Online Editorial Content Analyst: Look Somewhere Else for a Fulfilling Publishing Role
Pros
This review is only for this position (not the company itself). Please read before applying or interviewing for this position. Pros: Right across the street from Penn Station. 9-5 job. No overtime or taking home work. Good PTO and summer Fridays. Decent salary (though new analysts start at a lower annual salary than what their coworkers started). Okay for someone right out of school, trying to figure out what they want to do and need to save money. Okay for someone who doesn't care about being treated like garbage or growing in a fulfilling role. Great coworkers (analysts NOT management, see Cons for more info). Easy work. Literally anyone could do this work, it's that easy.
Cons
1) Management. This department is horribly managed due to pettiness, high school-level professionalism and a strange emphasis on when the work is done rather than the quality of the work. Because of the negative mentality brought on by management, the department's morale is incredibly low. Everyone is miserable. There is no positive feedback. They threaten you so you get your work done. Don't expect warm greetings, smiles or eye contact from your supervisors if you pass them in the hall. There's no "team." You are absolutely nothing to them but people to get the work done. This is only speaking of the managers not of the other analysts or the rest of the company. The rest of the company from my perspective seemed relatively normal, professional and positive. Overall, the other departments seem to encourage group activity, growth in positions and enjoyment in your everyday work life. I'm sure I would've had a much different experience at Thomas had I worked in another department. Unfortunately this department is very different. The managers are invasive as they micromanage your entire day. There are unspoken rules about not being allowed to socialize during the day as they expect you to stay at your desks at all times (prepare yourself for a lengthy meeting and accusations about why you weren't at your desk). Once I went to another department's area for free food to celebrate Thanksgiving and I received an email about why I wasn't at my desk. There you go. You will be accused of a number of things as if you're in high school and are automatically wrong. Management is also very insecure and takes things extremely personally. If you speak up about anything, you will be retaliated against as management only sticks up for each other and doesn't look out for you. I wish I was exaggerating. They walk around the cubicles to monitor everyone at least three times a day. Apply at your own risk. If you accept this job, prepare yourself to feel like an idiot 100% of the time. Get ready to feel your worth disappearing. It's a wonder why you were hired in the first place as they act as though you're incompetent. 2) This is a recurring problem as there's a huge turnover in this department. This didn't begin when I started working at the company or when I left it and certainly isn't going away anytime soon. In the last two months, one analyst quit and one analyst was fired. When I started two analysts had transferred to other departments are much happier. A manager quit a few months ago after only being in the position for less than a year. And if your coworker is fired, don't expect to hear anything about why or when they left. They'll pretend that person didn't exist. I know.. because it happened two months ago (not to me, to someone else). I've heard stories of the department being incredible 10+ years ago and the decline starting when the current managers were hired. Something isn't right, yet they (management + HR) have continued to treat the analysts as though they are expendable because that's how they feel. 3) "Editorial" is also a stretch to describe this position. HR and the managers will tell you in the hiring process that you'll edit and write descriptions for the website, contribute to their content development, etc. This is a data entry position at best. It's finding information, inputting it in their CMS and time tracking your work. That's it. There's very little time dedicated to how you're actually improving or what you're gaining from this role and more focus on how you time tracked your work. If you want to grow in an editorial or publishing position and expand your skills, this is not the job you want. 4) Training is a mess. No one, even the higher up managers, are completely sure sometimes. You'll hear eight different ways to complete an assignment and then when you do one of those ways, you're wrong. When you explained that's how you were taught, you're wrong. It's very frustrating. 5) No communication between analysts and managers. There's no understanding of where any of your work is going, how it's contributing to the growth of the company. HR says you'll have "better critical and analytical skills" and get a "worthwhile introduction to the world of business." You know what you'll learn? How to stare at an excel sheet for 8 hours and sit in silence and talk to no one all day. 6) $1500 deductibles for health insurance. Enjoy that.