The HistoryMakers Reviews

When I first came across the job posting for the HistoryMakers, I thought the position looked interesting and suited my educational background. The pay was decent too for someone who had just graduated college. When I checked the reviews, I saw that there were some really awful reviews mixed in with some amazing reviews. I was conflicted, but against my better judgment, decided to interview anyway. The interview process was actually fine. There were a few comments made by the interviewer that kind of caught me off guard and were kind of harsh, but I brushed it off. They told me I would be joining them for a trial run so that they could see my performance. Long story short, the trial run was not great to say the least. The executive director constantly monitored and criticized everything I did even though they never trained me. I was always asking for guidance and she behaved as though I should already know what I was doing. Despite this, I was fully hired and decided to stay because I thought it'd get better once I had a better grasp of how to do the work. I was wrong. The environment became worse. I was going home at 10pm and having to arrive at 7am. You're being paid 40,000 dollars a year but working 15 hour shifts. The criticism I received from Julieanna Richardson was not even constructive, it was just insults-- everything from the work that I was doing to completely irrelevant things like the kind of clothes that I wore, the phone that I have, etc. I was afraid to come to work every morning. There are no real lunch breaks. You can eat for 15 minutes, but you'll be working while you do it. And if you take more than two bathroom breaks in a day, Julieanna Richardson will question you. The first time I took three bathroom breaks in one day, she followed me into the bathroom just to monitor me. This job affected my mental health so severely that I sought out a therapist. It wasn't until I was able to see a therapist that the therapist urged me to quit my job. I had nothing lined up, and I was very afraid of the financial loss this would bring me, but the exhaustion, fear, and anxiety that work( esp. J.R.) brought me was taking over every aspect of my life. Even when I would arrive home, all I could think about was work. On weekends, the executive director would text me to my personal phone to complain about the work I had submitted despite me putting my all into the work (and my coworkers assured me I had done a fantastic job). After a few therapy visits, I decided to quit the job. I honestly don't know how the two full time employees who work there have managed to survive such a suffocating atmosphere. This company will not survive without employees. I'm not sure at what point they will realize this and implement the necessary changes, but for now, I can only share my experience. I truly believed it could not possibly be that bad, and I was so wrong. I will always regret not quitting sooner than I did and letting that job ruin every aspect of my life for the short amount of time that it did.

- The interview was the most humiliating "professional" experience of my life. The executive director insulted my past work experience as insufficient for the honor of working at her prestigious organization, she questioned my work ethic for not having consistent employment when I was a full-time student, and she continuously interrupted the interview to take phone calls and consult with employees. Yet she hired me on immediately because she was desperate for new labor, given the considerably high turnover rate I would later find out existed. - The work experience here ranged from tedious "busy work" (printing labels, stuffing folders, etc.) to scheduling conference calls with school speakers. She made it clear she was not satisfied with the amount of work I produced, despite not giving me clear instruction whatsoever. Even my departmental supervisors, who were nice people and good workers, didn't have a clue as to what the boss actually wanted. Ironically, she was also a huge micromanager and demanded detailed daily reports from all of the staff and to be CC'd on every single outgoing email, even going as far as to demand one of the coordinators redact an email he sent because it was "unprofessional" (It wasn't). - I'm almost certain the mandated work hours are legally questionable. I was told to come in at 8:30 every morning and I could not leave until at least 6:30 every night. Some nights I was told to work 1-2 hours later and I was also told to expect to be called in on weekends.