Pros
Caveats: 1. Rise employees are organized in particular teams like SEO, Paid Search, Display, etc. I work in a particular channel team, and my experiences may be different than persons in other teams. I want to really emphasize this point; I do not want to minimize unique experiences of others that I can’t fully experience. 2. I have been an employee for just under a year. This makes my point of view valuable in particular ways but also less valuable in others. 3. It’s not my intention to address everything that could be addressed. I want to offer up another way (an additional way, not the only way) to look at some of the complaints I have seen. Some people have expressed frustrations with processes, difficulty in getting noticed, and senior managers in general. Speaking to a prospective employee, if you want to work where everything is teed up, and you just have to check boxes off in a career advancement memo that someone handed you on Day 1, Rise is not the best place for you. Rise needs and wants people that push progress and push their ideas and contribute great value to the company. Rise is still in a growth and value creation state. Some people might say, well, I want to contribute great ideas and I do go above and beyond to do dramatic things, but the company or my manager just throw up roadblocks. One of two things may be happening. 1. Knowing how to get around roadblocks is a skill. You’re either capable of learning how to go about doing that, and knowing in what situations it is okay to do that (and you’re comfortable taking a risk here or there when you’re confident in yourself), or you’re not capable of learning that skill. 2. The roadblock could actually be too big, and I can’t speak for every team member (caveat #1). Roadblocks exist at every company, and no individual would be special if everyone could handle them and create value effortlessly. Getting noticed is also a skill. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket by counting on one person to notice what you’re doing and promote your career; make sure several people notice your efforts. I’m not talking about being a showboat. There are legitimate and smart ways to help ensure your work and ideas are noticed. These talents are intuitive for some and can be learned by others. Organizations are not simple, they’re interesting entities in and of themselves. I came to Rise because I wanted a growth company, and I was actually hoping I was going to spot some problems. If everything were flawless, logically, there would be very little opportunity. What you hope for is to see a lot of potential. You want to see some good and key pieces in place, but with a lot of things you could help improve upon. This isn’t [Starcom]. This isn’t [Google]. I wanted to do great things and I wanted to get noticed. [Starcom] is too big. You can’t get noticed there. Eventually, yes, the one or two managers that know what you do will give the nod to their own superiors regarding you - but you’re going to have to wait almost as long as the no-talent [xxx]-clown in the cube next to you (maybe longer, actually, if the dice roll that way). That’s why Rise is in a sweet spot right now and I don’t think it’s easy to find places like it. It’s small enough that there are a ton of opportunities to really own things and upside to your career is big. Pick it up, put your flag in it, and do something awesome – you could find yourself in a great situation pretty quickly. A lot of the value has already been created at a company like [Starcom] and a lot of people can get by being pretty average. Everyone’s different, but for me, that sounds a bit boring and unfulfilling. Rise is far from perfect and that’s a good thing for current and prospective employees. Rise has some great pieces in place and a lot of value has already been created, but there’s still so much opportunity here. Knowing how to spot it, how to create value from it, and how to get noticed in the process, are each parts of what may make you good.
Cons
Communication. My experiences cannot account for the whole company and I haven’t been here long enough to feel confident that I understand the whole problem, but email may be a good place to start looking. Email is difficult, because we all get a lot of it and it's really a newer form of communication, a hybrid between informal notes and formal correspondence, sometimes taking the role of both and everything between. It’s also a huge component of communication now. My personal belief is that email should be respected. There is also a proper time and frequency for picking up the phone or walking over to discuss something. Knowing when to do that and how often is important and it’s another piece of the communication puzzle.