For the last few weeks there’s been an annoying ad on my Facebook page inviting me to dish what I know about working at Lenovo. (“Wow, that ad is smart, it knows where I work!”)
Today I clicked and there it is: Glassdoor.com, another Vault-like insider’s guide to working at companies, complete with salary information. The come-on is simple — fill out the survey, write some commentary — all anonymous of course — and get a chance at winnng $500. They get free insider’s scoop, and eventually populate a big fat database for job seekers.
This is why Facebook is growing more tedious on me, but in the end, this is not Facebook’s fault. Just a dumb idea that uses Facebook and its capabilities to advertise.
Why dumb? Out of a moment of tedium I went through the whole process and Glassdoor rejected the submission because it required at least 100 words to be written. Um … idiots. First, disclose that at the front end so I can decided to be done with you, second, be happy with what you get. If I believe I can summarize the Lenovo experience in six well-selected words, well that’s what I think it can be done it. But no, you’re going to reject a VP’s commentary because it isn’t verbose enough?
Not me. I hate survey based business plans. I hate surveys that don’t disclose how many minutes out of my day they are going to eat before they are done with me.
“Every day, our members share what it’s really like to work at their companies. To see their ratings, reviews, and salaries — simply post an anonymous review or salary of your own.”
Glassdoor.com – Post a Review or Salary.
Just write 100 words.
They should say up front how many characters are required. But they succeeded in getting the VP to comment, they just failed to collect that comment.
Do you think that 6 words from any VP is a good summary of a company, regardless of how well selected those 6 words were? Unless there is a vacancy at VP level?
100 words is a lot to write, my first comment was just over 50 words… I wonder how many peoples surveys they are losing.