Review employer: 5 Employer Review Sites You’re Missing Out On

5 Employer Review Sites You’re Missing Out On

“Heard it through the grapevine…”

Gossip’s everywhere. You can find it in the office at daily water cooler congregations, whispers through cubicle cracks, and through text messages sent under work tables.

Even if you can’t escape it, there’s one place where you don’t want rumors to run rampant — on employer review sites. Top-tier candidates are going to Google you before they submit their resumes, and one of their stops will be Glassdoor.

“There are places where conversations and reviews are happening. And employers should be paying attention to them.”

But in an era where social media dominates the attention of the Snapchat generation, you better believe candidates armed with smartphones are savvier than that. They vent their job search woes wherever they can. It’s up to companies to keep up with the hashtags and address the “haters” when they can. Your company reputation and employer brand depends on it.

We asked Joel Cheesman, founder of Ratedly, where employers may be missing out when it comes to wrangling in employer reviews. His answer? There’s more than just Glassdoor.

“There are places where conversations and reviews are happening,” Cheesman said. “And employers should be paying attention to them.”

Here are some other sites to consider as you monitor employer reviews:

All Things Indeed

Indeed is already a big player when it comes to job listings, and according to Cheesman, it’s an important place for recruiters to spot employer reviews, too.

“I wouldn’t say Indeed is half, or one-for-one,” Cheesman said. “But they are probably three-to-one in terms of just quantity — so it has to be one that people are checking out.”

Get Industry Specific

Joining groups and social networks with professionals in the same industry is a big networking tactic for career development. It’s important for recruiters to identify where discussions on the industry (and the companies involved) are taking place.

“If your industry warrants your attention, then you should give it.”

“If your industry warrants your attention, then you should give it,” Cheesman said. “For example, there’s a site called Truckers Forum…if you’re hiring truckers in any capacity, then you need to pay attention to Truckers Forum because that’s where the reviews happen.”

Do Your Reddit Research

Reddit is a treasure trove of information. It’s also host to a laundry list of forums, (known as subreddits) that tackle almost every subject imaginable, including job advice and recruitment issues.

Reddit is also a magnet for technical types, which may make it a good place to scout out reviews and potential employee misconduct, as one short-lived Google employee learned the hard way.

The Quora Forum

Quora is another open forum for people to post honest questions and receive community feedback.

“I think Quora, another site that we [at Ratedly] monitor is important because you get some pretty thoughtful answers to questions,” Cheesman said.

Avoid The Hashtag Horror Story

What makes Twitter a blessing (and a potential curse) is its immediacy. Data shows that more than 70 percent of job seekers that have a bad candidate experience will post about it online, so it’s important to keep an eye on your company mentions. You don’t want to end up as another horror story pinned with the infamous #RecruiterFails hashtag, so keep a tight ship and be prepared to respond accordingly when faced with negative reviews.

The Bottom Line

Employer branding is the first line of defense when it comes to attracting the types of job seekers you want for your company. By learning more about where conversations about your company — and your industry — are happening in real-time, you can better gauge how to appeal to candidates in ways that are not only relatable, but actionable.

How to Use Employer Review Sites to Build Your Employer Brand

Resources How to Use Employer Review Sites to Build Your Employer Brand

How to Use Employer Review Sites to Build Your Employer Brand

Any business knows how important reviews are for their brand. Reviews give customers a clearer idea of the products or services they’re purchasing and help them decide whether or not they’re worth the money. Chances are, you’ve probably even checked out a review — or a few dozen — before swiping your card to make a purchase. 

But product ratings aren’t the only type of review that should matter to companies. Employer reviews — or what employees have to say about what it’s like to work at your company — are just as important.

Employees in today’s workforce value far more than compensation, and they’re turning to third-party employer review websites to get the information they need to make informed decisions in their job search. In turn, these sites have become increasingly important to companies’ employer branding strategies. 

Not sure how to manage your image online? We’ve rounded up some of our best tips on how you can use employer review sites to build your employer brand. 

Why is employer branding so important?

Employer branding — a. k.a. your company’s reputation as an employer — affects your company’s ability to attract and hire the best employees. A strong employer brand translates to reduced recruitment costs, better employee retention rates, a great candidate experience, and more. 

