Don't Let the Glassdoor Hit You On the Way In

Starting a new job is always a little overwhelming. You don’t know anyone, you are unsure of the lingo used and there’s always stuff going on around you that you don’t quite understand. You don’t know if your boss is a complete jerk and you’re always watching what you say, trying to avoid sounding like an idiot.  

Wouldn’t it be nice to have some more information about your working environment before beginning the job to help with the transition? A new site called Glassdoor.com may be able to help. More than that, the site will be able to help you decide what companies to apply to in the first place.

The site claims to have the opinion of over 40,000 employees from over 11,000 companies around the world (although mostly in the United States). Employees anonymously write reviews of their company focusing on important qualities such as compensation, work/life balance, CEO rating, and leadership.  

The site is free, but in order to fully access all the reviews, you yourself have to write a review or post a salary. The site does offer previews of several major companies like Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Accenture. Here is a sample of one of the reviews. It’s from the “Advice to Senior Management” section of the review:

Instead of just talking about how Microsoft is great at innovation, actually take some chances and fund some true innovation instead of always copying the current market leader.

Here’s a quote from the pro/con section of a review, also about Microsoft (I’ll let you decide if it’s a pro or con):

The people here are very driven and a little socially dysfunctional.

There are plenty of other gems like that throughout the site. All in all, it’s a fun site to look around. And I did some searches for other types of companies, and they definitely have more than just tech companies on the site. The site has an impressive amount of content, and the reviews are interesting to read. Check it out if you want to blow off some steam about your own employer, or if you’re curious to see what your fellow employees are saying.