Searching for a new job? Chances are you'll be landing on Indeed, LinkedIn, CareerBuilder, or Glassdoor when starting your search. While these platforms can be helpful, they can also be overwhelming.
Let's start with most job hunters' first stop for reviews, Glassdoor. Consider this your quick guide to finding a job using Glassdoor.
"There's a major transformation happening in the workplace. It's a shift that benefits everyone — employees, employers, and the economy overall. And it all comes down to transparency." So begins the foreword of Lawrence Miller, CISSP's Glassdoor for Dummies book.
Glassdoor was founded by Robert Hohman, Rich Barton, and Tim Besse in 2007 and is currently one of the fastest growing jobs and recruiting sites.
Here's their "about us" pitch:
Glassdoor holds a growing database of millions of company reviews, CEO approval ratings, salary reports, interview questions, benefits reviews, office photos and more. Unlike other jobs sites, all of this information is entirely shared by those who know a company best — the employees. Add to that millions of the latest jobs — no other site allows you to see which employers are hiring, what it's really like to work or interview there according to employees, and how much you could earn.
The transparency Glassdoor aims to create spans everything from salary and company values to workplace culture, opportunities for advancement, employee satisfaction, and more.
"Transparency brings about large-scale labor efficiency, as people can maneuver jobs more easily and navigate their way to the right company and a job they love," CEO and Co-Founder Robert Hohman says. "We know that by engaging with employees in an authentic way and building a strong employer brand, companies reap the rewards in hiring, retention, and productivity." Online reviews change the way we make purchase decisions...and what bigger "purchase" is there than a new job?
Before Glassdoor, if you were interested in working for a company, you'd typically start with some online research checking out the company website and maybe some press releases or public financials, but you were largely on your own if you didn't know someone who worked for the company itself (in the past or present). Learning what it was really like to work for a company (benefits, culture, etc.) was incredibly difficult.
The creators of Glassdoor knew that better information in labor markets improves job matching and shortens unemployment spells for employees.
There's no shortage of information about companies online and comparison shopping is just as in vogue for jobs now as it is for online shopping. Glassdoor for Dummies reports that Inavero found job seekers look to an average of 18 sources when job hunting and normally check out seven to eight reviews per company.
Once you are ready to start the hunt, create an account and upload your polished your resume, polished resume to apply for jobs.
Yes, you can search and apply directly to open roles, but you can also use Glassdoor to learn about prospective employers and your favorite companies.
Glassdoor offers the following information:
Job candidates now have access to tons of information to help them make informed decisions. After all, it's a candidate-driven market — which means that talented professionals are in demand — so there is no shortage of good companies and opportunities to go after.
Here are some great insights to gather on Glassdoor.
You've signed up for an account and searched for a job. Congrats! Before you hit submit on that application, walk through some of the features of Glassdoor and do your research.
Glassdoor keeps strict guidelines for all the content on its site in order to ensure authenticity and accuracy. Some of the steps they take are to share community guidelines, limit users to one review per employer per year, and moderate the site with human and automated moderators to protect against abuse. Also, companies can't pay to alter or edit reviews. So read away to learn about what it's like to work there, but keep in mind the date of the review you're reading and the department/role of the reviewer because company culture and management personnel can drastically change from year to year and department to department, especially in larger companies. Sense a theme in the reviews? Make a note to ask about any concerning issues in an upcoming interview.
All of this rich, searchable information helps people find jobs and companies they love — a win for employees — and helps them find places to thrive professionally and feel invested in the overall success of their company — a win for employers.
We love Glassdoor for jobs, but don't count out other sources like ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn, and of course — your favorite local staffing agency. Check out our open jobs or submit your resume today!
Want more about how to get a job online? Check out our recently blog, How to Market Yourself Online.