Pros
I really liked working for Exel and found it to be great fit with my action-oriented personality. General Managers are given a lot of autonomy to run their operation and a lot of responsibility for the results. It's like running your own business except you have the back office systems and financial support of a large company. I've talked to a person who started up his own distribution company to get many of the things that I had at Exel. The benefits are pretty good for the industry. Bonuses are up to 25% annually and are based mostly on performance measures that you really can affect. 401k match dollar for dollar up to 4%; reasonable healthcare options.
Cons
Managers tend to transfer and promote people they already know so it is difficult to move to other accounts and very difficult to move from one sector of the business to another (e.g. Automotive Sector to Consumer Sector). One way to get move up is to get on the coat-tail of a fast moving boss. Exel also recognizes people who fix bad situations more than people who prevent bad situations from happening. The best way for a good leader to move up in Exel is to volunteer to go to broken operations and "save the day." Exel will give good raises and promotions to people who will do this. Exel seems to pay more for outside hires than they will for internal transfers and promotions. Negotiate a good salary up front because it will drive a lot in the future (unless you take the advice in the previous paragraph). Vacation time is kind of low (2 weeks annually for the first 5 years), but since the company is more results oriented, a steady state operation can offer a lot more flexibility than many management jobs. Managers do not socialize outside of work at this level--even with several operations in close proximity. Some of this might be due to being in a large metropolitan area where people live far away from each other. I didn't really mind this behavior, but anyone used to having a bunch of friends from work won't like this.
