Many managers will be on the hunt for new opportunities as this wild new economic reality continues to deteriorate. Layoffs.fyi, a COVID layoff tracking website, has the current startup job cuts at >24k at the time of this post. It’s painful out there.

One of the most interesting ways to dig into a prospective company’s culture as a potential new hire, competitor, or seller of services is that anonymous & mischievous review site Glassdoor.

Picture yourself sitting at your computer. Dreaming of your professional future. A notification pops up in your inbox. A recruiter has reached out with an exciting opportunity. They describe a company working on a world changing mission, a fast growing team, and an open role that would be perfect for your unique set of skills. Perhaps because they’re masochists, or quite possibly because they just didn’t look first, they encourage you to check out the company’s Glassdoor reviews.. Upon clicking the link and being taken to the company’s page, you feast your eyes upon these samples:

• Yes, {CEO’s name} is a complete scumbag and it shows everyday. He avidly and openly admits everyday that he needs to make fun of people to make himself happy. 
• The “good” reviews below this are all him making his current employees fill out good reviews to downplay the terrible (true) ones from before

Ooook then. Or another company…

• The bureaucracy is so thick that I don’t think a steak knife could penetrate it. If you wanted to experience a real-life Game of Thrones, be prepared to come with popcorn. 
• {CEO} is such a volatile individual that I’m convinced that Silicon Valley has a fetish for sociopaths and the board is keeping him around for amusement and steady, growing numbers while he gets puppeted around by his strategy officer. 

Or another..

• The place is a graveyard. It’s awful. Anyone left wished they would have been a part of the RIF. Worst leadership sits in {Department X}. They kept the worst of the worst. And everyone knows it. Great decision making again.
• I’d rather light myself on fire than refer a friend to work here. Also you know how bothersome it is to see employees who made it through the third cut enjoying free massages and smoothie buffets in SF meanwhile I’m unemployed? Please just stop trying. You’re literally terrible.

Woah. First reaction, honestly? People are dramatic, especially anonymously. These are all snippets from real (maybe?) Glassdoor reviews of different companies. Scorned employees really let it rip out there!

But who writes these reviews? And how can one tell what’s noise, good guidance, or embellishment?

This is no scientific approach, but these directional bullets could be a helpful guide as you sift through the cultural wastelands out there:

• >4.0 ratings generally represent good companies, >4.3 ratings generally represent very good companies
• CEO approval is a helpful indicator. Employees who leave but still approve of the CEO usually had a positive overall experience. Or at least believed in the company more than they believed in the role keeping them there. Generally.
• “Lack of growth opportunities” is a phrase you’ll see often. Try to parse out whether the individual’s feedback is more closely tied to their specific experience or even a difficult stage in the company’s growth rather than a systemic cultural flaw
• Try reading negative reviews first. Get a feel for “how negative” relative to the balance of the reviews you’ll read after
• Read the interview experiences! Especially from candidates who didn’t receive an offer. Companies that treat their prospective employees fairly, follow up, and are transparent are GOOD companies
• Read both recent and not so recent reviews – has this company demonstrated positive or negative growth over time? Look for problems being addressed at the leadership level in the content
• Try to look for consistency. Do the same positive or negative themes keep coming up?
• Specificity in the reviews matter. What department is this from? Was this an individual experience? Did they have a bad manager? Or is something fundamentally broken at a broader level? Growing pains are going to happen at fast growing startups regardless

Treat Glassdoor as a secondary source to help supplement information you’d receive from a friend, 2nd connection, in person experience, or otherwise. Take the digital stone throwing with a grain of salt. Because, after all, nothing like the reviews above could possibly happen under your management. They are juicy though.