WITHIN Reviews

What stayed with me most about this job was not the workload itself, but the way the company systematically made employees feel disposable, incompetent, and constantly afraid of failing. This job was the reason I (along with many of my coworkers) moved to NYC after college. I accepted the role believing I was joining a company that wanted to invest in me long term: my position was salaried, included healthcare and 401k benefits, and was framed as the start of a real career path. Instead, on the very first day, my entire cohort was sat down and told that not all of us would “make it through” training, and that the next few months would determine whether we were “worthy” of staying full time. From the beginning, the environment felt less like onboarding and more like a competition built around intimidation. At first, our assignments were centered around learning the work itself. But once employees inevitably quit or were quietly pushed out (something that happened far more often than leadership admitted), the company began placing trainees onto active client accounts due to understaffing. What followed felt like corporate hazing. I was expected to perform at the level of a fully trained employee while simultaneously being excluded from the resources necessary to succeed. I was not allowed to sit with coworkers working on the same accounts, excluded from group chats where project information was shared, and left out of meetings that directly impacted the work I was responsible for producing. It was humiliating and made it impossible to feel like part of the team. At the same time, me and my fellow trainees were assigned responsibilities completely outside the scope of the role and not listed in the job description. This included but not limited to helping build a website despite having no background in web design, locating six-figure budget discrepancies despite not being accountants, or managing complicated client relationship issues without access to the relevant context or communications. People were constantly being evaluated against expectations they had never actually been trained for. What made the environment especially damaging, however, was that there never seemed to be a consistent or transparent standard for success. Some members of my cohort “graduated” from training despite not completing all required assignments, while others were told they were falling behind without receiving clear explanations as to why. When we asked what differentiated successful employees from unsuccessful ones, we were never given direct answers. The goalposts constantly moved, making it feel impossible to ever truly meet expectations. When I was eventually told I was “not on track” to graduate from training, despite already being beyond the original timeline they had communicated, I was informed that one of the reasons was that I asked too many questions about my work and role responsibilities. This was especially ironic because one of the company’s stated core values was “get curious.” When I explained that my questions came from a lack of clarity around expectations and feedback, I was essentially told to accept the dysfunction because “that’s just how the company operates,” despite leadership frequently claiming they welcomed feedback about the program. The reason I am posting about my experience now is due to the severe lasting impact this environment had on my mental health and professional confidence. Even after leaving, I carried intense anxiety into every corporate environment I entered. Every casual manager check-in made my heart race because I was terrified of once again being blindsided and told I was failing despite receiving little or no actionable feedback. I became hesitant to ask coworkers questions out of fear that I would be excluded from opportunities or viewed as incapable. A workplace should help employees grow more confident and collaborative over time; this experience did the opposite. It left me constantly on edge, hypervigilant, and doubtful of my own abilities. I want to be careful not to place the responsibility of my mental health struggles onto one employer. However, I do believe it is important to warn prospective employees - especially those with anxiety, depression, or similar conditions - that this environment can be deeply psychologically damaging. This company has a way of making employees internalize impossible expectations and then blaming them when they inevitably struggle under the weight of inadequate training, inconsistent standards, and exclusionary management practices. Over time, you stop questioning the system and start questioning your own intelligence, work ethic, and self-worth. I genuinely believe this environment would erode almost anyone’s mental health if they stayed long enough. If you're interviewing or considering accepting a job, move forward with caution.