Hiring managers can sometimes be baffled by millennial job seekers and their stark confidence in approaching a job opportunity at a new company. Why do they act as though they know everything about the company and come in confident of what they should earn in that job?
It’s a job seeker’s market these days, thanks to online company reputations and online review sites in particular.
A Company's Online Reputation – More Visible and Influential Than Ever Before
According to the 2017 CareerArc Employer Branding Study, 31% of employers claim review sites give an unfair portrayal of a company’s employment practices and company culture, with 55% of companies believing these sites provide only a somewhat fair portrayal of employers.
Unfortunately, whether companies feel they are portrayed accurately or not, job seekers are utilizing every resource available to them in order to form an opinion about them.
The study also found that 91% of candidates seek out at least one online or offline resource to evaluate an employer’s brand before applying for a job.
To make matters worse for employers, a good number of the online reviews that are left on review sites are written by employees that were laid off or let go. Obviously folks that have been fired are more likely to leave a negative review, even when their experience may have been an isolated perspective.
“66% of candidates reported sharing their negative perception of an employer who had laid them off,” said Robin D. Richards, Chairman & CEO at CareerArc, a HR technology company. “That is nearly double the rate from two years ago when only 38% of job seekers had reported sharing their negative views.”
What has caused this increased influence that online reputations have for employers and companies everywhere? Two key areas stand out. The first is obviously the rise in the Internet, social media, and job review sites.
The second is a shift in attitude within recent years. In recent months, we have seen the outrage and unifying effect one person speaking out against wrong doing can have. Others are inspired to speak their truth.
“In just the past decade, social media and employer review sites have given the workforce unprecedented influence in shaping both consumer and employer brand perception,” said Richards. “The multiple employment practices and ethics headlines that dominated 2017 alone illustrate how one post, or one viral hashtag, can spark a movement.”
How Millennials Respond to Company Reputations
While I often hear people say that millennials are no different than any other generation, I can’t help but point out how different their job hunting process really is. The availability of information online changes the scope of the job search.
Millennials not only have the ability to find out what the entire interview and hiring process is like for a position they are after, but they can find salary ranges for their location, helping them ask for what they are worth, rather than pulling a number out of the air and hoping it falls in their range.
“Millennial job seekers are twice as likely than Baby Boomers and 50% more likely than Gen-Xers to perform research beyond a prospective employer’s website,” said Richards.
Where are millennials finding information about a company's reputation and job details?
“The most visited site beyond the company’s website when researching a potential employer was Facebook, topping sites more typically associated with employment such as employer review sites which came in second, and then LinkedIn, which came in third,” said Richards.
Looking Ahead At Online Company Reputations
Even though employers are likely to risk losing potential job applicants when disgruntled former employees leave online reviews, it’s not all bad news.
Companies have more skin in the game when it comes to influencing their reputation than they have had in the past. The same resources available to disgruntled employees, such as forums, blogs, and reviews or videos, are available to employers. In fact, 87% of employers use social media to promote their employer brand, which is up 5% over the last two years.
Employers everywhere have the option to showcase the environments their employees work in every day. They can share pictures and stories of employees who have given back through corporate giving initiatives. The possibilities are endless.
The other positive for employers from the CareerArc survey has to do with employees that have been laid off.
“We found 43% of employees who were laid off during the Great Recession say they still harbor a negative perception today of the company that let them go, nearly ten years later,” said Richards. “We also learned that companies can offer an effective benefit to their employees that can help limit the negative brand impact of layoffs. We found that employees who were provided outplacement or career assistance following a layoff were 38% less likely to harbor a negative perception of their former employer.”
These developments should be eye opening for employers who have denied that millennials have a different job search experience than previous generations. It may be frightening for some companies to know that their brand reputation is in the hands of disgruntled ex-employees.
The worry should be limited though, as companies should strive to establish a clear, consistent, and honest view of their actual company culture. Videos tend to be the best representation of how a company operates, especially when those videos are testimonials from their employees.
