8 ms·

Yelp cancels internship program due to Covid-19 outbreak

38 points by gtmtg 7y ago

throwqwerty 7y ago
this thing is causing me a lot of anxiety lately. i finally landed a FB summer internship in menlo park and now i can't tell if it'll actually happen. recruiter is saying everything is still on track but i'm sure there's no way they can predict whether that'll change soon. i know google is doing virtual onboarding and wfh for incoming interns according to the whether the team that hosts is still game. does anyone have any idea about FB?
- runawaybottle 7y ago
  Yelp is very much tied to the Restaurant industry. It may be an outlier with respect to this pandemic. Of all the tech dominos to fall, Yelp and Groupon (trading around 50 cents today) sound like the first to be hit.
  - throwqwerty 7y ago
    i'm sure FB isn't going to fail but i am wondering if it logistically won't be possible. i mean menlo park is under shelter-in-place and if you asked me a couple of weeks ago i would not have imagined an intern class could be productive on WFH.
    - runawaybottle 7y ago
      Stay positive, Menlo Park in general isn’t the most social happening place on earth (the irony of the largest social network being headquartered there). Any spread there would happen at the actual Facebook offices. It’s not a hotbed and should be fine by summer.
    - dilyevsky 7y ago
      Shelter in place is until april 7. They can maybe extend it a little longer but not by much because otherwise half of people end up being exempt due to homelessness
      - mkinsella 7y ago
        I highly doubt the shelter-in-place order will be lifted before mid-May.
        dilyevsky 7y ago
        I kid ofc what’s actually going to happen is a. Everyone will start ignoring it b. Actual bread riots c. All of the above
  - bobthepanda 7y ago
    Given the immense pressure on the cashflows of small business and real estate, I'd say WeWork might also be subsceptible.
    - runawaybottle 7y ago
      I’ll also add that Yelp in particular uses their interns to staff their cold-calling marketing/sales team to sell premium services to restaurants. This program seems like a loss for the most of this year.
    - nkingsy 7y ago
      the tender offer from SoftBank is officially off the table as of yesterday. Awkward now it seems Neumann will continue to own a huge chunk of the company from the sidelines.
froindt 7y ago
This is terrible timing for the class of 2020 and 2021. Classes are online or canceled, many are paying rent on apartments they aren't living in (staying with parents after spring break), losing income from their university town/campus jobs since campuses are shutdown, and many companies are on hiring freezes while things shake out. I know internships were the difference between me taking out loans and graduating debt free. I also converted my last internship into a full-time offer. I feel for anyone directly affected by this. I wonder if 5 years from now we'll see the classes of '20 and '21 significantly hindered in their workforce progression and pay as was seen of the 2008 era?
- lopmotr 7y ago
  But isn't Yelp that company that extorts businesses into buying their advertising and punishes them with bad reviews if they don't? Any student would might have contributed to that racket deserves to miss out.
  - natrik 7y ago
    https://www.yelp.com/extortion https://www.yelp.com/extortion Lot of misinformation out there.
    - wobbly_bush 7y ago
      If Yelp really did it, a page on Yelp's website wouldn't be a credible source.
      - jdm2212 7y ago
        FWIW Yelp's page specifically says "but don't just take our word for it" and links to independent reporting: http://www.buzzfeed.com/sandraeallen/is-yelp-evil-or-just-misunderstood http://www.buzzfeed.com/sandraeallen/is-yelp-evil-or-just-mi...
  - xyzzy92 7y ago
    It is hard to end up with an internship, let alone at Yelp. Having an internship has many advantages for a student: - Converting it to a full time - Money - Experience Things get much harder for students on an F1 visa. Most often, a student may need to look out for themselves than the company's policies.
agakshat 7y ago
This is a kneejerk reaction from Yelp that will hurt their hiring efforts in the future as they cease to be a reliable option for good candidates. It would not have been difficult for them to ask the interns to work remotely, maybe even reduce stipends if they’re hurting for cash. But canceling internships at this point deeply hurts these candidates’ prospects. Anyone job hunting and in a position to pick and choose should withdraw their job applications from Yelp and let them know why.
- austhrow743 7y ago
  The businesses that make up Yelp's customer base are crumbling by the day. They're a "help you find restaurants and bars" app in a time when governments are either telling their citizens to not go to restaurants and bars, or just straight up forcibly closing them. I don't see how you can call this a kneejerk reaction, like at all. A virus caused recession is the world thing that could have happened to Yelp economy wise. Withdraw applications and let them know why? Lol. They aren't going to notice. Those applications aren't happening. If people with applications haven't been told that yet it's only because HR is either too busy getting the mass layoffs in order or job hunting themselves.

