11 Sites Where You Can Find Employee Reviews

If you’re looking for a new job, there’s one area you might have forgotten to add to your job search – job review sites.

Sure, you’ve signed up for Zippia and other websites that offer you updated job listings. You’ve probably checked out a few blogs. Maybe you’ve even brushed up your resume, and you have a basic cover letter waiting for the right job to come along. But have you gone to job review sites?

What Is a Job Review Site?

A job review site is a place where people go to review their jobs and, most importantly, the company they work for. These company review sites should actually be a big part of your job search, especially if you’re looking for a career or a job you’ll stay with for a long time.

If you’re just looking for jobs that you can do during the summer or until something better comes along, then you might not care what people have to say about the company.

But if you’re really interested in finding a great job that will make you feel professionally satisfied, give you the income you want, and won’t be a chore, then checking a job review site is one big step when it comes to your due diligence.

Why Check a Job Review Site

It’s important to understand that this part of your job search is for you. The employer really doesn’t care if you take that extra step and look at what their employees think of them. In fact, some employers would probably rather you didn’t do that at all.

Your primary goal in checking a company review is to learn what people who work in the company think of them. What their real work atmosphere is like and how their employees feel.

You’ll be hearing a lot of great things from HR, the hiring manager, and recruiters about the company, but isn’t it the opinion of the actual workers that matters most?

One thing to remember when reading reviews is that you need to take them with a grain of salt; that is, you should look for an overall impression and not just one person’s sour grapes.

Think about reviewers. Often, they say something when they’re unhappy or dissatisfied. Not all reviewers are going into a review to let people know about a good or even just a mediocre experience.

Some review sites don’t rely so heavily on employee reviews; instead, they do their own checks to see how a company stacks up against the competition. This can be really helpful, but remember, these are not company insiders, so they don’t have all the information that an employee would share, which means that the following list of job review sites is great for your job hunt.

This list gives you sites that use employee-based reviews and outsider reviews. This allows you to get a well-rounded impression of the company.

10 Job Review Websites

These are ten of the most common and most popular company review sites. It’s best to stick with the known websites because they’re where people are most likely to comment on their job experiences.

1. Glassdoor. Probably the best-known website for employee job reviews, this is a must when it comes to a successful job hunt.

   Glassdoor has been in the business for a long time, and they have such a nice aggregate of information that they can cull it to give you even more insight and even list the pros and cons of working for different companies.

2. Fairygodboss. This is a review site that’s dedicated to the female perspective. The goal is to help women find jobs where they’re treated fairly, paid comparably, and where they’ll truly love their jobs.

   That said, while the company most definitely has a focus on females, it’s a great resource for anyone. You don’t have to be a woman to want to work in an environment where all people are treated and paid fairly.

3. Vault. Vault not only looks at employee reviews but it asks interns to review their internships, and it also looks to gather academic reviews. This can be an excellent resource for people who are looking to get a foot in a dream company and work their way through school, internships, and a professional career.

   If you can plan that far in advance and you’re laser set on your goals, this is definitely a website to reference and to start to make your presence known. It’s important to note that vault relies pretty heavily on their research into the companies they feature, not just employees.

4. Kununu. This company was founded in Austria in 2007, and it’s considered the Glassdoor of Germany. But it has expanded, so it’s not just for Germany anymore. They’ve integrated their reviews into the company profiles on another job site and helps you determine if that’s a company you’d like to work for.

   One thing they do that’s a bit different from other job rating companies is they rate the coworkers. This is clearly a pretty big benefit and can be an important part of your job satisfaction. It can also change if a “bad apple” moves on to another job or a different position, but it’s something to consider.

5. CareerBliss. The bliss score is determined by answers to questions about job satisfaction, employee happiness, and salary. They do have a job board, so you can see available jobs, but their biggest benefit to the user is the job review board which is entirely propelled by user-generated content.

   That means a company cannot control what’s being said about it, and they can’t buy a new review. The reviews come from employees.

6. Jobcase. Jobcase is a social media platform that focuses on users in the United States. There are discussion boards, company reviews, user profiles, job listings, and more.

   This site can be what you make of it. If you’re looking at several different sites, then it definitely needs to be on your radar because you can ask questions and get responses from people working in the company.

   You can also get very key information if you have any specific queries or concerns. It also gives you current and relevant information, that is, if you can find a current employee who’s willing to speak to you.

7. Blind. This is an anonymous website that encourages professionals to discuss their workplace environment, share advice, and give some feedback. They promote transparency and hope that by doing this, there can be some productive changes in workplace environments.

   It’s a worldwide organization, so it has some benefits when you’re looking at global trends, but it can also be a little harder to find the specific information you want.

8. Comparably. Comparably is known for providing a detailed breakdown of a company’s culture, compensation, and employee satisfaction. It’s definitely one to check out if you’re serious about a company or if you’re comparing a few of them and want to end up in the best position.

9. The Job Crowd. This is a website designed for users in the U.K., so if you’re not in that market right now, it’s not going to be a big benefit, but it does provide a lot of information. It doesn’t hurt to look at the conditions of jobs like yours in other countries.

   It gives you a better picture of the overall environment of many professional jobs, and since we are a world economy, this knowledge can be critical.

10. InHerSight. This is another anonymous job review site that is specifically focused on women in the workplace. They look at the opportunity, schedule and flexibility, enrichment opportunities, family importance, and company culture.

    There are places where employees can not just rate the company, but they can also comment. They also go beyond just catering for women and let you filter ratings by your career level, race, sexual orientation, and parental status.

Tips for Using Company Review Boards

If you’re going to use a company review board as a part of your job search, these four tips can help you make the most of it.

• Use more than one. Don’t simply rely on one job review site to provide information. This is too one-sided, and it can be swayed by a handful of very vocal employees. It’s best to use several different sites and then weigh each one.

• Don’t take reviews as gospel. You know that your experience in life is different from everyone else’s. Even the exact same thing can be different for you than it is for another person.

  It’s good to get a heads up and know what to look for or weigh the information, but it’s not good to use information from strangers solely as your deciding factor.

• Pay attention to trends. If you hear from a few job boards that the vacation sucks, then take this information with you into the interview.

  Ask what their vacation is, start negotiating with that area if it’s important to you. And this obviously doesn’t just apply to vacations, use any trend data you find to help you negotiate and make an informed decision.

• Be careful about your posts. It seems right that if you use the information from a job review site that you should also contribute. And this is probably true, but you need to also protect your professional reputation.

  Make sure you are using an anonymous site, be fair and not emotional when posting reviews, remember this is not a time to call out individuals and report on positives and negatives equally.

Author

Kristin Kizer

Kristin Kizer is an award-winning writer, television and documentary producer, and content specialist who has worked on a wide variety of written, broadcast, and electronic publications. A former writer/producer for The Discovery Channel, she is now a freelance writer and delighted to be sharing her talents and time with the wonderful Zippia audience.