Job Title: Vice President
Location: New York, New York
Submitted on: 23-Jan-04
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Viacom is a great place to work; it has a very collegial culture and
very exciting brands, particularly the MTV Networks. It may sound hard
to believe but the politics at the Corporate level are actually very
benign...people do not stab each other in the back. Viacom people are
smart, yet very respectful of each other and interested in each other as
human beings, not just corporate entities. Diversity is an issue at
Corporate...it's very white. There are very few women in top
positions...still pretty much of a boys' club. Yet this is the case at
most companies in America, unfortunately. The HR folks are really
focusing on this in 2004 to try to change. MTV Networks, which is
housed in the same building as Corporate, is an amazing organization in
this regard. About five years ago, they looked around and saw that they
were too white. So they started hiring minorities ... every position
that opened for a period of a couple of years, was filled with minority
candidates. I was amazed at how quickly they fixed their diversity
profile. A real case study. Corporate could use some of that. Dress
code: this is an entertainment company so it's not stuffy but men
typically wear the usual corporate uniform. Women have a little more
leeway and can get away with funky but not too funky attire. It's tough
to advance at Viacom unless you're at the below VP level. There is a
short list of SVPs and they won't create others, and the SVPs don't
leave. It's too comfortable and nice a place to work. Below VP level,
people have the opportunity to move up. People frequently move on to
higher jobs within departments or end up in higher jobs at divisions.
You're topped out at VP, which isn't a great thing. The SVPs are also
not the most communicative bunch in the world...they tend to talk to one
another and manage up. They don't manage down well at all, except for a
few of them. It can be quite frustrating. But the bottom line is, it's
interesting work, the people are great, the company is a very good
company with exciting brands and a very good reputation. What's not to
like about that?
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