I have been with SEJ for one year and four months now. It’s been quite an experience I must say! I am happy to be given an opportunity to be part of this company, and I want to share my SEJ journey with all of you.
I wasn’t seriously looking for a job at the time, but when I came across SEJ’s job post on my Facebook newsfeed, I was intrigued and read through the post by Jenise (who I later found out to be SEJ’s CEO). I researched some more and found myself reading through SEJ’s website. So I paused and prayed and, eventually, submitted my resume. I didn’t expect anything since I had zero SEO knowledge, and hadn’t ever even written a published article!
Luckily, I received an email from Jenise for a Skype interview. I thought to myself, “oh wow! I may have a chance in this.” Several days after our interview, she said that she was going to be in Manila, and would like to meet. Again, I thought, “wow! This is good.”
I headed to this fancy hotel in the business district and got the chance to sit beside Jenise and meet part of the team. It was my first time meeting Aki (former SEJ Assistant Editor) and Paulo (Director of Design). Even then, they’d been with the company for a long time. I also got to chance to touch base with Cath (former SEJ team member), my high school classmate, who I had neither seen nor talked to for more than 15 years! How cool is that?! We had a lovely evening.
I was then placed on a 30-day trial, where I was given a variety of task assignments. I remember my obsessive-compulsive self would read task instructions over and over, so as not to ruin my chances of getting in. Thirty days later, I was officially hired. And it has been amazing. I’ll tell you why:
SEJ Pulls You Out of Your Comfort Zone
I’ve been given tasks I know nothing about. Researching on something I don’t know, dealing with techy terms that I have no knowledge of—SERP, no-follow, canonicals, etc. But this job taught me how to rise above it, and learn, and find out. Everyone’s just so supportive, you’d be ashamed if you didn’t try at all.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still no SEO expert, but have managed to understand a few of those concepts and terms which were alien to me back then.
I’ve also told Danielle, our features editor, that I’m no writer. Writing is hard for me. It takes a while before I can compose my thoughts and translate them into words. But still, I try hard in my writing assignments. I figured that I am so lucky to be given this opportunity, the least I could do is to exert that extra effort to try.
SEJ Offers Flexibility
You know those bosses who are always breathing down your neck, looking over what you’re doing, micro-managing you? Well, that doesn’t exist here. The team will let you be you. They have full confidence in you and will let you decide how to do things, as long as you get the work done.
SEJ doesn’t have a physical office, so all team members work remotely, spread out all over the world. Distance and time difference do not seem to matter because SEJ’s set up to work on its own. It’s like clock-work. Process flows and guidelines are in place. Tools are available. Weekly meetings happen, and they’re meetings that actually resolve things. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in the corporate office setting for a while, and I’ve sat through countless meetings that could’ve been discussed over a phone call, so I think SEJ’s set up is great!
SEJ Broadens Your Network
SEJ’s a publication outlet with a huge network of remarkable people you get to talk to every so often. I have been given the chance to collaborate with amazing industry leaders, and I think that’s just so cool! I always love to learn how start-ups managed to succeed and research about influencers. I really enjoy getting a glimpse of where they are, what they do, and how awesome they all are.
The Amazing SEJ Team
Apart from all those great things I’ve just mentioned, the team is just admirable. Driven, cool, like-minded people who know what they’re good at, and are very supportive of each other. It’s like family, and I feel great to be a part of it.
To know more about SEJ and how it grew to become a major search publication, listen to this podcast episode by Jenise and Kelsey:
Image Credits
Featured Image: AndreyPopov via Depositphotos
In-post Photo #1: Image from Cath Quiambao
