Vantaggi
Management is honestly great- they are passionate about what they do and have been at the company for a long time- United promotes SOLELY from within so it is comforting to know that everyone above you has paid their dues. Management is full of inherently great people and the company itself if great and has great products, the work is just so physically difficult, that management could be a bit more forgiving when something goes awry and not load down sales reps nearly as much. This is an interesting job, it is literally stocking wine in grocery stores- and being a trainee is basically the same as a sales rep and my whole view of the company came from my experience as well as from conversations with various sales reps that I shadowed. Minus the pay, the work of a sales rep is identical to a sales trainee's work, but they will promote trainees to sales reps as quickly as they promise. Every trainee shadows a sales representative and must visit ten grocery stores per day in a given territory with their assigned sales representative. You lift cases upon cases of wine almost every single day, so it does a number on your body. Most of the sales reps that I spoke to enjoy the not-being-behind-a-desk-9-to-5, but the physical work is literally back-breaking. Everyone is nice and friendly and passionate about what they do, but the turnover is high in chain wine division. Not a ton of interaction with other people as a rep or trainee, you really just stock. If you are looking for a job that is intellectually stimulating, this is not it, but if you like something that is more or less the same task everyday, with a few curve balls thrown in here and there, this is it.
Svantaggi
Long days of back-breaking work (most sales reps work six days per week and every holiday) and it literally takes three promotions and ten to fifteen years to get to where you are not slinging 50 or more cases of wine per day. It is almost like being in the NFL to the point where the murder you do to your body can only be sustained for so long. The benefits are not good- you do not get a single day of PTO until at the end of your first year of employment, and even then, you get eight days per year for ten years, and you are NOT recommended or looked highly upon by management for taking them. Management expects this job to be your entire life- although this company is like a big family, I will say, they expect to be your only family. Although, they were honest in the interview when they said being a sales rep or trainee was a 50 to 60-hour per week job, they were not exaggerating AT ALL. Movement between divisions is also rare and looked-down upon.