To realitycheck:

I agree with you that some employees are put into management positions before they are ready. Unfortunately, some upper managers equate sales ability with management ability. Often, the best salespeople tend to be chronic micro-managers that are uncomfortable with delegating any kind of real responsibility to their employees which only services to perpetuate the cycle of promoting poorly trained managers.

As for pushing experienced employees out the door, how else would you suggest we deal with employees that consistently fail to perform? If have ever worked for ERAC, you know the kinds of people I am speaking of. Do you remember those managers that were at a 100 car branch for two years, or those assistant managers who kept jumping from one mid-sized branch to another, or those MAs who passed their grill and ended up working on the back end for a large branch? All these employees are experienced, but experience doesn't guarantee performance. Do you think we like bringing in new employees? Do you think I enjoyed running a branch with three new hires that required constant hand holding and training? As a front-runner I would much rather have had experienced employees, but as a branch manager I knew I needed employees that wanted to be there and were driven to succeed.

To HLELA:

Now to address HLELA's question: "Can you tell me if I were to work for ERAC today, what are my chances of becoming a ARM in 4-6 years?"

HLELA, do you believe that everyone that works with ERAC for 4-6 years should be automatically entitled to an Area Manager position? If ERAC really was "trying to sell rookie employees in dreaming of making a 6 figure salary someday, that will NEVER COME TRUE", how can you explain the fact that just MY group has over 70 area managers?

Your second question: "If I were to quit ERAC in good terms, will ERAC rehire me down the road?" I personally know someone who quit ERAC on good terms, went to work for HLE in Los Angeles for a year or two, then came back to ERAC and is now an Area Manager. Not only did this guy work for HLE, he used the relationships he built at ERAC to lure several big accounts away from ERAC and over to HLE. Do you think HLE would be as magnanimous if the situation were reversed?

Let me ask you a question HLELA. How does it feel to know that the only way your company can gain market share is by bribing accounts and giving away full/premium sized cars for compact car prices? It must feel good to know that you are killing your own business just to get a temporary boost in performance. It's almost as if HLE is the Jason Giambi of the rental car industry.