Ellen Dunn is an Account Executive at Glassdoor in Chicago. Ellen has been at Glassdoor for 2 ½ years after starting her sales career at IBM and then moving onto Morningstar. Ellen is a very special guest because she also happens to be my niece! But she’s not my guest today just because she’s family, although that’s a good reason. Ellen is an expert on what Glassdoor offers and is here today to tell us how to become an informed candidate using Glassdoor. I used to think Glassdoor was primarily a place where people went to rate their employers and leave reviews about their experience working at different companies, but it turns out that Glassdoor is much more than that. And if you’re a job seeker, it’s a great resource for you because there’s a ton of information you can find at Glassdoor that will help you become an informed candidate. And everybody knows that informed candidates make better career decisions.

Ellen shares what it is like working at Glassdoor and she also answers the question, do people review Glassdoor on Glassdoor? 

 
And just for fun, we'll read some hilarious glassdoor reviews.

Here are the steps to steps to becoming an informed candidate using Glassdoor: 

1. Read reviews and ratings at the company level. Once you have a company that you think you are interested in applying in, make sure it's going to be a good fit. Search the company on Glassdoor, and read through reviews. Filter by your specific role/location, look for common themes in reviews. Is it somewhere you see yourself?

             
Example: I am an Account Executive, who is not a fan of making 100's of dials a day. During my job search, as reviewing companies, some reviews specifically mentioned the cold calling, 40 dials a day, smile/dial work environment, after reading these reviews, it gave me a better understanding of what companies were going to be a good fit for me, and which ones were worth my time. 

2. Review interview reviews before your interview. After you apply to a job and land that interview, it's time to prepare! Glassdoor hosts a ton of sample interview questions, for you to make sure you are prepared to answer. More specifically, a lot of companies on Glassdoor will have interview reviews from people who have gone through the process. You'll learn about how many people are on their interview panels, is it good cop/bad cop scenario, and any curveballs you should be prepared for.  You have the ability to understand the difficulty of an interview and in some situations specific questions that have historically been asked. This way, you can feel confident and prepared so you can ace that interview.

             
Example: A client of ours requests that after every interview, the candidate goes on and discusses their interview experience on Glassdoor! This one candidate chose to write about an assessment that they were required to take and where she felt she missed the mark, While this candidate didn't get the job she helped provide insight to future candidates and give the company some feedback on that specific recruiter to where they can improve as well. Companies know this information is out there so they want to make sure you are prepared.

Katie: A company that asks candidates to review it after every interview is one that had better have a good interview process and candidate process! That really keeps them accountable if they know they are going to be reviewed.

I heard recently that some new thinking on interview practices involved actually giving candidates a list of questions they might be asked before the interview. That surprised me! But the thinking was that then candidates that came in and didn’t know how to answer the questions they were asked were people who obviously didn’t bother to prepare and not the kind of people you’d want to hire. I don’t think this practice has been widely adopted. But as an interviewee, I love that you can get interview questions off of Glassdoor because that makes it easy to prepare. And that’s one of those things that I don’t think everybody knows you can get from Glassdoor.

Here are some more funny Glassdoor reviews: This is a company local to Raleigh. They have 4 reviews and here are the 4 headlines from those 4 reviews:

1. The embodiment of engineering disappointment
2. Worst company ever
3. Backward management and dated software
4. Sinking Ship

So I think I’ll avoid working there. 

3. Understand Your Worth. You crushed your interview, and have an offer on the table. Is it an appropriate offer? Having an understanding of what the industry is paying, what the company typically pays, and just knowing your worth is leverage for negotiation. Under the salary tab, you can enter the job title in which you are interested in, experience, and location, to get an average salary. This way you know the offer you received is in the ballpark. A candidate has the ability to take an even deeper dive at the company level, to see if there are any salary reviews from current employees, to see if, in fact, the offer amount is on par. Understanding your net worth is something important, as you are working with recruiters, make sure you are vocal with your salary expectation and why.

           
Example: a colleague of mine received an offer letter from a company that was about $15,000 under the average in Chicago. By pulling data on Glassdoor she was able to make a case and negotiate an additional $10,000 confidently with the data pulled on Glassdoor.  

Katie: This is so important. Knowing what you’re worth gives you leverage in a negotiation. And you can’t negotiate successfully if you don’t have current data. I’ve talked a bunch of MBA students through salary negotiations and we always start with collecting the data that justifies asking for more. Glassdoor is a great place to get that information. We kept a database of student salaries and bonuses at UNC and it gave our students a great source of data for negotiating. In the past, most job-seekers wouldn’t have access to a resource like that, but now everyone does with Glassdoor. 

Wrap-Up:

Let’s review the 3 steps to being an informed candidate:

1. Read reviews at the company level. Avoid the “sinking ships” and the “worst company ever”

2. Review interview reviews before your interview - get interview questions so you can prepare and know what to expect. It’s a great feeling to walk into an interview feeling confident and prepared. 

3. Understand your worth and get the data you need to negotiate successfully

Now that you know how to use Glassdoor to become an informed candidate, go do it! I believe in you.