Pros
Stocked kitchen, game tables, video games, beer, barista. Basically, a bunch of stuff to make you tolerate a job and department that are depressing, Orwellian and in-authentic. Your peers are all pretty decent but there are exceptions to that as well.
Cons
Yelp has the following core values: Be unboring: They want you to be a certain kind of unboring. You're expected to dress up for elementary style "spirit weeks", come out to their happy hours, and be buddy/buddy with management. While not doing any of the above is a death sentence, they will count against you. Play well with others: This translates to "Don't talk about how bad the sales team is making deals" For instance, there are sales executives to this very day who insinuate and promise things that aren't possible. Comment about it out loud within earshot of management, you'll be sent to a room to discuss it. In fact, make any sort of comment about a tough customer (Yelp's review policies along with aggressive sales tactics and the call center atmosphere guarantee it will happen constantly) and you'll be spoken to about it. They truly rule by fear. Also, there is no one in the company to talk to honestly about how you feel unless you want to start the process of exiting. Be tenacious: Only when it comes to Yelp's interests. Advocate for yourself too much and you'll run into trouble. They want someone who will _literally_ take calls without questioning processes. The person who lays out methods and policies is so far removed from the day to day, it makes you really wonder what your goal is. It's a sales support job. You will not move to a better Account Management job after this, you will be prepped for call center work. The irony is, it's still under the sales department which may have it's place but doesn't jive with the nuances and of supporting such a product. It's quantity over quality until they are zoned in on you. Once they have it decided they want to move you out of the company, you'll start being talked to about metrics that have never been brought up before. Authenticity: Management at Yelp is trained to be inauthentic. If you are not doing well, they work out ways to push you out of the company. They won't be authentic in this case. This is where gaslighting and metric worship come out. You will learn there is no such thing as a private conversation with management and any talks with HR are usually followed with a meeting with the director. You will be asked if you think you need to go to training again if you question methods and goals as well. You will be put on a "performance plan" and just one mistake and you're gone, it's weird though because you will be told the first time "We should have fired you" then get several "last chances" where at the point your guard is down. Then they hit you with some metric and boom. You're done. There are several former employees who can corroborate this, check out former employees on that social job site we all know about and ask questions. Have a disease or health issue that doesn't manifest itself visually when someone is looking at you. Good luck with getting paperwork from them on time and any sort of understanding when you come back and aren't feeling 100% you're on the chipping block unless you beg and plead. Protect your source: This basically means, don't tell anyone what you were told in these meetings. You see, they don't want employees all talking together and sharing their experiences. Things employees have been told "Fix your face", "Sound more girlie on the phone", "Smile more". "I feel like you don't like me" These are directives and quotes from a woman mind you, that is the director who all the managers run to when you ask a question they can't answer confidently and that's when you realize that this sort of behavior goes all up and down the organization. You see, all the brass in this department came here when they were fresh employees and this when it hits you. This is what they value most. A blind drinking of the crimson Yelp Kool-Aid. I implore you to reach out to former and current employees (actually....the latter might not want to talk and would probably think someone on management is trying to goad them into talking honestly) both here and at the Phonix office in Account Management. If you've read this far, congrats! I wouldn't recommend this job to anyone with integrity or an independent mind. If you do take it, think of it as a sort of bootcamp to prepare you for a job where you can be valued and actually grow. When you interview ask about department turnover as in the last 6 months, people have been running from this job even a senior director. Also, they will mention growth, there is almost zero of that. Recruiters are there for a reason, to recruit, they aren't going to be very forthcoming anyways. Good luck and Godspeed.
