You’re searching through hundreds of job postings, and many sound great or even too good to be true. How do you tell which ones you should apply for? Consult an employer review site! These sites host comments and ratings from real employees of companies so you can learn more about what it’s really like to work somewhere and whether that place sounds like a good fit for your skills, personality and goals.
What Are Employer Review Sites?
Employer review sites, also known as job review sites, showcase employee reviews of companies to help prospective applicants get a better understanding of what it’s like to work at a specific company. These sites invite current and previous employees to rate their employers in different areas, such as compensation, benefits, company culture and more. Then, these employees can also write comments to better explain their experience of the company and these features.
How to Use Employer Review Sites
Here are some steps to finding employer reviews and tips for how to take advantage of this information during your job search:
- Go to the company’s page on the employer review site. Find an employer review site you trust, and search for the company in the site’s search bar. We’ll explore some of the best employer review sites on the internet later.
- Click on the company rating on a job listing. Maybe you’re searching on Indeed or Glassdoor. On these sites, you can see an employer’s rating on their job listings, as long as they’ve had reviews from employees on the site. Clicking on the rating will navigate you directly to the company review page, where you’ll find all the ratings and comments.
- Filter the ratings and comments by company feature. On a company’s review page, you can sort through employee reviews based on the company feature(s) you’re most interested in. For example, if your priority was work-life balance, you could filter your search to prioritize ratings and comments on work-life balance.
- Read both positive and negative reviews. No company has all positive reviews. That’s because companies and the people who run them can make mistakes or need improvement. Also, some companies and employees are just not meant to be. Make sure to read both positive and negative reviews to get a better idea of how the company is succeeding and where they could improve. That can help you determine if the company has what you need to thrive.
- Think about the motivation behind the review. When reading positive and negative reviews, look for information in their comments that may suggest ulterior motives. For example, a former employee may leave a negative review if they were fired, or an employee who’s just started may leave a positive review if they like what they see so far. However, you have to take these experiences into account. The negative review could be retribution and not entirely true, or the positive review could be jumping the gun.
- Read the employer’s response, if available. Some employers respond to positive and negative reviews to thank the commenter or explain how they’re trying to address the pain points of the commenter’s review. However, be cautious of company responses that explain away or argue with the commenter’s review.
- Compare the employer’s answers to employee reviews. When interviewing for a position with a company you’ve read reviews of, consider asking more about the features you care most about. Then, compare the hiring manager’s answers to what you read in the reviews. Avoid mentioning that you read the online reviews to prevent any discomfort.
- Take the sample size into consideration. Check how many people have left reviews and comments. The number of reviews can significantly impact the overall rating, which is why comments are so important to review. For example, small businesses or new startups may only have a handful of reviews, and one bad review could tank their rating.
Benefits of Employer Review Sites
You need to be strategic about applying employer reviews to your job application decisions, but there are many benefits to using these sites:
- Convenience in your job search: Many employer review sites also double as job search sites, so you can look through available jobs at a well-rated employer or easily see the employer’s ratings on a job listing you’re interested in applying to.
- Information about company culture: One of the most important benefits of using employer review sites is the ability to glimpse the company culture. You can see whether employees have had good or bad experiences with management, team collaboration, community building and employee engagement. You can also learn more about whether the company seems to live up to its mission and values.
- Industry comparisons: You can also compare a company’s ratings and reviews to those of other companies in the same industry or that have the same role(s) you’re looking for. This information can help you prioritize applying to one or more companies over others that sound like a better fit.
- Feature-specific ratings: You can also search for companies that rate highly for the features that you’re most looking for in a new employer. For example, you might be focused on career advancement, so you can search for companies that rate well for providing training and career development as well as promoting from within the company.
Cons to Employer Review Sites
There are a few cons to be aware of when using employer review sites:
- Skewed reviews: As previously mentioned, be on the look out for skewed reviews from disgruntled former employees or brand new employees who haven’t settled in yet.
- Limited information: Employer reviews only contain commentary on the features the reviewer chooses to speak on. That means you don’t have the full picture from these reviews.
- Opposite of your possible experience: Just as you don’t have the full picture from the reviews, you haven’t experienced the company yet. That means you could have a totally different experience from the bad reviews, the good reviews or any of the reviews.
Top Employer Review Sites to Use in Your Job Search
Here are a few of the top employer review sites, and their features, you can use during your job search:
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is perhaps the most popular employer review site, given that this was once it’s sole purpose. Now, you can also search for job opportunities and employer reviews at the same time. Glassdoor reviews allow former and current employees to provide information on their salary and benefits, interview experience and experience with a company. All Glassdoor company reviews are anonymous. In addition, you can also directly compare companies by searching two different companies with the Glassdoor Compare tool or reviewing the popular company comparisons.
Indeed
Indeed is primarily a job search site, but it also has its own company review feature, too. Like Glassdoor, company ratings and a link to the company review page is connected to a company’s job listing. But you can also read the company reviews and get information on company salaries, employee work happiness, approval of management and executives and the company’s ratings over time.
Fairygodboss
Fairygodboss is a job listing and company review aggregate targeted at women in the workplace. This site provides ratings and reviews from women’s perspectives to showcase job satisfaction, workplace culture, equality in the workplace and other important features that matter to professional women.
