Pros
The position seemed promising when I got hired. The IT and Customer Service teams were nice and great to work with.
Cons
Cons? So many things! I was hired as a manager in their "growing eCommerce department". The interview process - though a bit more grueling than I think was necessary - gave me the impression this was exactly the position and company I was looking for. Unfortunately, as soon as I started there, things quickly turned for the worst and the truth about this place became apparent. I am fairly confident in my experience and abilities within my expertise. But I also know that every place is run differently, and each place has some kind of learning curve. When I start as an employee somewhere, I expect some kind of support system to help people get on their feet - whether that be tools, help, resources, whatever - some kind of foundation that I can then build off of and run with. Unfortunately Sourcebooks provided none of this. I was put in an office away from the rest of the team, and completely abandoned. Every time I asked for help or even clarification, I was told to "figure it out", and every idea I came up with, I was told "no" or "this is wrong" with no feedback whatsoever. There was no real direction, no guidance, nothing. I was left confused and frustrated, trying to read my supervisor's mind to no avail. To make matters worse - none of the other employees in my department had any kind of relevant experience related to eCommerce. They had someone with a writing degree who had never used Photoshop editing images, a person with a cinematography degree creating emails, and my supervisor who was director-level had a background in the catalog business. Yet my extensive experience in eCommerce was ignored with the many ideas I tried to bring forth. I believe the organization struggles from the top down. The company's founder & CEO is a very passionate person. Unfortunately, she is also a very emotional person who makes rash decisions based on those emotions. She, along with other members of upper management, make a lot of decisions based on "gut feeling" instead of hard data. And when it came down to it, the place was in pieces when I started. They have some interesting ideas, but will struggle to get there if they don't clean up the way the business is managed. Another shocking thing to note is that after my time with Sourcebooks, while I was on the job hunt, I came across a recruiter who reached out to me about an opportunity which happened to be the exact position I had already been in. When I shared my story with her, I couldn't believe my ears when she said she has come across a number of other people who have had similar experiences to me there. How horrible that Sourcebooks has such a negative reputation even with the person who's trying to help them! Well, you've been warned. If you take a job here - good luck!
