Good company, good experiences to be had - Engineering Co-op Student Sherwin-Williams Employee Review

4.0
20 Nov 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Sherwin-Williams is a big company with a lot of opportunity, strong growth and stability. They've been around since the industrial age and will be for quite a while as long as they keep their heads in the game. I was a co-op student there and I learned a great deal from my mentor and co-workers. They were very flexible and understanding in terms of my school schedule. This was in the heart of the recession and they saw fit to keep the research groups going strong so they would come out of it even stronger. I got to work with a wide range of innovative products and even travel a bit. I have since moved on of my own accord but I would go back if a suitable opportunity presented itself.

Cons

Typical office politics, so watch yourself in the same way you would anywhere else. Big Company corporate culture can be difficult to grapple with. The company is often driven by marketing (at least my group was) leaving employees to contend with a few ill-conceived products and projects. The words "what in the world are they thinking" came to mind a few times when dealing with marketing. I left because my particular field was mechanical and not chemical, leaving me little room to move up at the time (they have since improved, so I hear). Chemists and Chemical Engineers can go far here, so can the folks with business degrees.

Explore other reviews about Sherwin-Williams

5.0
8 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good job stability and benefits

Cons

not great for switching careers

5.0
16 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A positive work environment. The best co-workers I have had so far in my career worked with me at Sherwin. I also worked under an amazing management team. There is a lot of room for career growth. I worked for Sherwin for about 3.5 years. I started as a contracted lab technician, then I was hired full time as an R&D Associate Chemist. I quickly worked my way up to R&D Chemist within a year of being hired full time. The department I worked in was very fast paced, however, I know there are many other groups that move at a much slower pace with longer timelines. This would make it much easier to manage the workload.

Cons

Working with marketing was challenging at times. We would regularly receive big requests a day before they needed something. This would pose a challenge when you had other priorities to attend to. The pay was average. I do think it could have been slightly higher for all of the job responsibilities given to the chemists in my group specifically. The workload was overwhelming at times.

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