Career Kryptonite - Avoid Venn At All Costs - Assistant Vice President Venn Strategies Employee Review

For starters, Venn has a horrible reputation, alarmingly high rate of employee turnover, a business model dependent on constant churn of short-term client contracts, and a nonexistent HR department that engenders hostile workplace. Most importantly for those with relatively nascent careers, there is no substantive client work to be done, which means you will not develop any marketable skills or knowledge while there. Sure, you might advance after 5 years and attain a meaningless title like "Vice President" (which they hand out like jujubes to anyone with a pulse), but you'll still be paid below the market rate, and will leave there dumber than when you came in, and with your reputation tarnished. The bulk of Venn's income is derived from coalition/association management. This means that, unless you're a principal, you're going to be doing a lot of admin work. Those with any kind of work experience (or education beyond a GED, for that matter) will find this to be mind-numbing and tedious. Worse yet, these coalitions are typically oriented around a single issue, and it's generally controversial. Take, for example, ESCA: they advocate for an egregious tax loophole that allows businesses as S Corporations to shift their tax burden onto employees via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Same with the Campaign to End Obesity; literally the one issue they lobby on is longer scoring windows, a quixotic and unrealistic way to achieve their policy goals. The list goes on and on. On the management side, the individuals who will be your bosses are that special breed that is (a) horrible at managing, (b) an awful person, and (c) dumb. Do not be fooled by the facade of an open-concept office that looks like an Ikea showroom - Venn Strategies is the laughing stock of K Street. Since leaving Venn I have erased it from my CV, as the gap in my employment history is easier to explain away than its presence. I urge others to avoid this hassle altogether and just look somewhere else...even if it means working at Arby's.