9 Netflix insiders share their advice on how to get ahead and build a successful career at the streaming company

Ashley Rodriguez

Mar 25, 2020, 18:22 IST

9 Netflix insiders share their advice on how to get ahead and build a successful career at the streaming company

Barry Wetcher/Netflix

"Marvel's Daredevil" on Netflix.

With 360-feedback season in full swing at Netflix, Business Insider spoke with former employees who had risen through the ranks at the streaming company to learn what it takes to get ahead there.
The insiders said new hires should spend the first few months at the company adjusting to the culture and pace.
Relationships are also key, the insiders said: find time for one-on-one meetings with higher ups and get to know leaders on adjacent teams.
And get comfortable giving and responding to feedback, which is core aspect of Netflix's culture.
"At Netflix," one insider said, "you have to drive your own career growth ... if you want to scale up or take on more responsibilities."
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From the outside looking in, Netflix's corporate culture can appear cutthroat.

The streaming company describes itself in its culture memo as a ''dream team" that only employs the "extraordinary" and the "stunning." Adequate performers tend to get the axe, and four months of severance pay, according to the document.

Such a high-performance culture can be intimidating for new hires, especially during the spring 360-degree feedback season, which is usually held during March or April. It's the time of year when Netflix employees are encouraged to submit feedback to anyone in the company, all the way up to chief executive Reed Hastings.

Like many things at Netflix, which touts employee "freedom and responsibility," there's no formal structure for climbing the corporate ladder. So Business Insider spoke with nine former Netflix employees who rose through ranks or had long tenures at the company to learn what it takes to get ahead there.

The bulk of the insiders agreed that there are plenty of opportunities to advance your career within Netflix, once you learn how to navigate its culture.

Netflix declined to comment for this story.

Spend your first 3 months at Netflix assimilating to the culture

Netflix insiders said new hires should spend their first few months at the streaming company getting acclimated to its workplace culture, learning its current priorities, and adjusting to the pace.

Netflix is a large, fast-moving, global organization, but taking on too much too quickly can overwhelm and potentially derail your career there.

"Do not try to add value during the first three months," one former employee at the company said. "Focus on culture, diversity and inclusion, and other things that are important but more aspirational."

The same Netflix insider also recommended blocking out time on your calendar during those first few months to think - catch up on memos, brainstorm, or prepare for projects - and to focus on wellness and sleep.

"The energy ... is like electricity and it will drain you," the insider said. "You have to stay ahead of it. There's so much work to be done that you won't take care of yourself."

Learn what it means to be a 'stunning colleague' on your team

As at many companies, the best way to get ahead at Netflix is to crush it at the job you were hired for.

The Netflix insiders said the streaming company is made of of hundreds of different teams that, for the most part, operate independently of one another. Every team, and manager, evaluates success differently. Ask your manager how they judge people on the team.

In the content division, led by content chief Ted Sarandos, insiders said the fastest way to move up is to bring in hit shows.

One benchmark content execs use to evaluate the success of their shows is "efficiency," a ratio of a project's budget to its viewership, as The Hollywood Reporter previously reported. The content, strategy, and planning team creates efficiency projections for each show. Surpassing those forecasts can signal a hit.

Another measure is "watch percentage," or the share of Netflix subscribers who are watching a given show. A watch percentage of higher than 15% is generally considered very good, one former content exec said, adding that that benchmark can vary by genre or type of show.

"At Netflix, talent development is much more amorphous [than at other places]," the former employee said. "Certainly on the content side the fastest way to get moved up is to bring in a hit show."

Insiders on other teams, like engineering and talent acquisition, said there weren't always clear-cut performance metrics that employees could use to evaluate their own success. Some managers gave specific tactical or strategic targets to their teams. Others had goals that were harder to measure, like innovation.

The insiders on those teams said the best ways to move up within the organization, regardless of your team, is to listen to the feedback your manager gives during "one-on-ones." Employees typically meet with their bosses one-on-one once a week or every other week.

Netflix has few title levels - for example, on engineering (a subset of product chief Greg Peters' team), there are four levels: senior engineer, manager, director, and vice president - so the insiders said they typically judged their own career progressions year to year by whether they took on more responsibility or received pay raises, rather than promotions.

"A Netflix, you have to drive your own career growth in terms of if you want to scale up or take on more responsibilities," one former employee said. "The growth you'll see, unless you push really hard, is just adjustments to your compensation."

That doesn't mean there aren't opportunities to get a title promotion. Everyone Business Insider spoke with said they'd known people who had managed to climb the corporate ladder to manager, director, or the even the tough-to-get vice president position.

Schedule one-on-ones with executives above you

Most of the Netflix insiders said advancing at Netflix was as much about relationships as job performance.

All Netflix employees are expected to be top performers, so "socializing your role," as one insider put it, can help you stand out when it comes time for a promotion.

"Try to get meetings with those above you," the insider said. "The longer they've been at Netflix the better ... When you have explosive growth like Netflix has, just educating your colleagues on what you do is a challenge."

