Negative—and positive—reviews matter more now than ever
Picture this: you’re the CEO of an entrepreneurial tech firm. After multiple rounds of interviews, you’ve finally found the perfect candidate to add to your rapidly growing team. Just before you seal the deal, your perfect candidate asks the question you’ve been dreading:
“There are horrible Glassdoor reviews on your company’s page. How have you addressed these concerns?”
Your mind flits back to past employee testimonies where jarring words such as“unprofessional,”“destructive,” “undermining,” “inconsistent” and “stifling” were used to describe your office culture and overall workplace environment. To make matters worse, you didn’t even take the time to respond on the site.
Clearly, you didn’t realize 62% of online job seekers agree their perception of a company improves when they see an employer respond to a review — regardless if it’s a rave or a rant.
Unfortunately, you’ve just experienced an all-too real occurrence in today’s job climate – and possibly lost your perfect candidate.
For better or worse, companies can no longer ignore their Glassdoor page. Here’s what leaders need to know:
THE GROWTH OF GLASSDOOR
Launched in 2008 on the foundation of improving workplace transparency, Glassdoor has evolved into one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites, with much more than open job listings. There’s also a growing database of company profiles, CEO approval ratings, salary reports, benefits reviews and office photos, plus a captive audience. According to a recent report, Glassdoor averages a staggering 67 million unique visitors each month – and counting.
Negative Glassdoor reviews are powerful and have the potential to stop a candidate from accepting an otherwise ideal job opportunity. In fact, Glassdoor recently reported nearly one in three full-time working Americans and 47% of millennials have declined a job offer primarily because the company had negative online reviews. In today’s booming job market, top talent has the freedom to be extremely selective in their career search and can choose to work for a company where positive Glassdoor reviews are plentiful.
MEET CANDIDATES WHERE THEY ARE
In today’s uber-connected digital marketplace, the testimony of an anonymous online review carries far more weight than it did a decade ago. According to recent research from BrightLocal, 91% of job candidates between the ages of 18 to 34 trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. For the modern millennial jobseeker, looking to online reviews for accurate, honest information is second nature.
Face it — you don’t just want young, talented and hungry millennials to want to work for your company; you need them. Experts from the Pew Research Center predict millennials will make up 75% of the workforce population by 2025, further cementing how essential an impressive online presence is to a company’s ability to attract and retain the best talent.
HOW RECRUITERS CAN HELP
Staffing and recruiting firms also have to keep up with the shifting expectations from both candidates and companies, and they, too, realize the impactful role Glassdoor reviews play during the job search.
However, while Glassdoor reviews may be anonymous, recruiters are anything but. That’s why ExecuSource leverages our recruiters’ years of experience and corporate relationships to not only take the guesswork out of a candidate’s career search, but to also counsel our clients to create sustainable, positive work environments where employees are destined for success.
Our firm procures talent resources so companies can focus on their core business, resulting in a client retention rate of 90%. This also means more perfect candidates turn into happy employees and ultimately, can help to improve a company’s profile on Glassdoor.
Plus, ExecuSource recognizes the importance of our own Glassdoor reviews, and are proud to have earned an average rating of 4.9/5 stars across ExecuSource’s three offices in Atlanta, Georgia; Denver, Colorado and Greenville, South Carolina. In fact, the average company’s Glassdoor rating is 3.3/5 stars, putting ExecuSource well-above this benchmark.
We value providing honest feedback as much as we value receiving it — both on the website and in real life.