Checkr?
I have been approached by a recruiter at Checkr. Its a background checking firm based out of SFO. Anyone have any insights on work culture there?
Just search it here. Its a real lol
Used to work there, pay is good and so are perks. Culture is bad as F. CEO is a crazy bro nut that believes he's the next big thing, fires anyone with authority or leadership. Ask what attrition they had on management roles over past two years. It's way over 60%.
Based on your time there will u recommend the place for a position in engineering? Considering that its a fast growing startup, I guess CxO influence will dilute as higher level peoples like VPs join in.
Yes, join but negotiate hard, after signing things are not going to be easy. Stay true to yourself and don't meddle with CxOs or middle management wannabes, unless you are up for some drama. If you want to push hard, suck up to mgmt and willing to do some brown nosing you will do great, if you want to stay on your lane do your job and go home it might also be a good place. If you think you can "be great and make a difference while in company of friends", not to sound bitter, but that didn't worked for me.
I’ve been at Checkr for over 2 years. Best place I’ve ever worked, hands down. For anyone who has had a negative experience, it may not have been the place for them. Yes we’re a fast growing startup, so it’s heads down and get shit done but if you have that mentality, you’ll thrive and see promotions and raises, Ive seen both. We doubled last year and are set to do almost that again this year. And our attrition isn’t over 60%. It’s no where even close to that, I’m not sure how long Ozyman was with the company, but their statistics are way off. Profitable, room for advancement, strong comp, VP Eng from Box is amazing, I encourage a conversation. You’d be surprised.
Last time I checked the Director of Engineering was canned, then the VP hiring was rushed. Same with VP of Marketing, director of HR, head of recruiting or as you call it People Ops, most of the HR team, director of Support, VP of Legal, and again promptly replaced. That is 5 heads on the management team. Quite a number. I am not saying it's a bad place to work, just like cheezit said, head down, bow to the founders and brown nose your way, oe get shit done and shut up. Promotions are 100% friendship based. So if you are good making friends, again might be a great place to work.
When going through the interview process at Checkr, how was the technical live coding part?
The cheezit response sums up Checkr culture. Either you're in the tribe of lemmings or it's not the place for you is what you basically just said. Please don't claim mistakes are not made over and over by management. That is just false. And by what measure is the VP eng amazing? Please explain your hyperbole. Also doubled last year in what roles? The sales team saw zero growth.
I'm not saying it doesn't work well, and most importantly, that it doesn't work well for some type of people. But also it doesn't for a lot of other people. And the fact that you hide truths instead of saying "yes that was part of growing and colateral damage" is a clear sign of the denial most people working there faces. So, people ops is not recruiting, so? Their attrition is 100% over the past two years. There used to be a VP of marketing or director not sure, but was unceremoniously put aside (probably the right choice in my opinion , but still, if you
Hire and fire management level employees, it's a clear sign of something not working well. The HR department attrition is another clear indicator. There was a Legal Compliance guy, maybe that was not the title. What I'm trying to say is that instead of going with technicalities like "we never had someone by that exact title", maybe just acknowledge that it takes a certain typr of people to work there, not burn out, not feel undervalued and strive, and if you are not there to suck up to the bosses, or ready to be bro friends with the founders, you'll be out of luck. It's pretty clear when you promote people to be leads based on friendship and not talent and then you have to demote them before they quit... If it was such a great place, this conversation wouldn't even take place. Peace.
Ozyman, yUUj46 and Cheezit - thank you! You all seem to have very different experiences with Checkr but appreciate the candor.
Did you end up joining?
Shit was fucked up a few years ago, and still has some issues. But the CEO def has changed, and more management changes the dynamic a bit. It’s a 4 yr old start up, what do you expect? Is it perfect? Not even close. But the business itself is strong and there are good people here and they pay well. Most people who are no longer there and complaining were either not cut out for a growing company, or didn’t have the patience to work through it. 3 yrs in, I haven’t seen many firings that weren’t the “right thing to do”. People quit. But 100% attrition is way exaggerate. Yes, if the HR team is a team of 1 and you fire him, it’s a 100%, but saying the percentage only is misleading. Attrition in 2017 was like 7%, and 2018 is prob like 15-20% total...not unusual.
How is the Customer Success team?
Lol
Is that an ' ah the culture is amazing' lol or 'its laughable' lol??