The internet can be a great resource for finding the job of your dreams. To learn more about what it would be like to work for your dream company, you can look at review sites like Glassdoor. This provides insight from past and present employees to compare salaries and employee reviews.
Are Glassdoor reviews reliable? While Glassdoor reviews can give some insight into the lives of employees, they’re not always reliable. Glassdoor doesn’t require users to verify employment before posting a review. Also, people don’t usually write reviews unless they have an excellent or horrible experience, so it can be hard to find an average review.
You can use Glassdoor to get better inside knowledge of a company before you are hired. However, you may have a very different experience than the reviews you read once you are employed. Good or bad, you should do more research into the company to determine if they are a good fit.
Can Glassdoor Reviews Be Trusted?
Finding a job is tough, and you want to know that you are choosing the best company for you. Reading reviews on Glassdoor can be a great way to learn more about a company you apply to work for. However, Glassdoor reviews don’t always tell the full story.
- Of course, some reviews on Glassdoor will come from current and former employees who give their thoughts on the job.
- Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell if reviews are from genuine employees. Anyone can create an account and post reviews.
- Also, people don’t tend to write reviews when the experience is okay. So, some of the reviews just won’t be useful.
- You also have to think about the size of the company. If the reviews you find are from a different department, they won’t indicate what you might experience on the job.
Clearly Glassdoor has some flaws. While these flaws are important to know about, that doesn’t mean that Glassdoor shouldn’t be used as a great resource. However, you do have to be more skeptical about some of the reviews you read.
Polar Opposites
If you have ever read reviews on Yelp, Amazon, or other sites, you may notice a lack of 3-star reviews. You might see a lot of 5-star reviews or many with only 1 star. If you’re still curious, think about what would make you write a review for anything.
When you have an average experience at a restaurant or with a product, you probably won’t take the time to write a review. If you have a mediocre job experience, you also may not put in the energy to write a review on the company.
On the other hand, maybe you had the best service at a local restaurant. Or maybe your boss at your last job was rude and didn’t know how to do their job. In either case, more people will want to share their experiences.
Whether you want to highlight a particular business or keep others from a bad experience, you write a review. But if you don’t have anything super good or bad to say, writing a review seems unnecessary. While good and bad reviews can be helpful, they won’t give you the full picture of an average day on the job.
Anyone Can Post
Amazon has verified customer reviews, which can help you determine how reliable reviews are. However, Glassdoor doesn’t have a way to check that reviewers worked for a specific company. You can create an account and write a review for any company, even if you’ve never heard of them.
Ideally, people would only review the companies they work for. But Glassdoor’s system can lead to some problems.
- You don’t need to show proof of employment to post a review, so you can review any company on Glassdoor.
- Because of this, companies can pay people to write positive reviews.
- On the other hand, companies can pay people to write negative reviews of their competitors.
- You can also create multiple accounts with different emails to write multiple reviews about a single company.
The lack of any vetting system makes it easy for anyone to review any business. All you need is a Glassdoor account, and you can post whatever you please. As you read through Glassdoor reviews, be skeptical of what you read. If you find something concerning, you can ask the company directly during an interview.
Times Change
Another thing to consider when reading Glassdoor reviews is the dates when the reviews were posted. If all the reviews were from years ago, you have no way to know if the company is still like that. It doesn’t matter if the reviews are positive or negative, companies can and do change over time.
While more recent reviews can have problems, they’re more reliable than ones from many months or years ago. If you find an amazing review from five years ago, the job might not be as great now. On the other hand, a company could have improved the position, so an old bad review isn’t reliable.
Too Large to Tell
If you’re applying to work for a massive company, you should also look at the job title associated with reviews. The larger the business, the more varied employee experiences can be. While you might find an amazing review from an accountant, that won’t matter if you work in marketing.
- Along with looking for recent reviews, look for reviews with your job title.
- If you can’t find reviews on your prospective job, read through ones from the same department.
- Different positions in the same department may have similar experiences. Those reviews will be more reliable than those of other areas of the company.
Sometimes, you may not be able to find reviews from people who work in the department you apply to. Of course, you can learn something from reading a variety of reviews. However, you can’t treat reviews for another department as a good indication of what you’ll experience.
Opinions Over Facts
Everyone wants to find a dream job that is fulfilling and pays the bills. With the help of the internet, it’s easier than ever to research a company. Glassdoor reviews can be helpful when conducting that research, but they are subjective reviews.
Ideally, employees should include facts in their reviews, but a big part of it may be their opinion. It doesn’t matter if the company is small or large. Both good and bad reviews will include opinions from the employee writing it. Don’t let those opinions keep you from taking a job that you might like or that you would dread.
Find Out for Yourself
If you decide to read Glassdoor reviews, you could learn a lot about a potential employer. After all, a series of good reviews can be a great sign, and bad reviews can mean the opposite. However, you need to find out for yourself if you want to work for that company.
- During the application and interview process, come up with questions.
- While you shouldn’t bring up Glassdoor reviews, you can use them to ask the right questions.
- Perhaps you come across a company that has multiple reviews about poor management. In your interview, you can ask about what the management is like.
Before you take any reviews as fact, give the company a chance to share their side. No matter the issue, you will get the best answer from the hiring manager or recruiter.
Final Thoughts
Glassdoor is an excellent resource for finding jobs and learning about salaries. You can also use it to learn more about working at a company. However, you should remain skeptical of reviews and take your concerns to the business during an interview or on-boarding meeting.
