The website, mission statement, and interview process are misleading and do not ultimately match the daily workflow. What initially attracted me to the company was everything I learned from these sources showcasing how committed the company was to helping organizations recycle, embrace green business, and care for the environment. I soon found out that even the name "RoadRunner Recycling" had me fooled; the company and the BDR role have very little to do with recycling.
What was presented as a hip, innovative, unique opportunity to help the planet and businesses go green ended up being a job serving as a third party trash contract broker. The BDR role is that of a perpetual middleman trying to sell a service that the company already uses (since all prospects must have a trash contract in order to be qualified). The company only engages in recycling if all of the trash brokerage requirements are met and it makes sense to assist the prospect further. Imagine receiving a job offer from Marvel Studios to work on TV shows and films to finding out on day one that your job will consist of working only with newspaper comics.
The daily workflow, no matter the task at hand, is largely fruitless, and the expectations are unrealistic. A BDR is expected to make 80+ calls, send 15+ emails, and prospect for 10+ new accounts daily, with praise often bestowed upon those who go above and beyond these numbers into triple digit calls and dozens of emails. The overwhelming majority of this outreach will go nowhere, ensuring that BDR's waste 95% of their day. The reasons for this being:
With a typical call, you are likely to either reach no one, reach someone who is not the decision maker, or, if you do reach the right person, they will either have trouble understanding what the company does or not see the need for a third party and be uninterested in talking further, often just outright hanging up. Should they be interested in talking further and wish to book a meeting with the BDR, this is not enough, as they must also be willing to share their trash invoice before the meeting can be booked, which is often a challenging hurdle, considering the BDR is a stranger cold calling them. Emails are also rarely returned by prospects. The psychological toll of this happening on a daily basis cannot be understated, leading to disillusionment in the short term and burnout in the long term.
Management is rarely helpful or in tune with what BDR's endure, as their solution to this is often more outreach and hope. In short, whether or not you are able to achieve anything for the company and get promoted ultimately comes down to volume and luck. The business model of RoadRunner Recycling is taking a machine gun to a sniper's range: if you fire enough bullets, perhaps you'll eventually hit a bullseye.
The culture of RoadRunner Recycling is a juxtaposition of toxic positivity and micromanagement bordering on satire. When BDR's are doing well, every meeting booked, every invoice received, every competition won... etc. warrants a barrage of congratulations, gifs, and emojis posted across multiple Slack channels several times daily. Every team Zoom call that is required daily (4-6 calls in varying lengths of time) feels like a pep rally lacking any specific goal or substantial and relevant content that ultimately distracts a BDR from their day and does very little to boost job performance.
All BDR's are required to fill out a multi-question survey, evaluate their metrics, and meet with their managers via Zoom for 30 mins every week for a performance review. This adds up to ~50 meetings a year, which is quite excessive no matter the company or industry and contributes to the earlier mention that 95% of a BDR's day is wasted.
Consequently, when BDR's are not doing well, middle management is rarely helpful or positively engages with BDR's 1-1, some opting instead to micromanage BDR's to the point where they feel constantly watched. At one point I was getting Slack messages once every hour and extra Zoom calls twice a day questioning my productivity. Should something come up in your personal life throughout the day requiring you to step away from your computer for a bit of time, you may receive phone calls or messages from your manager questioning what you are doing. If new BDR's are not meeting their productivity goals, they are given a short period of time (1-2 weeks) to turn it around before being let go, all the while the never-ending conga line of celebrations for everyone else continues in the background. Things like this make a day working at RoadRunner Recycling feel like living in an episode of Black Mirror.
TL;DR: If you are either a recent college graduate or a recently unemployed individual needing to build career experience, a salary and benefits, and a comfortable working environment based at home, then give the BDR role at RoadRunner Recycling a try and see what happens. Perhaps you may enjoy it and get more out of it than I did. Be realistic about what it is and what it isn't, and do not stop looking for other opportunities in the meantime.
