Glassdoor for Jobseekers, Writing a Compelling Blog
This is the second article in my series for Toastmasters Leadership Development, Level 4, Write a Compelling Blog. My topic for today is Glassdoor for Jobseekers.
Glassdoor.com is a website for job seekers. Glassdoor is a way to get “insiders” information about working for a company. Glassdoor is also a job board. It’s a job board that works like most of the other job boards. Put in a keyword and location and search. Glassdoor will spew out a list of job openings that match your criteria. You can refine your search by entering a timeline such as jobs posted anytime, today, the last 3 days, etc. That’s handy if you search the boards every day.
Employee Reviews
I do use the Glassdoor job board but that’s not what makes it unique. Glassdoor can provide “inside” information about companies. Employees post company reviews and information about benefits and pay. Interviewees post information about the interview process. If you want to see what it’s like to work for a company enter the company name and look at the reviews. Big companies often have thousands of reviews. Smaller companies not so many
When looking at a company, don’t let a single review affect your opinion about the company. You need to look at many reviews and check for a common theme. Don’t pay much attention to reviews that report terrible management, low pay, great coworkers. You’ll see those reviews for almost any company. I’ve worked for some companies that report low pay but thought I was fairly compensated.
If you see multiple reports about other things, pay attention. One of the companies I was looking at had multiple reports about bounced paychecks. At another company, I saw many complaints about layoffs. Those are the kinds of things you should pay attention to. At many companies, different kinds of workers may give different kinds of reviews. A report from a sales person may be different from a blue-collar worker, which may be different from a white-collar worker. I’m not saying to ignore reports from different kinds of workers, but do pay more attention to reports from workers similar to you. As I said, look for trends and multiple complaints about the same thing. There is an exception. If you see a report or complaint about an issue that would affect your job, they pay attention.
During your interview, be careful about bringing up negative things you saw on Glassdoor. At one company I interviewed at, one of the interviewers admitted the problem, another got quite indignant. It will usually be a good thing to bring up the positive things you found on Glassdoor.
Reviews by Interviewees
Glassdoor also has a section about the interview process. Again look for trends, not single comments. Most interviews and most interviewers are different so you will see a large variety of different posts. Look for the types of questions that might be asked, especially if they are related to the job you are applying for. Look for how long the interview process takes. If you are looking for a way to get “in” look for how people were invited for an interview. Most importantly, look for trends about how people were treated. Posters can rate the interview as “positive”, “neutral”, or “negative”, check to see which of the three are the most common.
Benefits and pay
Glassdoor also has a section with benefits as reported by employees. I generally do not see much detail about the benefits information, especially health insurance. And the employee postings about health insurance tends to be all over the place, from very positive to very negative. You can generally get a pretty good idea about the paid time off.
Finally, Glassdoor also posts salary information for different kinds of jobs. I generally don’t see much detail here, and usually don’t see salary information for the kind of job I’m applying for. I look anyway, sometimes I’m surprised about how much or how little I can expect to earn.
Many companies also have reviews on Indeed.com, another job board. If you see a job posting on Indeed, and the company has a review, then by all-means click on the review link. Follow my advice about Glassdoor reviews. Maybe even compare the Glassdoor reviews with the Indeed reviews. No matter what, it’s always a good idea to get all the information you can about the companies you are applying for.
