Proceed with extreme caution!!!
First I met their VP/second in charge, Natalie who was absolutely lovely. Then I was invited to meet in person. I spent just over 3 hours there meeting no less than five people. Was never offered a bathroom break, or even a glass of water until some poor office manager, saw me on my way out.
The staff that interviewed me seemed sweet, but everyone made several not so subtle references to how most of the job was managing/dealing with their CEO, Madonna.
Upon meeting Madonna she was all they said, and then some. Having read some of the reviews about her treatment of the staff before hand, I asked that “I understand you have to take glassdoor reviews with a grain of salt, but given how many there were all touching upon certain theme, we’d be silly to think that there isn’t a grain of truth in there somewhere, and that being said, what steps have been taken as an agency to ensure that people feel safe and respected and seen, and treated as professionals in the workplace” and her reply was verbatim “ Those people who commented online without coming to us directly had me on a pedestal and when I didn’t live up to their expectation they decided to troll, and I can’t change the way I behave based off of Internet trolls.” to which the other two people in the room looked very uncomfortable, and tried to backtrack with a milk toast answer.
Madonna also made several references to not believing that her staff works unless they are in the office. She said she would much rather than be in the office 5 days a week instead of 4 because who knows if they work on Friday (the exact quote was “We *supposedly* work from home on Friday” While also in the same breath, talking about how late her team works often till 7,8,9 o’clock at night and that just “being the industry we work in.”
When I asked about any noticeable decrease in productivity, with people working from home, there was no clear indication. And she didn’t seem to think much of my reply in that I believe if people are doing their work and doing it well, I don’t need or want to babysit them or care about whether they run out to pick up their kids or do a load of laundry in the middle of the day.
If you’re desperate, as I was. Go ahead and send a nice thank you note, (and try to hide your horrified face better than I did). Just know that it’s not gonna be a place to stay for more than six months to a year, if you can help it. And if you do, it will only be because you have trauma bonded with the very sweet staffers she has there. All who have seem to have grown up in that agency and don’t know anything different.