Senior Account Execuitve - Major Accounts - SF Bay Area
Pros
I am relatively new to Gartner (slightly less than 6 months), but have had a really positive experience thus far. Some of the pros in my opinion are: 1) Management is very hands on and inclusive with all team members. They really WANT you to succeed. In previous companies I have worked for, it has seemed that Managers, Directors and VPs are all so busy managing up, that they ignore the individual contributors. I don't get that sense here at all. All the Executives seem to really take time to get to know the new folks. 2) The hiring process was really smooth. Yes, you will meet with at least 4 levels of people before you are hired, but the recruiters were awesome about letting me know next steps every step of the way as did my hiring manager. Also, feedback (positive and constructive) is given throughout the entire process, real time, so you aren't left guessing how it went. 3) The New Hire training is extensive, but you are highly encouraged just to relax and absorb it so that when you come out of training, you really know what you are talking about, as opposed to figuring it out during sales cycles and possibly losing out on opportunities. 4) my absolute favorite thing about Gartner is that CIOs and Executives actually want to meet with you and talk about the direction of their company and how Gartner helps them with that. I also don't need to bring in a fleet of engineers (or anyone for that matter) to help me have a conversation with Execs because it is a business conversation, not a technology conversation, which in my opinion is way more interesting and puts me back in charge of my own sales motions instead of being dependent on specialists who are always super buys and covering 1000 other accounts. 5) The work life balance is great so far. Yes you will work hard, but you are never going to have a Gartner "emergency". When you sell tech hardware, software, or services and it "breaks", as the AM you have to face that with the customer and a lot of cycles can be spent on remediating issues. Gartner never breaks or causes an outage, which is just a really nice change of pace for me :). 6) For me, the size of Gartner is just right. It is a big enough company that you feel like you have real resources and support and you are not at a startup but not so big that you feel like a random cog in a wheel that can be cut without warning at anytime. You are encouraged to grow and explore your career path from day one.
Cons
1) This isn't really a con but just different than what I am used to. It can take a while to get your quota/goal assigned and until you do, it can be tough to back into how you will make commission. People in general seem to talk a lot about achievement (and many people are achievers) but rarely about actual dollars/commission so if that matters to you (and I am sure it does), make sure the recruiter or your hiring manager shows you up front how and what it is going to take to get to your OTE.
