Pros
- Excellent Food - On-site Gym (Monthly fee) - Flexible scheduling. This is great if you want a well paying job where you show up, work, and leave. Some of the managers regularly work 30 hr work weeks at the home office. If you're in the field, you'll likely be paid 40 and work 70. - Slow relaxed work place (It can take several years for decisions to be made here). - It's a great place to learn and then move on. This company is not so great if you want a company that innovates or trains future leaders. You have to hit 20 years with the company before you can expect promotion. - Niche market of high-value industrial contracts, so market and consumer economics aren't a long-term consideration to the survival of the company (It'll be around for a while longer, even when they're losing money). - If you want to hire into a company as an accountant and cross-train in MS Office plugin programming, this is a great place to learn. Cross training opportunities to other areas require little education or experience. - San Antonio office prides themselves in never having laid-off employees at the home office. If you work anywhere else in the company, there's a good chance that your position will be reduced (even after 15 years of service) over home office employees (of less than a year) when the company experiences financial hardships. - Training is easy. If you come in with an engineering degree, they'll stick you in a training program that describes how to calculate object volumes over a week. If you have no college education, you won't feel left behind.
Cons
- Management is dated. Most managers are in their late 50's and pushing for retirement. - Cross training of management every two years means that managers are often appointed to positions that they don't fully understand. Technical decisions are often non-existent. - The company solves problems by throwing money and people at issues (expertise), rather than developing well thought out plans. This is an issue when the experts in these areas have been cross-trained from other areas six months prior, and don't have the expertise or education to make technical decisions. - Career and professional development is dependent upon who you know, rather than what you know. If you want stable employment that takes 10-20 years to progress into a management position, this is a great place. - The company's required educational training sessions are written to a fifth grade learning level, and there's a required number of mind-numbing training hours each year. - If you work anywhere other than the San Antonio office, you can expect to be released or laid-off when the company experiences financial hardships. - Benefits are lacking (401k matching is mediocre compared to industry standards, little to no educational opportunity unless you use the in-house company training software, and don't expect compensation for time or effort until you spend 20 years with the company).