What is the hiring process like at Semrush?

Pros

Remote, unlimited PTO, strong brand, useful valid product

Cons

Privacy violation ( a former employee left also because he/she wasn’t granted a salary increase and this person was pissed off since he/she became aware of my yearly salary blathered by someone internally!!!) Lack of organisation, toxic aggressive management with zero or low experience as managers, humiliating attitude,no proper training for managers, no proper effective fees, no proper onboarding for new hires (just a google sheet filled with links to read),word harassment, patronising attitude from the management, constant unclarity on projects (you loose you time amending your work constantly with no meaning) , toxic workload, 10 pm requests for changes, presentations and data. Weekend encouraged extra workload if you haven’t managed during the week. Not inclusive: many internal docs and tools are still in Russian (Semrush it’s a former Russian startup) now listed in the US but many employees are Russians or Russian speakers! You really feel lack of inclusivity. High turnover, mandatory NDA if they fire you out of the blue (it happened to a professional I know). I literally left running! I was ver sad and overwhelmed by this toxic experience

Advice to Management

Change your management and train them to clarity, objectivity, respect, empathy

Pros

- good pay, health insurance package, and compensation (at least, they were when I worked there) - great A- and B-level colleagues, with some good lads in the C-level as well, especially in the dev dept - an amazing place to get an in-depth 360 marketing experience, with sophisticated and thought-through campaigns (unless, launched in a hurry, with vague goals and KPIs) - an ok work/life balance outside of periods of yet another structural reform and/or huge marketing campaigns coming out of the blue

Cons

- instant changes for the sake of changes, which can affect your position in a blink of an eye: today you are valued and cherished, tomorrow you are downgraded or even given a boot - many people on the C-level and above are narrow-minded personas, with cult-like following and a suck-up admiration from both the lower-level employees and C-level executives (thanks to that, they sustain through the years in the company) - the CEO easily falls for weird and unprofessional jabber, which hugely affects the hiring policy resulting in onboarding people with little or irrelevant to the position experience in the industry; this, in turn, triggers recurring structural changes because every 3-6 months the company bumps into bottlenecks in the form of internal conflicts and inefficient workflows; - The HR department is a cool kids club that doesn't give a flying flunk about employees: in my department, there were four HR managers changing one another, and none of them was a real professional—all of them were reluctant to solve difficult situation whenever one would come up, and were ok with making you fill in for a job, for which they were unable to find an employee; HRs also did not care about your mental health—I was personally told to "start taking hormone pills to cheer up and chill out"

Advice to Management

Start trusting your employees and stop falling for the BS coming from con artists you hire for executive positions.

Pros

- Very confident in the strategic direction of the company since IPO. - Senior leadership did extraordinary things during COVID for employees by relocating many, and then offering free/discounted subscriptions to users. - Any customer-facing role is great for those interested in a career in digital marketing. Our Education does a great job of onboarding new hires and keeping you up-to-date with the tool and industry. - I'd say its one of the better entry-level companies out there in the US. If you don't leave Semrush with a new set of skills, then you have only yourself to blame. - Pay is fair considering the roles themselves and the requirements needed for the roles. - Work/life balance is very good and my manager encourages me to actually take time off. Unlimited PTO is a very great thing and glad that we finally have it! - I consider this a "pro" but others may consider it a "con". Experimentation is at the center of what we do and that is why I have confidence in the strategic direction. If you are resistant to change, then Semrush is not for you.

Cons

- The cost of some of those extraordinary things during COVID is that many recent changes have been at the expense of users such as paywalling certain features and increasing prices for long-time loyal users. All customer-facing jobs have been much more challenging as a result. - While skill development is highly prioritized, opportunities for promotions are becoming more and more infrequent for US employees in certain divisions. Compared to a year ago, it is a night and day difference. It's great for entry level nowadays and that's about it. - Motivational tools have been taken away and never replaced. Little things like swag for new hires, rewards points that can be redeemed for prizes, and in-person teambuilding events. And bigger things like stock program, attending industry conferences, and travel between offices.

Advice to Management

- Please pay more attention to US employees in terms of career advancement. At the very least, positions should be opened up publicly along with a list of criteria to make it fair for all. - Please pay more attention to US employees in terms of company culture. There are many in-person events for EU offices and very few for US. For starters, I would recommend that upper management and HR visit the offices on a consistent basis to shake hands and actually meet people.

Pros

Semrush has a lot of growth opportunities and ways to move throughout the organization. There are few companies of this size where as an Account Rep you can see your ideas on how to improve our internal processes and products get implemented.

Cons

Semrush is a rapidly growing organization. To do well you need to be able to adapt to changes as quickly as they come. If you are looking to show up to work and do the exact same thing you did the day before and repeat this process for the rest of your career then Semrush might not be the place to work. If you are looking for a place that will challenge you to grow and learn, then Semrush will be a great fit.

Advice to Management

Listen to the team that interacts with your clients on a daily basis.