Welcome back to another #ThoughtFULLThursday! My goal is to provide helpful tips on building better teams. My name is Casey Hasten and I am an Executive Recruiter, Director of Recruiting with VIP, host of the We Are VIP Podcast, and all around #hiringguru. Whew!
In order to build better teams, we need to attract good talent on which to build. There are many ways to attract good talent, but I want to address a sure showstopper to NOT attracting the people you want to hire.
As an Executive Recruiter, I have worked with hundreds, maybe thousands, of companies over the years. When I am engaged by a company to hire on their behalf, it is my job to become the company’s champion when convincing job seekers to work for them. Do you know the first action job seekers typically take after a company is presented to them?
Yep….they go read the online reviews about the company! And what do they usually find? All the negative reviews from people who are probably no longer with the company.
How many times have you written a review about your company when you were satisfied at work? I would guess not many of us have done this. I know I did not before recognizing the problem it caused for my company. How many times have you written a review when you were angry? I have not done this about a company, but I have done this for other places where I have done business. I make a point now to write reviews about my positive experiences, as well as negative ones.
I was recently engaged by a company to hire two additional members for their team. I was very concerned about accepting this engagement as I had heard from many of the candidates I had interviewed from this company the culture was horrible. Leadership was abrasive and would assign projects at the last minute with unattainable deadlines, forcing employees to work ridiculous overtime hours. Their online reviews were atrocious! I would not have applied or interviewed with this company after reading their reviews. I decided to meet with the company and find out if this was true.
I was so glad I accepted the appointment to meet with them. While on site, I learned the leadership had turned over 100% and new leadership was devoted to correcting the course to improve the culture. This happened about six months prior to my meeting with the company. Yet, no positive reviews to counter the negative reviews had been posted.
After meeting with my new client, we developed a strategy to combat the negative online reviews. Each week, an employee would post a positive review. This was not coerced…just requested. In addition, a team member was assigned to monitor and respond to any online reviews, positive or negative. This interaction illustrates a company is committed to its culture.
Please do not think all reviews are written by disgruntled employees. There are some legitimate concerns which need to be shared. I would caution anyone depending solely on online reviews though to not use this as a final decision-making tool when considering interviewing with a company. I would bring up any concerns generated from reading the reviews during the interview process.
Finally, if you work for a great company, let everyone know! Take a few minutes and post a positive review so others will want to work there too. This is a great way to attract the people you want to work with and continue to build a fantastic company culture.