It’s actually pretty simple: 

• Being a place people want to work = numerous benefits for your company.
• Being a company that people steer clear of due to a poor employer reputation = bad news for your business.

What role do employer review sites play in branding?

Employer branding doesn’t just happen in one place. It is conveyed in person through your candidate experience and workplace culture. It is shared online through your careers page and your social media pages. It’s amplified when publications write about the workplace you’ve created. But, perhaps most of all, it is built on third-party employer review sites.

Any company can say that they are a great place to work. But what really matters is what current and former employees have to say about their experience. Consider these stats: 

• Over 85% of employees and job seekers research company reviews and ratings to decide where to apply to a job. 
• 57% of job seekers won’t even apply to a company that has overwhelmingly negative reviews. 

How to use employer review sites to build your brand

Approximately one-third of a person’s life will be spent at work. People want to know that their time is going to be spent wisely. Here’s how companies can use review sites to highlight their unique culture and attract top talent.

1. Develop a strategy

Employer branding isn’t something that just happens. If your organization hasn’t done so already, you’ll need to map out a branding strategy that accounts for your organization’s needs and goals. 

During the strategy phase, you will work together to:

• Set goals: Determine the main objective of your branding efforts. Do you want to attract highly qualified candidates? Get more applicants? Reduce the overall time to hire?
• Define your employee value proposition: Think about the unique things that you offer your employees. Is it a stellar compensation package? A sense of purpose in the work that your employees do? A laid-back work environment?
• Identify candidate touchpoints: Decide what channels (such as review sites, social media, your company careers page, etc.) you’ll use to promote your employer brand. 

This is also a good time to get down to the nitty-gritty and nail down specifics, such as the overall wording and messaging you want to use to describe your workplace.

2. Create a profile or claim ownership of your company on review sites

Once you have a roadmap, you can set out to implement your strategy. 

The first step is to create profiles or claim ownership of existing profiles on employer review sites. After you are able to edit or submit information, go over the profile to make sure all provided company data on review sites is correct and accurately portrays your company. If something is wrong, correct it. 

Don’t leave anything on your company’s profile blank. The purpose of these profiles is to give your candidates all the information they’re seeking. Use every opportunity to share details about benefits, your mission and values, short bios of key people, photos, and videos. Stick to your messaging and showcase areas that make your company stand out among employers.

3. Empower your employees to provide honest feedback

The best feedback is honest feedback — even if it’s not exactly what you want to hear. It’s important that employers empower their employees to provide truthful feedback. 

You can encourage honest feedback by showing employees that what they have to say matters, whether it’s on a review site, in person, or elsewhere. Ask for feedback often and show genuine interest in what they have to say. Emphasize that there will be no negative repercussions for complaints and avoid getting defensive if you don’t like what an employee has to share. Remember: You’re working to improve your chances of attracting high-quality applicants in the future.

By creating a culture where employees’ voices are heard and valued, you can expect to receive better, more impactful evaluations.

4. Respond to reviews, both positive and negative

If an employee takes the time to leave a review, show your appreciation by responding if the site allows you to. 

If you get a negative review, don’t panic — and don’t ignore it. Instead, take this as an opportunity to listen and learn. According to one survey, 62% of job seekers say that their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review. It shows potential candidates that you care about the employee experience and are committed to improvement.

When responding to a critique, be professional. Thank the employee for taking the time to leave a review, and address the specific issues that they present. Let them know how you plan on fixing the issue if it hasn’t been resolved already. 

5. Take advantage of opportunities to be transparent

Some review sites give employers extra opportunities to be transparent. For example, at JobSage, we encourage companies to become Trusted Employers. To earn this recognition, a company lets JobSage directly survey 100% of their employee base so that job seekers can hear from those that know best — current employees — exactly what it’s like to work there.

Most job seekers know that no company is going to be perfect. They do, however, want to know which ones can be honest. 

6. Use information from employer review sites to make actionable change

Perhaps the best way to use an employer review site is to use the data that you receive to make actionable changes in your organization. For instance, if a number of employees say that they are dissatisfied with the lack of growth opportunities, it’s probably time to take a look at how your organization promotes employees and how you can contribute to professional development.  

