Hi, what is the best response when a recruiter reaches out to you and after you do more research about the company or agency you find horrible reviews of the place? For example, I just saw repeat 1.0 rating reviews of the place on Glassdoor.

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Don’t go off Glassdoor reviews alone. I have a love hate relationship with Glassdoor - sometimes you get good insight, but people put way too much stock in Glassdoor reviews. People typically only write them when they leave, so you’re not hearing from the people who are happy in their jobs. Also - look at the level / title of those leaving reviews. Do they align with the role you’re interviewing for? For instance, if the majority are from juniors and I’m 10+ years in, I might look at the reviews differently. They haven’t yet had a chance to discover what’s important to them in their work and most of the complaints are about $. Lastly, there have been so many times that I’ve seen reviews and can tell you exactly who wrote them, and the people were terrible employees who deserved to be fired.

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I would take size of the agency into account as well. If it’s a small agency and there are a lot of bad reviews, they’re probably a better indicator of problems than a small number of reviews for a big agency.

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I have a fetish of reading bad Glassdoor reviews so if you could share the company name that’d be great.

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Talk with them. Be gracious and polite. This is an incestuous and small industry. Folks move around a lot. It never hurts to have one more contact for the future.

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I’ve been just wondering if it’s ok to ask recruiters about terrible Glassdoor reviews.

I definitely look for patterns though - if it’s just random complaining, I don’t worry about it much, but if multiple reviews consistently mention toxic environment, delusional management etc, I’m out.

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I’ve had this exact issue and brought it up pretty frankly with the recruiter. She said something similar to a comment above - there are two sides to every story, etc - and that I should give them a chance anyway. Had the screening call with HR, same story when I brought it up again.

So, I would be reallyyy shocked if anyone told you the truth since they are all incentivized to hire you.

Go with your gut!

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Personally I don’t trust Glassdoor. I do however think it’s reasonable to ask to speak to a few other Account Managers at the company as part of your interview process. Think about what you really want to get out of the conversation with them and try to craft your questions to them accordingly. Be specific and clear.

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Candidates frequently ask about Glassdoor reviews. I agree with all of the comments about taking them with a grain of salt. You tend to get very good or very bad. When candidates do ask me, I am happy to address any issues. As a candidate, it's a good idea to see if you see a theme/pattern with the reviews, but do your own due diligence.

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My favorite thing to do is take the complaints from Glassdoor (toxic CEO, no work/life balance, etc) and turn those in to interview questions so you can do your own probing to get a sense if the reviews are true or not. My hackles are up when I hear keywords like intense, demanding, or you get the vibe that the company feels they are superior to competitors and already doing everything right. In my role - I look for an openness to experimentation and change, because what gets you business one year (or quarter) doesn’t always the next.

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I would definitely still have a conversation with them. Negative reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. There’s always two sides to every story and often I find negative reviewers are often disgruntled employees.

Yes but why do some companies have so many disgruntled employees?

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I’d do a little more digging... Glassdoor alone is not a viable source for company reviews.

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