38 points by gtmtg 7y ago

this thing is causing me a lot of anxiety lately. i finally landed a FB summer internship in menlo park and now i can't tell if it'll actually happen. recruiter is saying everything is still on track but i'm sure there's no way they can predict whether that'll change soon. i know google is doing virtual onboarding and wfh for incoming interns according to the whether the team that hosts is still game. does anyone have any idea about FB?

runawaybottle 7y ago
Yelp is very much tied to the Restaurant industry. It may be an outlier with respect to this pandemic. Of all the tech dominos to fall, Yelp and Groupon (trading around 50 cents today) sound like the first to be hit.
- throwqwerty 7y ago
  i'm sure FB isn't going to fail but i am wondering if it logistically won't be possible. i mean menlo park is under shelter-in-place and if you asked me a couple of weeks ago i would not have imagined an intern class could be productive on WFH.
  - runawaybottle 7y ago
    Stay positive, Menlo Park in general isn’t the most social happening place on earth (the irony of the largest social network being headquartered there). Any spread there would happen at the actual Facebook offices. It’s not a hotbed and should be fine by summer.
  - dilyevsky 7y ago
    Shelter in place is until april 7. They can maybe extend it a little longer but not by much because otherwise half of people end up being exempt due to homelessness
    - mkinsella 7y ago
      I highly doubt the shelter-in-place order will be lifted before mid-May.
      - dilyevsky 7y ago
        I kid ofc what’s actually going to happen is a. Everyone will start ignoring it b. Actual bread riots c. All of the above
- bobthepanda 7y ago
  Given the immense pressure on the cashflows of small business and real estate, I'd say WeWork might also be subsceptible.
  - runawaybottle 7y ago
    I’ll also add that Yelp in particular uses their interns to staff their cold-calling marketing/sales team to sell premium services to restaurants. This program seems like a loss for the most of this year.
  - nkingsy 7y ago
    the tender offer from SoftBank is officially off the table as of yesterday. Awkward now it seems Neumann will continue to own a huge chunk of the company from the sidelines.

froindt 7y ago

This is terrible timing for the class of 2020 and 2021. Classes are online or canceled, many are paying rent on apartments they aren't living in (staying with parents after spring break), losing income from their university town/campus jobs since campuses are shutdown, and many companies are on hiring freezes while things shake out. I know internships were the difference between me taking out loans and graduating debt free. I also converted my last internship into a full-time offer. I feel for anyone directly affected by this. I wonder if 5 years from now we'll see the classes of '20 and '21 significantly hindered in their workforce progression and pay as was seen of the 2008 era?

lopmotr 7y ago
But isn't Yelp that company that extorts businesses into buying their advertising and punishes them with bad reviews if they don't? Any student would might have contributed to that racket deserves to miss out.
- natrik 7y ago
  https://www.yelp.com/extortion https://www.yelp.com/extortion Lot of misinformation out there.
  - wobbly_bush 7y ago
    If Yelp really did it, a page on Yelp's website wouldn't be a credible source.
    - jdm2212 7y ago
      FWIW Yelp's page specifically says "but don't just take our word for it" and links to independent reporting: http://www.buzzfeed.com/sandraeallen/is-yelp-evil-or-just-misunderstood http://www.buzzfeed.com/sandraeallen/is-yelp-evil-or-just-mi...
- xyzzy92 7y ago
  It is hard to end up with an internship, let alone at Yelp. Having an internship has many advantages for a student: - Converting it to a full time - Money - Experience Things get much harder for students on an F1 visa. Most often, a student may need to look out for themselves than the company's policies.

agakshat 7y ago

This is a kneejerk reaction from Yelp that will hurt their hiring efforts in the future as they cease to be a reliable option for good candidates. It would not have been difficult for them to ask the interns to work remotely, maybe even reduce stipends if they’re hurting for cash. But canceling internships at this point deeply hurts these candidates’ prospects. Anyone job hunting and in a position to pick and choose should withdraw their job applications from Yelp and let them know why.

austhrow743 7y ago
The businesses that make up Yelp's customer base are crumbling by the day. They're a "help you find restaurants and bars" app in a time when governments are either telling their citizens to not go to restaurants and bars, or just straight up forcibly closing them. I don't see how you can call this a kneejerk reaction, like at all. A virus caused recession is the world thing that could have happened to Yelp economy wise. Withdraw applications and let them know why? Lol. They aren't going to notice. Those applications aren't happening. If people with applications haven't been told that yet it's only because HR is either too busy getting the mass layoffs in order or job hunting themselves.