Harmful, unprofessional environment – especially for junior-level staff
Pros
First (and against all odds), the staff are kind, funny, hard-working, and bring a variety of specialties to the table (legislative, editorial, education, data privacy — it’s pretty incredible!). Second, the organization’s mission is one that many folks can get behind as issues like media literacy and safe tech use for families have only become more timely. Also, the benefits are decent.
Cons
Junior staff are shuffled around to accommodate leadership’s experimental whims, especially on the Marketing team. Within two years of working here, I had already experienced 5 managers and 3 titles changes, which seriously eroded my confidence and career ambitions. There are few legitimate opportunities for growth, though more than half of the organization is made up of VPs and Directors. It’s obvious that Jim suffers from “founder’s syndrome” and uses Common Sense as vehicle for advancing his political career. (Not to mention he once invited an ex-employee who had very serious allegations of sexual assault raised against him back into the office for a meeting – truly awful, in my opinion!) Only the teams that are shielded from him do well for themselves (like Education and Consumer), while the ones he feels personal stake to (like Advocacy) either flounder or become so enabled and entitled that they’re unbearable to work with and emotionally abusive. Unfortunately, I would never recommend this place to anyone, especially not to those early in their career.
