How credible are Glassdoor reviews?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7059393

by hyunwoona • 13 years ago

11 6 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've got an offer from Rocket Fuel Inc., and obviously it is a very promising company, but I've seen reviews in Glassdoor.com, and there were a lot of bad reviews about it. Most of nice reviews seemed to be made up by HR.

If anyone is working in Rocket Fuel, please tell me what it is like to work in Rocket Fuel.

Thank you.

msoad• 13 years ago

It's a big big red flag if you are seeing only 5 and 1 star reviews. Also if 5 star reviews are made in same day or week they are differently fake. When a company struggle in hiring it's usual nowadays to spam their own Glassdoor page with fake reviews.

Beware and make sure you know everything before starting a new job. Nothing is worst than looking for another job just after two months.

hyunwoona• 13 years ago

It's an intern position, so I'll have to look for another position after two months anyway. I am working for this position for just 4 months(or more if I want to)

How bad can it get to work in a not so good company for 4 months as an intern? Anyway this is the only offer I have so far(I'm waiting for another)

lastofus• 13 years ago

It could be a great learning experience, even if you only learn "how not to do things".

With regards to the glassdoor reviews, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle of disgruntled ex employees, and the current employees trying to hold the ship together.

dogan• 13 years ago

I had an obnoxious colleague who wrote a very distorted Glassdoor review of the company I used to work for. His review wasn't all wrong but it was definitely extremely exaggerated because of getting kicked out of the team he was leading.

NumberSix• 13 years ago

A few thoughts.

I don't know specifically about Glassdoor but review sites in general tend to have either fairly positive or fairly negative reviews. I think partly people with a middling view of the product, service, employer whatever don't care enough to post a review.

In general, I think all or mostly negative reviews is at least a yellow flag.

In my experience, it is difficult, generally impossible, to detect interpersonal problems, flakiness, even extremely negative working environments in a job interview. Sometimes it comes out, but most people can put on a good face for a few hours. This is really both ways; it is also hard to evaluate job candidates as well as employers in a standard job interview process.

One option is "try and buy", where you work for the potential employer on a project for a few weeks to a few months on a contract basis with the understanding that either or both of you many decide not to go further. It appears hard for an employer to hide serious problem for more than a few days. A few days, however, is probably not long enough to detect a serious mismatch.

If it is this Rocket Fuel http://rocketfuel.com/, be especially cautious of AI (or equivalent buzzwords such as "machine learning") companies. AI seems particularly prone to questionable claims, flaky people, wishful thinking and even outright fraud.

If you have not, try to find out exactly what they are hiring you to do and on what time scale. Are they expecting an AI breakthrough in 1 quarter? I have encountered extremely optimistic plans like this; it almost never works out.

Nicholas_C• 13 years ago

I find that for large companies they seem fairly accurate, for small companies the sample size is just too small. You also have to keep in mind that different people can get VERY different experiences with the same company.

How credible are Glassdoor reviews?

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