If you've made it to this review, you've probably read some of the others saying that XYZ management is "like a bunch of frat bros". Let me make this clear: the one they are referencing are ACTUALLY frat brothers. The CEO and other managers were in the same fraternity.
To understand how it feels to work here, look up the scene from Animal House where the newbies, with hopes and dreams and ambitions, pledge to their fraternity. In the film, they beat pledges with a paddle in a cult like setting, give them embarrassing nicknames, and spray them with fire extinguishers. But there’s no happy ending at XYZ. My dreams were crushed over time as I realized that I might have been misled to believe that I mattered at this company.
I didn’t. And I never would have.
First, the structure of the company makes no sense. Need someone to lead a team? Throw some random frat bro in a position with no real experience in the field. It won’t matter how qualified they are or if they are consistently making mistakes. If they are in the frat or friends with the CEO, it seems as if they continuously get a pass. This is the type of BS you might come to expect as you desperately try to survive the meaningless, nonsense tasks they give you on a daily basis.
Second, in your first weeks, they might give you hope. They might pretend to like your ideas. They might approve your proposals. And then, they might just toss them all away. You might get thrown into tasks that make no sense. Like folding shirts. Like mindless data entry. They’ll tell you in the interview and later in meetings that your idea is “exactly what the company needs!!!!” Then, they might go back to their shortsighted executions that continue to fail.
Third, the company seems shady. For example, look how many vague reviews are here on glassdoor for XYZ. It’s no surprise that a previous employee told us that they were tasked to make fake reviews to combat the negative ones. They seemed very very serious. And they thought it was funny. They didn’t seem to care that desperate millennials are reading these reviews and making big life decisions while doing research on companies. Seems interesting once you looks at the graph provided by Glassdoor and notice that when the negative reviews come, there's an immediate uptick in vague, positive reviews. Even with 2 star or 1 star reviews, you'll notice cons like "no such negative comments i can think" or "None I can remark to or would care to". This is something that Glassdoor should be seriously concerned with.
Here’s another example. IT Media is another company and is part of XYZ. As quoted by another glassdoor review, IT Media is “phony, slimey, and creepy.” One employee of IT Media described to me that it is a lead generation company that targets “lower class, impoverished, stupid people and sells their information to the equivalent of payday loan companies.” Their words, not mine. Ethics, am I right?
Another example is the CEO. He’s seem to be all about “looking” like a leader, without ever really needing to lead the teams. He won an award for Best Tech Manager. Who was he managing? He rarely spoke to us other than a quick “hello”. Then, he’d disappear. We’d rarely ever see him anywhere in the office.
Also, look at their numbers year over year. Google it. Why are registrations up and then down millions and then up again? Sales to look better than they are? They often proclaim to be the number one new TLD in the world… This is information that is easily found online. Looks can be deceiving.
Fourth, you might cry in front of your teammates over the stress and the pressure caused by managers who self-proclaim themselves as words I cannot type. You’ll have to use your imagination or just ask a manager what they call themselves. To managers, negative reinforcement seems to be the norm. Imagine if a puppy (a new employee) pees on the floor (makes a small mistake that could be fixed easily). Do you kick it? Do you shove its face in the urine and scream at it? What kind of corporate culture would this type of treatment produce?
Fifth, run away. Run as far as you can. If you’re as desperate to get a job as many of us were, move if you have to and find anything else. You’ll get paid the same amount as a cashier somewhere. Take that instead. Collect cans from random dumpsters to turn in for change. Do absolutely anything you can to not work here. Ever. Forever.
**All of this has been my opinion. If you feel I have mislead you, ask around. Ask real, former employees. What do they say?
