Glassdoor and Good Tacos: How doing your Homework can help you find a Great Job.
I’m old enough to remember when searching for a good job meant crossing your fingers on a few items.
Is the company stable? Does management know what they’re doing? Do people like working there? Well,
those days are over. And Glassdoor.com is one of the biggest reasons why.
By now, most of you know that 2018 has been a red-hot job market. New jobs open every single day in
your community and the temptation to apply for many of them is hard to resist. Hopefully, the jobs
you’re applying for are attractive to you. They mean something, appear challenging and you believe you
can add value. Finding the job may seem easy but it’s just one piece of a larger experience. If you get the
job, you’ll be joining a company and a team of people for a while, possibly years, maybe even decades of
your life. Knowing more than just the job posting is important.
Glassdoor.com is a website where you can not only find jobs, but you can learn what current and past
employees have to say about the company you’re interested in. With over 33 million reviews and
insights for over 700,000 companies, you can think of Glassdoor as the Yelp of Business. I’m sure most
of you have used Yelp to find reviews on that new Italian place that opened nearby, or to search Best
Tacos Near Me. It’s simple to do and your taste buds will thank you. Why not do the same homework for
your career?
What do I get from using Glassdoor?
Using Glassdoor, you can read comments by real people: What their interviews were like, what the new-
hire process entailed and much more. They are sharing their experience and essentially giving you their
impressions of the company, its management and the overall culture of the organization you’re
considering to join. You may even find responses by the company and its management, either thanking
employees for their reviews or responding to a negative comment, telling their side of the story.
May I suggest…
My suggestion is to search for the company you want to review and read at least 7 or 8 reviews to form
an opinion. Like anything, don’t stop after the first fantastic review or the most negative one. Get a
variety and look for themes to determine if the company is a match for you. According to Glassdoor, the
average company rating is a 3.3, so employers with a higher rating can be called an above-average
employer. Those with a lower rating are below-average employers.
Remember, Glassdoor is just a part of the big picture. Visit the company’s website, search for news on
the internet and reach out to your own network of family and friends for even more information.
Researching a company like this can give you valuable perspective before you hit that Apply button.
Simply put, treat looking for a Job like a Job. After all, the one who benefits from this work is You.
David Draper is the Director of Talent Acquisition for Lewis. David is proud to be a part of a successful, stable, and winning team dedicated to its projects, its people and its community. Follow David on Twitter @LewisRecruits.