In a recent story posted on the Recruiters Lounge it was reported that “almost half of job seekers use Glassdoor during the job search.”  I think it is time for Glassdoor to change how they present their data to candidates to give them the information they really need to make an informed decision.

Before I continue it is important to mention that the thoughts presented in this blog post are my own and do not reflect the opinions of my current employer or anyone at Yahoo.

 I have had the opportunity to speak to Glassdoor on a few occasions and have expressed my concern with the way they present data to customers.  The example I have used for over a year begins with Yahoo.  Shortly after Marissa Mayer was hired I began to wonder how candidates looking at Glassdoor could really get a good idea of what was happening at Yahoo under her new leadership.  The problem is that Glassdoor presents an aggregate of scores submitted by employees and in 2012 it had been 4 years since the company had launched its site.  So Marissa faced four years of data that would either work for or against her and not help candidates understand the reality of life at Yahoo.  With a 5 star rating it takes lots of input to change for years worth of data either positively or negatively.  Let’s look at the Yahoo page on Glassdoor taken today:

What do these scores tell a candidate?  Should you pick a company rated 3.5 over Yahoo?  At face value that is probably what candidates do.  Is this a fair assessment?  We could discuss that the 5 star rating is arbitrary and there is nothing that helps employees with making these assessments but for purposes of this discussion we will assume that individual ratings between each company are fair and accurate.

So what is the problem?

What does 3.4 tell you about a company?  Would you pick a 3.5 company over Yahoo?  If you answer yes now let me ask you a question.  Would you still pick that 3.5 company if last year they were 3.6 and Yahoo were 3.3?  Presents a different picture doesn’t it?  In an article published by Mashable in July 2013 they shared some graphs of data that I think represent the way Glassdoor should present data to candidates.

Company Performance

CEO Performance

Why can Mashable present Glassdoor’s data better than they can?