Run away as fast as you can. Especially if you’re in recruiting or HR. They told me this was a long term position with stability and growth, that the Motorola acquisition wasn’t going to lead to layoffs, then I was laid off 2 months later.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This was by far the worst experience I have ever had with a company.
So much animosity between teams, you can cut the tension with the knife. No collaboration, it’s extremely competitive and a “do anything it takes to get ahead, even if it screws someone else over” culture.
This is the kind of company that thinks you should be bending over backwards to thank them for giving you below average pay and benefits. No sick days. Bare minimum PTO that is accrued. An expectation to work 12+ hour days, if you’re not the last one to leave the office then you’re a slacker. Your first day at Silvus is sitting in a conference room while the HR person lists all the reasons why they’d love to fire you - including if they find out you have a side gig as a DJ (literally that was an example she gave). The message is clear: you are disposable. No respect or acknowledgment for employees as actual human beings. You are a cog in the machine, and they have no problem replacing you if they don’t like you. A dystopian monthly birthday celebration where everyone gathers in the lunch room and sings an awkward communal “happy birthday” before you get in line for half a bagel. Every year, they hold a company event on a cruise around the harbor. There’s a widespread rumor that they do this event on a boat so that everyone is trapped there for the entire day and no one can leave early.
Extremely strict in-office policies. They demand 3-days in-office, NO exceptions. One of my colleagues was so nauseous she was turning green after lunch, but she was told if she went home early, she would have to come back on her off day to makeup her in-office hours. I got covid and took zero time off, worked from home while sick with high grade fevers, and was treated like I was faking it. I got an email from the head of HR at 11pm one night asking why I took a Covid test when I was feeling sick. Even though testing if you feel symptoms is part of their policy? They never replied when I emailed back saying that, lol.
The recruiting lead seems to have a masters degree in passive aggression, which I found shocking since she seemed really cool and supportive during my interview process. There was a lot of gossip and talking badly about colleagues, yet perfectly smiley and friendly to their faces.
When I arrived, the team was far behind on their numbers, and by the time I left, I had helped get them ahead of schedule. 10+ of my sourced candidates were sent offers during the 2 months I was there, which any recruiter will tell you are great numbers. I asked my lead daily if there was anything more I could do or if she had any feedback for me. I was told no, all was good. Yet I always felt that passive aggressive attitude from her, like she just didn’t like me or wasn’t satisfied with my work for unknown reasons. But she was never straightforward with me, even when I was directly asking. She would send passive aggressive chat messages, but be perfectly friendly to my face. Her direction and priorities changed hourly, constantly changing her mind on how she wanted something done.
When I was told my position as a Senior Sourcer was being eliminated due to layoffs, I asked if I could transition to one of the open Recruiter positions. We were actively hiring 3 more recruiters for the team, which would be a lateral career move for me (it was the same pay, almost exactly the same responsibilities.) However, I was told I wasn’t qualified because I didn’t have a bachelors degree. Even though that wasn’t an issue when I was hired 2 months prior, I had been doing the job successfully for those 2 months already, and I had 5+ prior years of experience in recruiting, including in full cycle recruiter roles. It still doesn’t make any sense to me.
Overall, felt like a huge waste of my time. Why hire me in the first place if you were just going to lay me off 2 months later? Why sell me false promises of stability and long term career growth? Why not just hire me as a temporary contractor? Why act so passive aggressive and isolating towards me that I cried on my drive home several times wondering what I could possibly be doing wrong when all of my stats were great? Why put me through hell only to let me go with no severance package during the holiday season, putting me in a worse position than before?
I genuinely wish I had never encountered Silvus. I wish they had never reached out to me on Linkedin. I wish I wasn’t stuck with the trauma of being laid off with absolutely no warning, laying awake at night wondering why I was treated this way or how I could’ve possibly prevented this. I’m left with no real answers, except the same sentiment I felt on my very first day of onboarding:
At Silvus, you’re disposable. You don’t matter. You are a cog in the machine, and you are replaceable.