Vantaggi
Pretty offices. Nice people to work with. Lots of contract vehicles.
Svantaggi
Starting salaries are really low and never go up. You spend your first 90 days working for no commission no matter how much you sell. That first 90 days just happens to be in August or September, the highest sales months of the year. Commission plans change at the whim of management and there is nothing in writing to sales people. You don't find out you're getting less money (or no money) until after the commission checks are sent out. Lots of times I never got a commission statement. Commissions in federal division don't get registered until an order is invoiced (even though the government always pays) so layoffs are done in late October to make sure the company doesn't pay commissions on September orders to those being laid off. There are no performance reviews, so you never know you are in trouble until you're shown the door. You are never given a quota and management has no idea how much time it takes to use the tools provided to do quotes and orders. Bottom line: If you go to work for the federal division, make sure you get your commission plan in writing with dates (hopefully at least one year). That way you might get paid some of it.