off guard, but I thought "this is just coming from excitement to get the new team rolling" - which I could relate to and was eager to get some momentum. From that point, it was a steady progression to setting minimum call requirements for the day, no answer or help on certain tools and programs not working properly, absolutely zero support from a sales standpoint, zero interest in my input and ideas on how to get traction in the market or how my years of experience in the industry could be utilized to refine our processes or use best practices. I voiced my concerns to management, who has absolutely no experience or leadership skills to speak of, who would "take note" of my concerns but they were never addressed. The only response I would get is that I needed to show some success with doing it their way, then once I had success doing it their way I might be able to get some buy in to try it another way. That is the actual response I was given. If I was seeing success, why on earth would I want to change it??? This continued for the last 3 months and the workplace became increasingly uncomfortable as it was blatantly obvious that my direct manager and senior leadership's perspective of me had changed. I very quickly went from feeling like part of the team to being an outsider. Asking questions or for help was treated like an inconvenience. In my exit interview, I brought up the breathtakingly drastic difference between what I was told while interviewing to where we are now was ethically questionable and could have been avoided had the company just been honest with me about what they wanted rather than say whatever people want to hear in order to get them in the door. I was told that after hiring me, they brought in an actual recruiter and in refining their recruiting process, put a "hard stop" to certain practices and are sorry that I had a poor experience. This is an acknowledgment that unethical practices have been exercised to recruit people, but no consideration had been given to me to, despite this.