Vantaggi
Advogent offers first hand experience in meeting / event planning as a supplier of services to the pharmaceutical industry. The reps are great to work with and provides an insight to another industry. There are summer Fridays, and for the most part, management is responsive to time off needs. This is a company that has gone through a lot of mergers and separations from other companies and is trying to create an identity on its own. There are a lot of initiatives to help with work load from the management perspective. The actual day to day work can be interesting and rewarding.
Svantaggi
There are more managers than staff, and the company size has dwindled to approximately 250 due to lay offs and turnover. There are too many people in the operations role trying to manage the meeting planners, which in turn, puts too much pressure on them, and for the most part, the meeting planners leave despite their enjoyment working with the client. The sales staff successfully missed the 2008 selling season, leaving us in a questionable position in 2009. Several managers have been promoted on the basis that they have been there the longest, but they don't really have the qualifications. Entry level people will not get promoted within the first 5-6 years, which can be a frustrating process.