When you make changes based on the feedback you receive, be sure to highlight these actions. This will show employees — former, current, and future — that their voice matters and will encourage more transparent feedback in the future. 

Conclusion

If you want to attract the best employees, you need to be an employer that job seekers are eager to work for. Employer review sites can be a helpful tool that allows you to showcase what makes your company unique and learn from employees about the pain points of their experience. By using employer review sites to your advantage, you can strengthen your employer brand and make the right hires.

About the Author

Katie Duncan is the Content Manager at JobSage, an employer review site centered around inclusion, growth, purpose, feedback, and flexibility. She is passionate about creating content that educates, entertains, and inspires audiences. When not writing, you can probably find her exploring new places in Austin, hanging out with friends, or playing with her dog, Poe.

How to check the employer – Tatcentr.ru

Avito Rabota development manager Dmitry Puchkov gave a checklist of eight rules – how not to run into a fraudulent employer.

Employers cheat job seekers. Most often this happens during interviews and probationary periods. Three-quarters of candidates have encountered unscrupulous employers at least once in their lives.

Most often, in job descriptions, companies are cunning about the level of salary, duties and working conditions. But it also happens that candidates are required to pay for some services and they try to involve them in illegal activities. Let’s figure out how to protect yourself from such surprises.

Dmitry Puchkov emphasizes that less than half of Kazan residents are aware of the possibility of self-checking the employer’s reliability using open sources of the year. On the one hand, an increase in the number of vacancies is good, because there are plenty to choose from. On the other hand, the risk of meeting an unscrupulous employer and losing time, nerves, and possibly money also increases: according to statistics, a quarter of job seekers understand that something is wrong only after employment.

At the same time, the results of a recent study by Avito Rabota showed that less than half of the residents of Kazan (47%) are aware of the possibility of self-checking the reliability of an employer using open Internet sources. This checklist will help you quickly check the company to save time.

Check the registration of the employer

To do this, look at the Unified State Register of Legal Entities or EGRIP on the website of the Federal Tax Service of Russia. This way you can make sure that the employer is registered as a legal entity or individual entrepreneur and really conducts business and pays taxes. You can also use the service of the Federal Tax Service “Transparent Business”.

Read testimonials from former employees

This will help you form an opinion about the employer and understand if a job in this company suits you. But you should always remember that negative reviews can be written by offended employees who themselves did not work well, or even competitors. Take this information critically.

Read documents carefully before signing them

It happens that an employer offers to conclude a civil law contract instead of an employment contract. In this case, there will be no labor relations between you, which are regulated by the Labor Code. If this option does not suit you, it is better not to waste time and continue the search.

Also, be sure to read the job description – more than a third of job seekers (36%) are faced with the fact that the list of real duties does not match what is indicated in the job description.

Visit the place of work before registration

To avoid at the last moment that your workplace is simply not heated or equipped with a toilet, it makes sense to spend time and go to the place where you have to work in advance. If something does not suit you, you simply refuse to sign the contract.

Don’t pay for anything

When applying for a job, you should always remember that the employer should pay you, and not vice versa. Asking to pay some amount for training, instruction, paperwork, or something else? Most likely they are trying to scam you.

Do not send photographs of documents to the employer

If a fraudster is hiding under the guise of an employer, a microloan can be issued in your name.

Do not enter bank card details anywhere

Again, if the job description is not the work of a real company, but of scammers, an invitation to an interview may be accompanied by an offer to compensate for travel expenses to the office. If you agree, you will receive a link with a form for entering bank card details. In no case do this, otherwise you will lose your money. Remember that only the card number is required to send a money transfer.

Find out the average salary level

This refers to the position you are interested in in the region of employment. You can do this by looking at the salary in other similar vacancies in the search results. Such a simple step will allow you to immediately filter out offers with unbelievably high salaries. They are not always associated with deception – it happens that in the job description the employer indicates the maximum amount of income, taking into account bonuses. But then you should focus on the size of a fixed salary, because bonuses can be very difficult to get.

