Do you check out potential employers on the review sites - are they accurate?

Question

I've recently checked out some reviews of potential employers on sites like JobVent, Telonu, and Glassdoor. The reviews tend to skew negative as might be expected, so I'm wondering how useful they are for job expectations and a metric of morale in the company?

What I've seen in a couple different interviews seems to be very different than what I'm reading online.

If you checked out a company online before taking a job with a fair number of negative reviews, how did it work out for you?

(If it makes a difference, remember to log out to answer anonymously).

Answer 1

I usually do this sort of thing as part of the interview process - online reviews can be skewed in that the employer might add false positive reviews, and knocked-back applicants will add false-negatives. If I want to see if I'm going to fit in at a company, I do this during the interview. I ask questions (not just of the person interviewing me) in order to get a feel for how sociable / happy / on-edge the other employees are.

Answer 2

I was surprised at how useful it was to ask the interviewers (fellow engineers) what they'd change about the company. It was like opening a release valve... I got very honest answers that really reflected the frustrations they felt - but I could also tell that the source of the frustration was a deep investment in the success of the company.

The problem with review sites like those is that if your company is small, it won't be on there, and if it's large, the complaints aired may not be relevant to the specific group you're interviewing with.

Answer 3

The problem with (publicly-)anonymous reviews on the internet is that they are particularly appealing to those with an ax to grind.

I think they are useful for learning about specific issues (e.g., lots of reviews mentioning long work hours or management pressure) but not for any actual numeric values.

In addition, smaller companies rarely have reviews, while larger corporations have so many subgroups, divisions, and sites that the likelihood of the review applying to your position is minimal.

If you want the inside scoop, you probably need to talk to somebody who worked there (not just interviewed). If it's a big enough company, Facebook or LinkedIn may be your best resource to find such a person as you can search for alumni of your alma mater, etc.