“The environment at Yelp is extremely positive. The culture is very strong and people treat each-other like family! As an account executive the workload is pretty intense, you have to take 75+ phone calls a day, and do so effectively too as you have to hit your metric goals, but because of this intense atmosphere we stay very connected and your co-workers will quickly become your best friends.
The work is pretty intense but the skill and overall intelligence of your co-workers is really inspirational. Everyone works extremely hard, and you’re constantly trying to learn from each-other. As people move up the ranks after proving themselves (and you have the opportunity for pretty rapid career progression here), people are genuinely happy!
With the very strong benefit system and all the added perks, it shows that Yelp really cares about their employees. Managers are very engaging and supportive, and they genuinely want to see you succeed. I’ve never seen an office environment that is so supportive and engaging.
There is definitely a difference in culture between the account executives and the engineering team however. We are both based in the same office, and their schedules are a lot more relaxed. I understand that being in the valley, Yelp has to treat engineers extremely well to attract the top, but having them in the same office can sometimes be de-motivating.”
“Yelp is very fast paced environment for account executives, and you can be constantly on call as an engineer, but you’re excited to work because the culture is very strong and co-workers become your family. The managers respect your individuality and support you along your desired trajectory of growth.”
“Within the sales department, if you are willing to put in a lot of effort and time to hit the high numbers, Yelp will give you every opportunity to advance your career. Your managers will really want you to succeed and support you through your advancement in the company.
Within the engineering department there is no clear roadmap of the potential of your career progression. There’s very little room for advancement (as managers are often non-technical) and the opportunities that are available, what you have to do to get there isn’t clear.”
“To work at yelp you need to have the interpersonal skills to enjoy working with your team and bond with your managers. In sales, you need to be able to thrive in a fast paced environment and negotiate with businesses in adopting Yelps services. In engineering you should be self-directed and consistent in getting your work done.”
“Middle level managers at Yelp are often promoted from within which builds a strong sense of comradery between the managers and the employees. Managers recognize that they were once in your shoes, and they are motivated to support you so that you can also have the opportunity to be promoted. I suspect that this is because their performance is linked heavily to the success of their employees, but I truly don’t mind since they support you in such a positive way that you want to help them succeed as well.
We have pretty frequent scrum style meetings where we meet up and talk about the current roadmaps and our metrics. The management is very transparent and honest about the company’s position which is a breath of fresh air when you’re used to managers wearing pink-tinted goggles. The approach on how to solve problems is very collaborative and they are always listening, wanting people to voice their opinions.
I have yet to meet the upper management but the vision they portray of the company, and the overall feeling you get from all the upper managers is that they understand what the market needs and what they need to do to get there.
I have a friend who works in the engineering department who complains that his manager has a very non-technical background, and so it’s difficult for my friend to build a strong relationship with the manager. This is a single case, and it’s probably very different from location to location. I’ve only ever been impressed after meeting account executive managers.”
Yelp trains their employees exceptionally well. After going through the training I feel like a different person! The initial training program for sales gave a comprehensive review of Yelps products and sales tactics, lasting two months! Not only do they train you on the position you’ll be applying for, but they also transparently show the path you can take for future advancement in the company!
To succeed at Yelp you must be consistently over-achieving and learning outside of your scope. Moving to new positions and building your career is very possible if you stay aware of the opportunities and take them when they come. Make sure you are familial with your team and support the culture, work hard, and show dedication to Yelps overall goals and you will succeed.
Yelps benefit system is above average compared to the industry standards. The 401k plan has matching up to $1k per year, and the health insurance plan is strong, covering 100% from day one for health, dental, and vision. For paid time off you’re given 11 paid holidays and 5 paid sick days.
Yelp also provides many added perks to keep the employee experience positive. Free food for breakfast and lunch (and they don’t cheap out), 60$ monthly gym reimbursement, and corporate partnerships mean you get discounts at their partnered companies!
“Yelp is a fantastic place if you’re looking for local businesses, I always use it over google. With that said, you have to recognize the dichotomy of reviews of the companies, always take every review with a grain of salt. Below I’ll go into why Yelp is a super powerful tool (if used effectively) and why it also sometimes has a negative connotation for many.
Yelp is great because they have one of the largest databases of local companies (especially in the U.S.). They aggregate all the key necessary information for you to make an educated decision on the best place to go in your area. Find the places that are closest to you using their easy to use visual map interface, and filter for whatever options you’d like to specifically find (cheapest or most expensive, best tacos, etc.). They host videos that give tours of the restaurant that communicates the feeling of being there more effectively than any other review, and they have a quick link that lets you easily find how to make a reservation. They also show the hours of operation (no more calling to see if they’re open).
All of this is the basic information that Yelp provides, and this helps customers easily find relevant information on their local companies. In terms of reviews, Yelp can be really helpful in understanding what services (dishes at restaurants) consistently stand out. If 100 people comment on how good the cheesecake is… you probably want to try it!
