Finding a job in today’s economy can be difficult, to say the least (unless you’re a high school student). Most industries are far more competitive than they once were, and finding jobs at dream companies, like Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB), is nearly impossible. In fact, more often than not, new college grads will cling to the first job offer they receive, which is often due to the lack of critical, public information. To be blunt, these young professionals have little knowledge of the business world, and very little guidance; Glassdoor aims to fill this void.
Glassdoor provides an integrated platform for job seekers, and employers, to share their thoughts of, and experiences at, many companies. Much like RateMyProfessor.com allows college students to review (and judge) their potential professors, Glassdoor gives future employees a glimpse of what it’s like to work in different sectors of the corporate world.
The Glassdoor interface is friendly and informative. Most companies, from Fortune 500s to small start-ups, have pages on Glassdoor. When visiting a company’s page, you can find tabs ranging from employee reviews to interview experiences and popular questions. You can also find the range of reported salaries offered for certain positions, often with extreme precision. Additionally, so as to offer some transparency, employers can post responses via corporate accounts. Users will also not find reviews from recently fired, or disgruntled, employees (Glassdoor attempts to control all confounding variables). Such procedures allow Glassdoor to feature mostly honest and accurate reviews.
When paired with LinkedIn (LNKD), Glassdoor becomes an essential tool for recent college grads who are eager to join the workforce and smart enough to control their emotions. Perhaps the most important reason for using Glassdoor is the fact that companies cannot pay to have their rankings altered. Glassdoor emphasizes integrity and honesty for all of its posted reviews. I encourage everyone searching for a job to use Glassdoor, in addition to LinkedIn’s many apps.