Pros
-MarketSmiths works with clients from several different industries, which allows employees to become more dynamic writers. You'll gain experience writing copy in various formats and for tons of different fields. -The writing team is incredibly talented and so supportive. There's definitely a "teamwork makes the dreamwork" kind of attitudes among the writers where everyone is willing to help each other out to make it through. You will learn a lot from each other! -Some of the clients are awesome to work with. Even when they're not, you'll gain experience working with different personalities which can be beneficial from a professional standpoint.
Cons
-You won't come into this role and just be a copywriter. You'll also have to be a client liaison, project manager, and might have to take on extra responsibilities involving sales, marketing, etc. It's a small company, so I get that everyone has to help out, but I entered my first professional writing job and was handed additional responsibilities that I was not qualified for nor did I have any interest in taking on. -Jean is far too hands on when it comes to editing work. Her editing style does not always translate to what clients want and on more than one occasion she came in last minute to rewrite copy I had spent hours on, maybe even days, and delivered work to the clients that was completely off. -You'll have to switch gears often in order to deliver copy to clients that fits their specific style. That's all fair and part of the job, but sometimes the content strategists input too much of their own personal writing preferences and fail to incorporate the client's asks. It can be frustrating to create copy that follows client's guidelines, and receive edits back that make little to no sense for the assignment at hand. -You will most likely have to work overtime with no overtime pay. -Management boasts "training" that is intended to make employees stronger writers and enhance their business knowledge. It's essentially busy work that does very little for the growth of writers, and personally, the training I received was unnecessary and insulting. -Many of the writers are fresh out of college or this is their first professional writing job. As a result, Jean tends to hand hold to a point where it hinders growth, and can make things even more confusing for new hires. -Management lets emotions get in the way of being productive. I often felt I couldn't give honest feedback or express concerns out of fear that I would be confronted by management. -Management is gossipy, which is unprofessional. -The hierarchy structure here is almost nonexistent. There's very little distinction between the responsibilities for each tier, but I assume there is quite a difference in salary. That also makes it challenging to figure out how to advance at the company. -The pay is frankly insulting. I had to take on a part-time job in addition to my role here, which was full-time.