We were at the awardees dinner in Albany this past Tuesday, which had the largest attendance in the program’s history with over 200 attendees from 50 companies representing a number of industries including Technology, Financial Services, Healthcare and Advertising. It was a fun event with tons of food and entertainment.

Aviv Wecler and Arnold Madisson at the Best Places to Work in NY dinner

Employees nominate their employers for this award based on the company’s commitment to providing a great working environment, strong benefits, creative perks, fun atmosphere, employee recognition, training and development, a platform to voice their opinions and clear individual as well as company goals.

I am proud to say that Yodle provides all of the above. I love that I can wear jeans or shorts to work or throw on a tie if I feel like dressing up. I appreciate the flexible paid time off and generous health insurance to take care of my family. Some of my favorite perks are the company-wide social gatherings in and out of the office, like a trip we took to the Museum of Natural History and field day. Yodle makes it a point to recognize employees with programs like “Yodle Stars” where exceptional employees are rewarded with gift cards and even money towards continuing education. I also love the company town halls every trimester where we get a clear idea of how we’ve done as a whole over the past four months and what we’re expected to accomplish. To me, these are just some of the reasons why each of our locations has been awarded among the “Best Places to Work!”

We take hiring seriously and are committed to bringing on people that meet our company values. If you, or someone you know, might be a good fit check out our careers website and apply for any of our open positions.

Let us know what you think about our most recent Best Places to Work award in the comments box below!

Yodle: Why did you decide to join Yodle?

Eric: There are many things that excited me about Yodle. Local online marketing is a great industry and Yodle is at the forefront of providing solutions to the country’s small businesses. However, what really tipped the scale for me were the people. I met with different people each of the many times I came to the office for interviews and had such a positive experience with everyone. I looked forward to every visit because I knew that I would have intelligent and inspiring conversations. Business is ultimately about its people and that’s where Yodle is clearly very strong.

Yodle: What are your key goals at Yodle?

Eric: Perhaps most important, I want Yodle to continue to be a great place for engineers to work as we further build out our team. The leaders in our company have been doing a fantastic job. Just from the short period of time that I’ve been here, I can see that our technology staff are excited and engaged. The challenge is to sustain that dynamic as we continue to grow – we need to keep doing cutting edge work better and differently than anyone else in the industry. My other key goals are to prepare technology that will further scale our business in an efficient and reliable way, and to deliver IT solutions that provide even greater value to our customers.

Yodle: What makes you particularly passionate about helping small business owners?

Eric: I’ve devoted a large part of my career to helping small business owners get the type of service that typically only larger companies can buy and often take for granted. For example, I’ve deployed phone systems that normally only big companies have but that small companies need in order to run their businesses efficiently. Small businesses usually don’t have a fair shake; they are often forced to purchase something that’s cheaper and inferior. That is particularly the case with their Internet presence. Smaller guys don’t have time for online marketing because they’re focused on managing the day to day of running their business. If they can’t implement effective local search, they can’t grow. We are on the leading edge of helping these businesses grow, and therefore helping the American economy grow, and that’s exciting to me.

Yodle: On a lighter note, what’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

Eric: I remember when I was in college. I was a stock clerk at an auto parts warehouse in Washington, D.C. during the summer. The job wasn’t so bad. The problem was more that there was no air conditioning. Admittedly it’s a first world problem but it still wasn’t much fun during the dog days of summer!

Yodle: And finally, where would you most like to travel to that you’ve never been before?

Eric: Southeast Asia is one part of the world that I’ve never made it to. I know so little about their economy and culture. It would be fascinating to learn more about the people in that part of the world particularly when you consider the evolution of the politics in that region over recent decades. I think though I’ll be more focused on Yodle in the immediate future before I embark on this trip!

It’s great to have Eric on board and we look forward to hearing more from him in the future. If you have any questions for Eric or feedback to share, please post in the comments box below.

What Robert loves most about his job is having full creative direction on projects from beginning to end. However, he soon found that marketing his business was becoming an increasingly big focus. When he first got Groff Landscape Design off the ground, Robert tried some marketing strategies that simply weren’t getting him any leads or were taking up too much of his time. Realizing he needed a partner to manage his marketing for him, he reached out to Yodle.

“Yodle has taken on my marketing workload,” says Robert. Not only is Robert happy to be relieved of his marketing duties, but the results Yodle has generated for him have been phenomenal. Groff Landscape Design is now securing approximately 80% of their business from online marketing leads generated by Yodle. Robert receives an average of five to seven leads a day, and he estimates that working with Yodle has resulted in him securing an additional $60-70,000 a month for his business. These results have had a tremendous impact on Groff Landscape Design. Robert shared that “Yodle has allowed me to focus on the most important thing – growing my business.”

See more about Robert’s story in the video testimonial above.

Stay tuned for our May client of the month. As always, let us know if you have any feedback on this success story in the comments box below!