The negative side of Yelp is that it can actually severely hinder businesses from biased reviews of angry customers. People, behind the veil of the internet, are significantly meaner and after having a single bad experience, they can leave a permanent bad review that the company can never take down. This becomes a battle for companies to constantly always please any customer in any and every way. It doesn’t matter if their demands are un-realistic, a negative review on a company with a low volume of reviews can have a lasting negative impact on company traffic.
As a consumer you need to stay wary of the bias of reviews on Yelp. The information that the company provides on local businesses is super valuable, but don’t only look at the overall rating and take every review with a grain of salt.”
Yelp connects people with local businesses. A platform that covers a wide variety of business categories ranging from restaurants to beauty and fitness parlours to hotels to nightlife. Yelp empowers companies to reach a wide audience to communicate their product and service offerings.
Yelp was founded and launched in 2004. With its headquarters based in San Francisco, California, and offices in over 30 cities, Yelp has grown to be a global company. With an IPO in 2014 where it raised $107.3M, and with yearly revenues of over $700 million, Yelp is still growing and constantly hiring.
The career opportunities at Yelp are great, with job opportunities for product managers, designers, account executives, growth marketers, content writers and more, Yelp provides an opportunity for a diverse range of backgrounds to join their team.
Current positive employee reviews of Yelp love the career and learning opportunities that Yelp provides. With a wide range of job opportunities, focussing on learning the skills that Yelp needs and building relationships with the managers provides the opportunity for rapid career progression.
Former dissenting employee reviews of Yelp dislike the very fast and intense work atmosphere that often makes people burn out. A very low number of sick days and paid vacations makes Yelp become the dominant part of your life.
The core goal of Yelp is to connect the world to the many local businesses that get overwhelmed by larger organizations marketing. Yelp strives to build an easily accessible and navigate-able interface that enables consumers to find the best local businesses that fit their needs.
Internally, Yelp is recognized as an employer that respects its employees, providing them with high levels of training and support by management staff so that employees have the opportunity to grow and reach their full potential. With a respectable benefits plan and great career opportunities in sales, account management, data science, and software engineering, Yelp has become a recognized brand name for its high quality employees who work hard and provide results.
General
Recommendation: Remember that Yelp is trying to connect small local businesses and not the larger corporate entities. If you are able to pull from experiences where you demonstrate your interest helping smaller people or ideas be heard amongst the crowd this will bring great value to the interview. What’s most important here is recognizing that the internal culture of Yelp is very fast paced, but also very tightknit. Experiences working in high pressured situations with teams are great for this part of the interview.
Why Yelp?
Tell me about a time you received constructive criticism.
How do you overcome rejection?
What’s something you’re proud of that’s not listed on your resume?
What other positions/jobs are you looking into?
Engineering
Recommendation: Look into which team you will be most likely joining if you were hired. Recognize the type of work they need to do and prepare by reviewing material that’s relevant for that team. Have questions ready regarding their processes for deployment and try to figure out if their code-base will be fun or frustrating to work with.
What is ARC?
Write a function to compare two strings and return true if anagrams.
Build an insert method for a 2-d tree.
What’s the difference between C++ and Python?
How would you improve Yelp?
Account Executive
Recommendation: Prior to going into the interview, make sure you review the types of products and services that Yelp offers, if you are able to directly reference a product during the mock sale you will be leaps and bounds above everyone else. Remember that as an account executive or sales developer you will be cold-calling your leads! During your mock sale, make sure your passion shows in understanding their needs, but also be concise in gathering their requirements. As an account executive always exude engagement and happiness, if your interviewer believes you didn’t sell the service well don’t get discouraged, keep the positive attitude and try again. It will show persistence against failure and the willingness to learn.
If you meet a pizza owner, how would you inform them about Yelp? (after answering the interviewer will give feedback and ask you to try again)
Why do you want to be in sales?
What kind of challenges or objections might you face in this role?
You are a salesperson and I am a local business owner that you meet on the bus. Sell Yelp to me.
What are some aspects of services that make businesses hesitant?
Yelp was founded in 2004 in San Francisco by the former PayPal employees Russell Simmons and Jeremy Stoppelman, the current CEO and COO. They set out on a mission to connect people with great local businesses. Yelp grew very quickly, raising multiple rounds of funding, from a seed round by lead by HVF Labs in March of 2004, to a $1 million Series A round in July of 2004, Yelp was one of the SF valley companies that became the epitome of ‘high growth startups’. Their last round of funding was a Series E in 2010, raising $25 million, and they later IPO’d in 2012 at a valuation of $898 million raising a total of $107.3 million. Since its IPO, Yelp has acquired 7 companies emerging within its market, such as Nowait and Eat24.
Yelp is recognized as a powerhouse in the consumer led review ecosystem. At the end of 2017, yelpers (the name given to people who use Yelp) have written an approximate 148 million reviews. It has become the leading guide for all types of local businesses, with communities in across 32 countries. Yelp has received some criticism from media and small businesses worldwide for its influence in directing traffic to local businesses, with alleged claims of manipulation and buffing partnered business review scores.