Trust Me, Glassdoor Impacts Your Recruiting Funnel

Over the past six years, Glassdoor has become known for its candid company reviews and ratings. What many employers don’t realize, however, is that our community here at Glassdoor has a massive influence on job candidates. What does this influence look like? Let's walk through the life cycle job seekers experience as they search for an opportunity and you'll see what I'm talking about (and check out our infographic below!).

Step 1: Awareness

I’m going to use my friends at LinkedIn to set the scene. Imagine, for a second, that you're browsing LinkedIn and there is an InMail message from a recruiter. The message reads something like, “My company is looking for an awesome <insert job title/occupation> to help us grow and conquer the world, your LinkedIn profile looks interesting, would you like to learn more?”.

One of two things happen next:

1. You click on the recruiter's profile to see if they actually are professional and genuine, or
2. You research the company on Glassdoor to see whether the opportunity is worth pursuing

LinkedIn InMail is just one example of how a candidate becomes aware of a position. However, job seekers can actively search for open opportunities on other sites, such as Indeed, Monster, CareerBuilder, SimplyHired, Dice and Glassdoor. Once a candidate is made aware of an opportunity, the next question becomes do I want to work there?

Secret fact: Job Search is the fastest growing, and most trafficked page on Glassdoor.

Step 2: Consideration

What's the number one place to research what it's really like to work somewhere? Glassdoor, obviously. However, a vast majority of candidates land on Glassdoor from a simple Google search. For example, Googling “working at VMware", “VMware reviews” or “VMware culture” will return Glassdoor as the number one search result. Why? Because thousands of employees each year submit user generated content (UGC) and reviews on what it's like to work at companies like VMware. When candidates land on Glassdoor they get:

• Authentic Employee Reviews on what it's like to work at the company
• Authentic Company & CEO ratings

It's really no different than reading a review on Yelp, OpenTable or Amazon and making a purchasing decision. If you're considering working at a new company, you will want to know two simple things: 1) Are the employees happy? and 2) How strong is the leadership? These are answers you can get on Glassdoor in just a few minutes.

Secret fact: Companies often receive more traffic on their Glassdoor profile page than their own corporate careers website.

Step 3: Interview

Let's assume you have decided to proceed with an opportunity and the next step is a series of interviews. How do you prepare? How do you know what to expect? Every single day candidates leave interview reviews on Glassdoor based on what they experienced at the employer. Don’t believe me? Try googling “interviewing at VMware” and click the first search result -- 434 interview reviews will pop up on what it's like to interview at VMware, complete with application details and interview questions. Candidates even say when they accepted/declined an offer, had a positive experience or how difficult they found an interview.

Secret fact: One Glassdoor client reported that a software engineer in his interview review actually declined a job offer because his rental car was a cheap compact KIA instead of a full size model that was originally requested. For an additional $20, the employer could have made a hire! Use interview reviews to improve your interviewing best practices and learn what job seekers like and dislike.

Step 4: Offer

You pass the interview stage with flying colors and now you have an offer on the table. One question remains - Is this an offer I should accept? And how do you know if the compensation and benefits package is competitive compared to other what other companies offer? All this information is available on Glassdoor from employees who submit their salaries and benefits reviews. For candidates who are lucky enough to have competing offers, they are able to compare salary ranges and benefits across employers so that they can understand which comp package is right for them. If you’re an employer and you're spending millions of dollars each year to keep your benefit packages competitive, consider signing up for a Free Employer Account and updating your benefits details today on Glassdoor.

Secret fact: 59% of candidates are likely to accept a lower salary for better benefits. Make sure your benefits package is in check today!

Step 5: Hire

The final step of the recruitment funnel is when a candidate converts to a hire. At this point, the candidate is informed, educated, committed and knows what to expect when they start work. This is a crucial step considering 52% of new hires typically have buyer's remorse after just six months and look to leave.

Secret fact: The average employee review on Glassdoor is 3.4 out of 5.0.

While most recruiting solutions only influence the awareness part of your recruiting funnel, Glassdoor is the only vendor that can provide influence at every step of the process. If you’re an employer and you want to start promoting your employer brand on Glassdoor, sign up for our Free Employer Account to get started!