But it is also crucial to your career path.

Promotions are decided by managers, with the support of the team's designated human-resources-business partners (HRBP). Together, they have a broad view of the team's needs and who might be up to taking on a leadership role.

Your manager will make a case for why they plan to promote you, and ask for feedback from a panel of other people at the level you're being considered for. Those people will give input on whether they think you're ready for the role. If they don't know you, they can't recommend you. (If one of the higher ups doesn't think you're ready for the promotion, you may also be asked to meet with that person to discuss.)

Insiders said employees should try to schedule one-on-ones with higher ups, so they can vouch for you if asked. It can be tough to find time on an executive's schedule, the people said, but most will be happy to meet with you if you ask.

Team reorganizations, which insiders said happen often at Netflix, can also be opportunities to get the attention of a higher up.

Employee departures are often announced in internal "postmortem" emails sent to that person's team, or in the company-wide listserv, "Welcome, farewells, and promotions."

An email announcing that multiple people within a department are being let go and a higher-level leader is stepping in to run the group could be an opening.

"If you happen to see teams struggling, leaders being replaced, and higher-level leaders stepping in," one insider said. "Then you go talk to that leader and say, 'What can I do to help you?' ... Then you have an opportunity to stand out."

Get comfortable giving and receiving feedback, as it can impact your pay and promotions

If you want to long career at Netflix, embrace open feedback. It's the best way to know how you're performing and what you should improve to get ahead.

It's not uncommon to receive feedback in the middle of team meetings, during one-on-one sessions, or in email chains and other internal communications, insiders said. Feedback is one of the most commonly used words in Netflix's current culture memo, along with "efficient."

"Think about it like someone has a piece of noodles or spinach between their teeth," one former employee said. "You would want to point it out to them as a matter of compassion, almost. That is the analogy that is being used internally to explain the feedback culture."

Managers are also encouraged to regularly conduct the "keeper test" of whether they would fight to keep an employee from leaving, so staffers know exactly where they stand at any given time.

And, once a year, Netflix also prompts employees to give feedback to colleagues during what's known as 360-degree reviews.

Employees can review anyone within the organization through a software tool called 360. People may receive feedback from their direct manager, as well as other people they've worked with.

"It's a period of time where you can self-reflect and reflect on your peers," one insider said.

The process is freeform; people can write whatever they want. For newcomers, Netflix suggests using the "start, stop, continue" template to help organize your thoughts, insiders said. It's a common management tool that focuses on things a person should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing.

Each person's boss, HRBP, and superiors all the way up the chain of command have access to the feedback the employee gives and receives.

The season can be jarring for people who are new to Netflix.

"I had a number of people I hired who were very afraid," one insider said. "In reality, probably the only way you would get fired is if it was a known issue, there was an assumption things had gotten better, and it had not. If people expected waves of firings they'd get really cautious and that's not what you want to have happen."

Longtimers said it's not so scary once you're used to it.

"After the initial year, I didn't think much of them,"one insider said. "I know some people are a lot more sensitive."

Netflix's annual compensation reviews are held separately from the 360s, and usually occur in November or December.

Managers look at the people on their teams who have taken on more responsibility, changed roles, or are in positions that have become more valuable, and raise their pay accordingly. The managers in each division also get together to "calibrate" the compensation before raises are given out, to make sure one boss isn't paying more than another for comparable roles. Employees are notified about their raises during routine one-on-ones with their bosses.

While Netflix pays employees based on the "personal market" for their skills and responsibilities, insiders said the feedback you receive during 360s and throughout the year can also impact pay raises, as it does at most other companies.

Lingering issues that haven't been resolved by the annual compensation reviews could affect how much of a bump you receive, insiders said.

"The compensation review is an assessment of what the current market is for your role," one insider said. "There is also a multiplier on top of that ... based on your personal performance in your role. But I wouldn't say it necessarily was a large part of it."

Another insider had occasionally hold off on raises during review season to employees who had only recently received important feedback, to give them time to resolve those issues. Those employees who successfully addressed the issues would usually receive their expected raises a few months later. Managers can give out raises at any time, when warranted, which allows for that flexibility.

"This was a nuance that was brought in recently; there are exceptions," that insider said.

Don't ignore the feedback you receive

It's not always clear how seriously to take the feedback received during 360s or one-on-ones, some insiders said. But the one thing that won't let help you advance your career at Netflix is ignoring the feedback altogether.

Two former employees said they had been fired over issues they thought were minor, and later saw them cited in postmortem emails to staffers describing why they were let go.

"Where it gets tricky is, some managers ... don't say, 'this is a problem that might affect your career here at Netflix,'" another insider said.

The key is to stay in touch with your manager and your HRBP on any feedback you receive. Ask your manager outright how seriously you should take an issue that was raised, and keep them tuned into your progress.

"Stay in close touch with your manager," the insider said. "Ask your manager point blank."