Pros
Opportunity. Clients. Talent. Culture. Salary. Benefits. Location. Growth. 401k. People. Grey hires some of the best people in the business. You’re constantly surrounded by a wealth of knowledge and talent. They always strive to do the best work possible for the best clients possible. They hold many events that allow for a fun culture. They offer a good salary, and the best benefits and 401k package. There’s opportunity to grow within the agency. Plus it’s located in the heart of the city. So it’s easily accessible from NJ, and the 5 boroughs. It’s just far enough away from all the tourists but also close enough to find plenty of great food.
Cons
Sweat shop. Hours. No weekends. No holidays. Pitch. Pitch. Pitch. Need to request weekends off. On call at all hours. Zero work life balance. Only CDs go on shoots. Lots of work, little of that gets produced. Too busy to enjoy events. Thankless Agency. Greys pros, are completely overshadowed by its cons. Work life balance does not exist here. You are expected to work all hours of the night, most weekends, during holidays, and even during your vacation. Want to watch the Super Bowl? Don’t worry they’ll turn it on in a conference room. Mom dieing in the hospital, she can wait. Vacation booked? Sure your wife and kids can go but they’ll pay for you to cancel last minute. Have something planned for the weekend? Better request off a week or more in advance. Agency event? Expect to watch others party while you work. Sick? Well that shouldn’t stop you from answering emails and working from home. Cut whatever pay they offer you in half. Because you’ll be working upwards of 60 - 80 hour weeks. Plus holidays. Think I’m joking? I worked 3 weeks straight once without a single day off and pulled upwards of 85 hours during a 5 day period. Expect to barely use your PTO or vacation time. And if they are nice enough to let you. Expect to make up for any days you took off during the weekends, Christmas, vacation. I kept track my last year there. All the days I took off, I ended up reworking. Good brief on your desk. Expect to work on it while pitching multiple other clients at the same time. And pitches are expected to take precedent. That means more work, less produced work. Clients have been known to complain that their accounts are not getting the attention needed. They’ve even asked for people working on their accounts to not be involved in pitches at the same time. Got a great idea? Client loves it. There’s a shoot. Don’t expect to go. Why? Because there are 5 CDs above you who all think that idea is part theirs and they already booked a plane ticket for them and their wives. No room left in the budget for the person who put all the time into coming up with the idea. Sorry maybe next time. Oh and don’t even expect to get credit for your ideas. By the time things are ready to be produced they’ve already forgotten your name. Hell do you even have a name? Pretty sure you’re just a number.