But vacancies, along with a high salary containing a vague job description, should seriously alert: there is a possibility that the company is engaged in illegal activities.

development manager of Avito Raboty
Dmitry Puchkov
specially for TatCenter

7 ways to find “your” employer and not make a mistake in choosing

While searching work, you must have come across the concept of an employer brand. In simple terms, this is the image that arises when thinking about a company as a potential place of work. Obviously, it can be both bad and good. Fortunately, in recent years, it is really important for many Russian companies that employees go to work with positive emotions, proudly tell their relatives and friends about it, and applicants want to become part of this team of like-minded people. This fact is confirmed by numbers. In 2021, 783 companies became finalists in the Russian Employer Rating, and this year there are already 1,081. This is a kind of “white list” of employers. Companies enter it of their own free will, and their place in the Rating depends on the assessments of three sides of the labor market — employees, job seekers, and HR specialists. The rating has been held annually for 12 years now, and for many applicants it has become a sign of the quality of companies in the labor market. We’ll tell you more about it a little later. In the meantime, let’s focus on how else to rate an employer at 5 plus – we suggest checking companies according to our checklist.

Let’s be honest with ourselves – there are no perfect employers. There are those that are suitable or not suitable for you. So to meet a company that has all the signs listed below is a rarity! But the more such “flags” you find, the more likely it is that the employer cares about his reputation and employees.

✅ In general, good reviews about the company.
✅ Informative corporate website.
✅ Neatly designed page, vacancies, company letters on hh.ru.
✅ High politeness index.
✅ Active corporate social media accounts with posts about employees.
✅ Videos about working in the company.
✅ Personal accounts of company employees in social networks, where they write about their work (ambassadors).
✅ Articles about the company on hh.ru (projects “Life in the company”, “IT projects”).
✅ Russian Employer Rating badge.
✅ HR brand award participant badge.
✅ Special projects to attract applicants (tests, games, quizzes about working in a company).

Let’s take a closer look at each of the points together with Nina Osovitskaya, a labor market expert and director of the hh.ru Brand Center.

Nina Osovitskaya ⮱ Testimonials

This is the main source of information about employers for many candidates. On the one hand, it is reviews that help us learn more about the internal kitchen of the company, because its employees share their opinions. On the other hand, it is important to remember that not all reviews are equally useful. It’s good if an employee talks about both the pros and cons of the company. Such a review deserves attention and trust. But solid negativity and emotional statements hardly speak of objectivity.

If you are looking for information about a company in so-called reviews, try not to take everything for granted. Look at the tone of the sentences – what words does a person describe the situation, evaluate the message – is it a desire to annoy the employer or raise a real problem? Choose the most informative and professional platforms with employee reviews. For example, Dream Job has manual moderation of each review and a fair approach to ratings – employees talk about both the employer’s advantages and disadvantages. Since last year, reviews left on Dream Job can be seen directly on hh.ru, without leaving the pages of the service.

Dream Job Feedback Examples ⮱ Corporate Website

The first step to take after receiving an interview invitation is to explore the company’s website. See what it is like – is it a strange page without addresses and contact numbers or a real portal with detailed information about the organization? Here you can easily find answers to your questions. And also – write down and remember specific facts from the life of the company and use them as bargaining chips in an interview. Employers really appreciate it when candidates come to the interview prepared: they don’t ask general questions, they demonstrate their interest and knowledge of history, areas of work, and the latest company news.

Advanced organizations can have two sites – a presentation site and a career site. Keep this in mind when looking for information. Some employers usually make sections about careers and work in a company on a common site.

What is especially useful to know:

1️⃣ Advantages of the company – what are the advantages for applicants and employees that the employer sees.
2️⃣ The main stages of selection – what you will have to go through as a candidate to get the coveted offer.
3️⃣ Employee success stories — they allow you to understand how close the corporate culture of the company is to you, its approach to people.
4️⃣ Names and surnames of managers – use this information to search for their accounts in social networks.
5️⃣ Photo or video tours of the office/production.
6️⃣ Team building, corporate events, social responsibility – what opportunities do the company have besides work.

To complete the picture, it is important to read the description of various vacancies: what the company offers, what it wants in return, how clear and detailed the duties are, what requirements are put forward for candidates. Such details matter.

