So, you’re looking for employment. You’ve even sent out a few applications and expect to be called for interviews soon. It’s important to take this time to learn about the company or companies you’re looking to work for.
Why? There are three main reasons. First, knowing the company you’re going to work for allows you to prepare appropriately. Learning the company’s culture and ethos would help you to settle down faster and fit in more easily. Secondly, reading company reviews can help you make the right decision. Do you like the company’s culture? Do you like how workers are treated there? Would you be happy at the company? Only insight gained from digging around can help you answer these questions.
Finally, doing personal research about a prospective employer can boost your chances of getting employed. Many times questions about the company come up during the interview, questions you can only answer if you’re done your homework. A bit of research can help you ace these questions.
The following are three trustworthy places to learn about any prospective employer, besides their About Us page.
A tried and tested platform, Glassdoor.com is perhaps the best place to learn about pretty much any employer. Whether it’s a multinational company or a small coffee shop that has been around for only a few months, there’s a great chance they have a few reviews on Glassdoor.com.
The reviews are based on user-submitted feedback or as Glassdoor.com calls them – “employee generated” content. Among other things, you’ll find information on the specific company, salaries, and interview-specific questions. Also, you can find information on employee benefits and company culture.
This is another industry heavyweight with millions of company reviews submitted by present and past employees. The only difference from Glassdoor.com is that Indeed.com is first and foremost a job aggregator with listings from all across the globe. Reviews, however, aren’t targetd from outside the platform.
Some of the helpful data you’re able to gather from the platform include salaries and employee benefits. If you find past employees of the position you’re looking to apply for talking negatively about the position, that data would help you make an informed decision. Reviewers on Indeed.com also comment freely on company culture and management.
As of the time of writing, CareerBliss.com has over 700,000 company reviews and 4 million salaries! This makes it another excellent place to take not only your job hunt but also your prospective employer research.
The best thing about the platform is that they appear to be aware that jobseekers want to compare employers and have created a special tool just for this. Known as “Bliss Score,” this tool allows you to compare jobs side by side so you can tell which company is offering the better deal. A company’s Bliss Score is determined by a series of factors including job satisfaction, pay scale, and employee happiness.
Comparably.com, Yelp, JobAdvisor.com, and social media networks such as LinkedIn are other platforms you can use for employer research.