I took what was supposed to be an Account Management position in the Yardi Energy Services (YES) division. However, this turned out to be a clerical position with some customer contact. After a few months, I was getting all of the tedious work done early and I was bored. <br><br>
I volunteered to do some editing for another department so that I would have something interesting to do. I hid this from management since I was doing it on my own time, unpaid. I volunteered to do some project management work which was desperately needed but was told no. I developed training materials for new hires which was politely accepted but never used.
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At one point I spoke to an HR executive and said that the position wasn’t what I had envisioned and listed my other skills (project management, marketing, training, management). I asked if there was any other way I could use these skills to benefit the company. I explained that there were many open corporate positions for which I was qualified. After telling me that I didn’t have enough accounting experience to understand the software (despite significant accounting coursework and an MBA) and that corporate jobs could not be done remotely, I was told that my best option was to look elsewhere for employment. The message: your ambition is annoying. Go away.
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At my annual review, I was told that if I wanted to be considered for a project management role, I could gain experience by taking the company’s online project management course as this would increase my knowledge. I'm PMP certified so this was laughable advice.
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I was amazed to see a company so insulated. Many in the parent company’s upper management had been at Yardi for 20 years or more; for some it was their first and only place of employment. Company “leaders” didn’t want to know how things were done elsewhere. Outsiders with new ideas just didn’t know “The Yardi Way.” Things taken for granted at other companies, like access to a company org chart or getting information about open positions, are taboo at Yardi.
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I applied for several positions for which I was more than qualified, but was never contacted about them. After months, I inquired, and was told that I hadn’t been with the company long enough to change jobs so I wouldn’t be interviewed. Yardi leaders appear to be afraid of people who are more intelligent than they are, and would rather see their best performers languish and eventually leave the company than put them in a role which uses their skills.
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However, there is one way to be promoted at YES. If you are a personal friend of top management and play on the right sports team, and/or if you date a supervisor, you can be promoted to “team lead.” Other qualifications for this position include lack of management experience, immaturity, absence of people skills, and surliness.
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YES in San Diego provides corporate experience and resume filler, but make no mistake – you won’t be moving up in the company. There is absolutely no opportunity to move from YES to Yardi, and you will be treated like a child who can’t be trusted.
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After I gave my notice, I was told by an executive that he could never do the Account Manager job because he would be bored out of his mind. Consider this your last resort.
