**I didn't originally want to write a negative review of working at Animalz. Those already exist, at length, if you scroll down a little. But after seeing the recent efforts to gloss over things (they're experts at that), with people writing glowing reviews of life at Animalz (which may or may not have been a management directive), I figured I needed to reinforce realistic expectations for those considering applying.**
- You're only likely to succeed here if you are a content marketing zealot. If you just want to work in the tech/SaaS space, you'll probably do better looking elsewhere.
- Very average pay.
- Overtime is a constant reality and a carefully masked expectation. Just pay attention to how often they stress that this is "agency life" without explaining what that means -- you're going to get wrung out every week, but god forbid they actually admit how busy you'll be.
- They'll act the part of jovial, supportive, millennial colleagues when you join the team. This might continue if you're their type of people, but you'll quickly come to realize everyone is far too busy to really be there for you, no matter how often they say they are.
- On internal company-wide calls you'll soon start to see that at least 30% of your colleagues are mildly-to-moderately exasperated and some are barely hanging on.
- Monthly production targets for writers are aggressive. I saw people get called out for being 0.5 articles below their quota in a month. Basically, you're never going to have a quiet day, ever.
- People constantly miss or have to reschedule internal calls because of how busy they are. You will have to, too!
- Taking vacation will stress you out as you'll fall behind with production expectations for your clients. Good luck enjoying time away from your computer.
- You're expected to bring your own equipment to the job and there's no home office stipend like most remote-first companies offer.
- Churn, churn, churn. Internal and external.
- They love to tout their flexible, work from home policy as a major perk of the job, but honestly it feels like a gimmick to squeeze more work out of people and reduce the company's overheads.
- Their culture of radical transparency is often taken too far. People are criticized and demeaned in public forums, made to look stupid, and have to take it all on the chin. It was often undeserved and most mistakes seemed to come from being overworked and always feeling like you're behind.
- If you're not a good fit or meeting quotas, there's a good chance you'll be out within 3-6 months. Or you'll decide to leave yourself. Either way, this will be announced to everyone else through a casual glossing-over of the situation.
- Do yourself a favor and read all of the previous negative reviews on glassdoor about working at Animalz. They went into a lot more detail than I care to, but I agree with 100% of what they said.