Pros
You will be working with a group of mostly friendly recent graduates of a similar age, meaning that you have good company for lunches and Friday nights at the pub. A camaraderie develops from a shared dislike of the behaviour of senior and middle management and bemusement at their rude emails and unnecessary micro-management. Friendships develop which are maintained after leaving. There are often fun leaving do’s (and regular cake) due to the revolving door nature of this place and the fact that people regularly leave, often with no job lined up. The events are mostly interesting and there is the opportunity to learn a lot about your sector and make contacts, which can help with getting a better job afterwards. Many editorial employees go on to work in policy, politics or more specific sector-related jobs. The annual Christmas party is very good fun.
Cons
Getting up as early as 4:30 to attend events Being based in Bracknell, a very dull place an hour from London The management – the main problem with working at this place. Senior management can be rude and dismissive, and they will tell you very bluntly and belittle you if they are not happy with your work (if it doesn’t fit with their ideal which they don’t communicate) – often in rude language and in front of colleagues. How your day will go will depend entirely on their mood. Even worse than this, however, is middle management. While the rudeness of senior management is not the result of sheer nastiness but either lack of social awareness or just not caring, certain middle managers (naming no names) believe that the way to endear themselves to senior management is to throw you under the bus at the first opportunity if they think that they might in any way look bad. They will take credit for anything that goes well and blame you for anything that goes wrong. Attending events with certain middle managers (again naming no names) is always a stressful experience as they get very stressed over nothing, boss you around and have a go at you for nothing. At WFP you will be treated like a naughty child at school and with general suspicion even if you try your best – having to sign in a late book if you are five minutes late, being asked what you are doing if you go to the other side of the office to talk to a colleague, and having your emails read by senior management. I was once told off for spending too long getting a coffee and even for apparently spending too long in the toilet. How you are treated depends entirely on whether management like you as a person. There is excessive micromanagement as you won’t be trusted to simply get on with your work but will have to write detailed work plans and end of day emails explaining what you have done. The work is very procedural, the procedures change often on a whim of management. Worst of all are the regular firings, where colleagues without warning disappear and are never spoken of again. If you make a mistake during your probation period or management take a dislike to you, you are a candidate. This creates a horrible atmosphere of never feeling secure and wondering who will be next. Although your job description in editorial may be researcher, research probably only takes about 10% of your time. A large part of editorial work is marketing work. Why bother having a large marketing department if editorial staff are made to do so much marketing work? The company hasn’t joined the 21st century when it comes to technology, with a very outdated website which is frankly an embarrassment, an elderly phone system and a slow internal network.