Recently one of my friends in HR decided he might be interested in getting back into recruiting. Another former recruiter (now in HR) had asked me if I knew anyone for a recruiting role, and I put them in touch. His phone screen went well, but the day he was supposed to interview there was an emergency at work that he needed to take care of, and he had to postpone his live interview. In the interim, he decided to look more carefully at the company, their culture, and their reviews on Glassdoor.com. Based solely on what he read there, he decided to withdraw his candidacy. I was shocked he hand’t gone to the interieiw for the practice if nothing else. He has been with the same company for *a long time* and switching career focus means a new set of questions and answers to formulate.
The last time I interviewed, I also did my due diligence on Glassdoor.com. The company has a very large sales team, and almost all of the reviews were from sales and highly inflammatory. There had also recently been news that another major industry competitor was looking at entering the same niche. So when I had my follow up conversation with the Director of HR, I asked for clarification on those items. Most of our talk was around how the sales team morale was being addressed, what the competitor was lacking that made them a non-entity to this company. In short, my questions were answered and I proceeded with the process.
Doing your due diligence, be it on Glassdoor.com, through financial analyses, reading press releases, or talking to industry contacts with insider knowledge is critical not only for understanding the culture and the organization, but also to show your interest in a company. I cannot begin to tell you how many times an otherwise "good" candidate in terms of experience was back-burnered when they are asked the question "So tell me what you know about our company and products" and they have no answer or something they read on the website the night before.
Remember that when you are reading company reviews on a site like Glassdoor that the majority of those employee are either disgruntled ex-employees or dissatisfied current employees. Take things with a grain of salt. If you really do have concerns about a company’s culture or brand, go straight to the horse’s mouth (as it were) and show that you are interested, did your homework, and value your work experience enough that you are only interested in a company that "feels" right to you.