Yelp

Terrible company they treat there customers like dollar bills, I hope and truly believe the will go understand soon! They are the worst a have ever seen

Terrible company they treat there customers like dollar bills, I hope and truly believe the will go understand soon!

I worked at Yelp for two years as an Account Executive in the Sales Org. Yelp Sales was a great first sales role for me to learn the ropes of how to manage a full cycle sale process with a 60 day training program, including Salesforce training. There is a clear promotion path to earn more money and become a Sr. AE through the amount of revenue you close each month. However, I have to mention this is extremely dependent on your first territory that’s not necessarily picked at random, but chosen by the training managers or leadership.

As far as equal pay, every new AE in training starts with the same annual salary (to my knowledge). Maybe if you have more sales experience, you can start as a Senior AE and make more off the bat, but overall we all started at 33k back in 2011. You quickly jump levels once you pass thresholds, but earning under 40k for the first few months is difficult when you live in San Francisco.

In regards to career advancement, when you start in sales you pretty much move up in title and pay within sales continuing to be an AE, move over to the national sales team, or becomes a sales training manager. Other than that, the recruiting team or starting a team in another state or country seemed to be the way certain Yelpers were able to advance their careers,but this was a rare thing to happen. It did seem like some of these opportunities were not based on merit, but who you were friends with in the org. All of my managers were first time managers and quite young, which would be fine but it was obvious they favored friends on the teams they managed. Managers having control over handing out inbound inquires to the reps of their choice created an uneven playing field and favoritism was all too common.

Lastly, I’d say this is a good job for someone wanting to learn the basic skills of training to move onto a job that’s a more interesting product to tell. Online advertising pitches, the work hard play hard culture, and cold calling is not for everyone. It can feel extremely churn and burn with calling culture and extremely high turnover for rookies, vets, and management. I had 4 sales managers within one year, which is not ideal. But if you drink the kool-aid and hit more than 30k every month, you can potentially make decent money if that’s your goal.

As far as I know there is equal pay and you get promoted very quickly. It’s a really nice supportive culture. It seems like everyone is rooting for you to succeed. You don’t have to worry about any drama, politics, or power trips, like at a lot of other jobs. The only thing I’m not a fan of is the open office. Just me personally but it seems to work well for a lot of other people.

This company lacks the meaning behind diversity and inclusion as well as didn’t have a huge support for families (with a hard focus on families of color in special situations). I did see many managers that were women, but NONE where black or Latino which is a problem. Also, there was no support system to help employees coming from lower income environments who may suffer from PTSD or any other mental health issue. It isn’t a place to work if you’re a woman of color and if you’re not Yelpie!

Yelp sales had many female managers and directors which I think allowed for it to be a more female-friendly environment, however, you could still feel the exclusiveness often created in a male dominated environment – that there is only room for 1 female at the top and you’ll tear each other down to get there.

Great promotion path for recent grads through their YSDP program, excellent training, and I believe they are starting to make the turn towards family friendly (not as fratty and alcohol heavy as it used to be). If getting that basic training is key for you, Yelp is great on traditional cold calling. Don’t expect to be paid at market value, but people tend to stay if they are there for a few years. Not unusual for people to stay 5-7 years if they are on the right track.

During my time at Yelp I never felt discriminated against as a woman. I felt that I was given the same opportunities to advance as my male counterparts. In the beginning of my career, the picture was painted for me that I would have plenty of options and could do whatever I wanted at the company so long as I worked hard and stayed positive. The reality of the situation is that in the sales department, there are only two paths one can take and from there, the opportunity to advance is incredibly limited. As far as culture goes, a positive attitude and hard work does not take you anywhere. I have seen plenty of employees treated with preferential treatment because of their personal relationship with decision makers rather than rewarding those for legitimate action. It is most definitely a fraternity and if you’re not in the fraternity you cannot expect to get very far unfortunately. Family friendly? Most of the employees are still children so there are not many parents. The sick leave/PTO policy is quite strict, although I cannot speak from personal experience with family.

I was on the sales side of things, and was there for less than a year. I tried to switch departments a number of times, but was unable to. Very low base-salary because sales roles are commission based. If you can excel in the role, you have the opportunity to make a decent living. I, however, was not. Hard to say how “family friendly” Yelp was, as again, sales is very divided from the rest of the org, and very “boys club”. I did spy a number of “mother’s rooms” for nursing and changing, so I believe they were supportive of motherhood. On that same note in terms of support, again sales is very competitive and “fratty” if you will. However, my manager was a woman, and was incredibly invested in my success. As another review mentioned, if you are committed to your success in sales, this can be a great org to work for. Several of my colleagues are still there, 2-3 years later.

I worked at Yelp for 3 years. I was able to move departments and I was promoted 3 times. I doubled my salary while at Yelp but was unfortunately still paid under market and did not receive opportunities for career growth after 3 years — simply put, I’d hit a ceiling at below market rate. I was compensated nearly 30k less than the person who’s job I inherited when they put in 2 weeks notice to go to Facebook. My boss was supportive and but he did not advocate for my career advancement and explained our stock-based compensation incorrectly many times. That being said, many of my best friends and mentors are still at Yelp and it was a wonderful culture and work environment for me to jumpstart my career.

I worked at Yelp for 3 years. I was able to move departments and I was promoted 3 times. I doubled my salary while at Yelp but was unfortunately still paid under market and did not receive opportunities for career growth after 3 years — simply put, I’d hit a ceiling at below market rate. I was compensated nearly 30k less than the person who’s job I inherited when they put in 2 weeks notice to go to Facebook. My boss was supportive and but he did not advocate for my career advancement and explained our stock-based compensation incorrectly many times. That being said, many of my best friends and mentors are still at Yelp and it was a wonderful culture and work environment for me to jumpstart my career.

I worked at Yelp for about four years (I left almost two years ago, so perhaps some things have changed).

I was given a chance early on for career advancement more due to circumstances than my own hard work, achievements, or interests. That being said, I will always be grateful to Yelp because they took a chance on me. The downside was once I had grown over the years within the company and asked to be promoted and to own more responsibilities and restructure my team, the reception was cold at best. It was extremely frustrating, then, when, after I left, I learned that the man who took over my role was given the opportunities I was asking for. As well as my salary. Big fat bummer.

While exiting Yelp was pretty brutal, there were a lot of great things. I was, as I mentioned, given a lot of responsibility early on; I had a lot of autonomy; and I was able to take risks and try new things. Our team was able to achieve and perform better than we ever had before, largely because we were given trust. Note: not every department at Yelp is like this.

Some things I downright disliked: most managers at Yelp (including myself) were/are first-time managers. My boss was no exception. I could not count on him for constructive or positive feedback. He also had never had previous exposure to my team’s function and couldn’t be a subject matter expert. So we operated as a silo, which more or less worked, but we were on our own.

In addition, when I left, I learned my successor was given the salary that I left at–the salary I had earned over my three years in the role. It was infuriating.

Leadership is very far removed from day-to-day operations and I still wonder what the hell they’re doing over there. Best of luck to them, but as soon as–if ever–my stock is of value again, I will liquidate.

I have worked at Yelp for around 2 years now. Yelp is a great place to jumpstart your career. While their turnover might be a bit high, I feel it is because this is many people’s first jobs and aren’t sure what to expect. Yes, it is hard work but it is almost a great way to network and broaden your skill set. There is also a great work/life balance.

It terms of advancement, you can quite quickly if you work hard and want to continue in the sales realm. However, if you’re looking to go horizontal, you’re not going to have a lot of luck. Overall, you really get what you give. If you’re committing 110%, your superiors will be there to support you the entire way.