💡 Tip! It is useful to compare the website and the company page on hh.ru. If a company broadcasts the same information on different platforms, this is a good sign of a professional approach to work.

⮱ Page and vacancies of the company on hh.ru

More than 61 million job seekers have opened resumes on hh. ru — this is an important reason for employers to update information about the company on time here. Often, up-to-date information on hh.ru appears even faster than on the corporate website. For many, the company’s page on hh.ru is its face on the labor market. That is why pay attention to the design of the pages, the completeness and correctness of the description. All this is the work of employers.

To complete the picture, it is important to read the description of various vacancies: what the company offers, what it wants in return, how clear and detailed the duties are, what requirements are put forward for candidates. Such details matter.

💡 Tip! It is useful to compare the website and the company page on hh.ru. If a company broadcasts the same information on different platforms, this is a good sign of a professional approach to work.

⮱ Politeness Index

An indicator of how quickly the employer analyzes the responses, and, as a result, an indicator of the responsibility and professionalism of the HR team. If you understand the courtesy index of a company, you can assume the speed and quality of feedback at all stages of employment. It is hardly worth expecting any reaction from an employer who parses 13% of submitted resumes. And, on the contrary, if communication is carried out promptly – a “plus to the karma” of the employer.

💡 Tip! You will see the courtesy index immediately after you send a response to a vacancy in a particular company.

⮱ Information on social networks

Surely you have encountered a similar situation: you applied for a vacancy, you were called for an interview and were given a huge test task. And you need to understand whether it is worth going further or not. In this case, not only the accounts of a potential employer in social networks, but also the posts of management, employees, applicants can be especially valuable and useful.

💡 Tip! Use hashtags by company name to search. For example, #alfateam #VKOnectesSky #ekfteam #WeAreCisco #ZapposCulture #adidascareers #FitAssCompany #ExraOrdinaryPeople #HumansofPwC #hhgoodplace #we appreciate different people

There is even a separate on the hh. ru page in VKontakte heading #AffiliatePost . In it, employers talk about new areas of work, open vacancies, offices, opportunities for professional training and development. So you can get inspiration for employment here.

⮱ Articles on hh.ru

hh.ru has sections with articles about employers who are most interested in attracting new employees.

“Life in the company” – long reads are collected here: articles, interviews, sketches. They allow you to imagine in detail what the working days of employees of various companies are filled with. And this is not a routine from 9:00 to 18:00, but its own challenges, discoveries and little joys. In general, another great opportunity to get to know the company better as a potential job. And, importantly, the whole story is based on people. For example, here the charismatic employees of Azbuka Vkusa talk about a special profession – kavist, and here you can see one day in the life at SKB Kontur: the employer showed the possibilities of changing the specialty within the company.

From these materials you get a better idea of ​​the corporate culture of the organization. There are more strict and formal ones, there are informal and friendly ones – just feel which style of communication is closer to you. Plus – from the texts you can always “fish out” interesting facts that can become the basis for questions. As already noted, employers love this.

“IT projects” – articles for those who want to enter IT or have already done so. Companies talk about the opportunities and career paths of technical specialists.

⮱ Special projects

This is a non-standard format for companies to communicate with applicants. The very case when a company creates games, quizzes, interactive movies and other interesting activities in order to attract more attention from potential candidates. Together with our hh.ru Brand Center experts, the company’s employees come up with ideas, work out scenarios to win the hearts and minds of applicants.

Special projects allow you to learn more about the organization through active interaction with it. It’s one thing to leaf through a corporate website, and it’s quite another to get to know the team through an interactive screen life movie or a game where you have to guess the words that employees show.

⮱ HR Brand Award

This competition is like an Oscar, but in the HR field. Only relevant, effective and modern HR projects win in it. The HR Brand Award is a sign of quality among employers, a marker that there are advanced HR practices within the organization. This means that the company does a lot for employees.

And the last, but perhaps one of the most important indicators of a responsible and respectable company — Employer Rating 9 finalist badge0080 . To get it, organizations go a long way, almost a year long. The place in the Rating is determined on the basis of three large-scale studies. The last of them – a survey of applicants – is taking place right now, and you can influence its results!