
Preparing for an interview is time consuming and stressful. Not only do you need to research the company, it’s products, it’s competitors, and the hiring manager, you also need to predict which questions you will be asked, and come prepared with your own questions.
But before all that, find out if this company is even worth investing your time and brain power. Part 3 of my guide on using Glassdoor covers salaries, interview experience, interview questions, and benefits.
The Ultimate Job Hunter’s Guide to Using Glassdoor is a 3 part series
Part 1: Company overview – trends over time, ratings by demographics, and ratings for work/life balance, culture, senior management, and more.
Part 2: Employee reviews – weighing the value of a review, looking for consistent praise or criticism, and identifying emotionally loaded words and statements.
Part 3: Salaries, interviews, and benefits – analyzing salaries, what interview feedback tells us, and reviewing benefits that are important to you.
Part 3: Evaluating Salaries, Interviews, and Benefits
Some information is important to have upfront. You don’t want to waste your time interviewing for a company that won’t provide the income or benefits that you need to survive.
So let’s get started by visiting a company’s overview page and clicking into three sections: salaries, interviews, and benefits.
Salary – get paid what you’re worth
Before we get into what Glassdoor can tell you about an employer’s compensation, we need to talk about negotiating your salary. You deserve to be paid what your labor is worth and you don’t deserve to be manipulated into taking an offer for less money.
Negotiate like a Pro
Don’t commit to a salary range early in the interview process
In the corporate world, almost every candidate speaks with a recruiter first. During this call, the recruiter will ask you questions about salary expectations and what you’re making at your current job.
Don’t limit yourself by answering this question with numbers
Instead, tell them that you expect at least market rate and that you’re open to negotiating. Feel free to ask them what they have budgeted for. If for example, they say that the compensation plan has a base salary of $60K, and your current role pays $70K, be upfront and tell them it’s a deal breaker. They could be willing to negotiate. If $70K is over budget, they’ll tell you that they can’t meet your needs, and you can both go your separate ways.
Don’t get dazzled by good money, culture matters too
Salary, while very important, does not guarantee success in a new gig. If you like to work independently but your potential manager expect you to log your activities throughout the day, you’re going to be miserable. Ask about day to day life when interviewing to catch any issues.
People don’t quit jobs, they quit bad managers. Decide if the hiring manager is the right fit for you. If you don’t like this person, you won’t have the psychological safety to be yourself at work. No amount of money is worth risking your mental health.
Find out what else is in the compensation plan
Some companies have profit sharing. Others give you RSUs if they are publicly traded or stock that needs to vest if they are a startup or privately owned. Ask if there are bonuses included if you, your team, and/or the company reaches financial goals.
Ask for a list of benefits
Common benefits, outside of health insurance, include public transportation and parking subsidies, child care stipends, remote office equipment, free lunch and coffee, online mental health programs, flexible spending accounts (FSA), health savings accounts (HSA), life insurance, 401K matching, parental leave, unlimited PTO, professional development education, and more.
You’re not obligated to accept or decline an offer right away
If the company tries to pressure you to make a decision now because, “we have other candidates interested,” or, “we need an answer by tomorrow,” don’t stress about it. If they respect you as a future employee, they will give you a few days to decide.
If they threaten to pull the offer unless you get back to them by tomorrow, thank them for their time and walk away. Companies that try to hustle job candidates are showing you their stripes and waving a big red flag. Emotional manipulation is not acceptable.
Ask friends and colleagues for advice
If you are in the lucky position to have offers from more than one company, you’ll need to weigh the benefits. Run the numbers by a colleague in the same field.
For example, one job offer might be a lateral move career wise but comes with a salary increase of $10,000. Another may be a step up in your career, but only comes with a $5,000 increase. Consider what you want out of your career today and think about the trade offs.
Always ask for more
Unless you’re offered more than you could have hoped for, always ask for more when you receive an offer. People are scared that they’ll blow their chances if they ask for too much. But recruiters have these conversations all the time. They’re used to it.
The worst they can say is no, sorry, but we can’t match that number. You can still take the job if you want to. Best case scenario, you get what you asked for, or at least some increase in the offer.
Salary data on Glassdoor
Glassdoor is super helpful when you’re checking out large corporations because there are thousands of data points. For small companies and startups, you’ll have a lot less to work with but it’s still useful information.
Let’s take a look at what an account executive makes at this large employer.
First, filter by country, city, and/or region. In the US, the cost of living is vastly different in San Francisco, California than in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A $70,000 annual salary in Louisville, Kentucky gets you far more than the same salary in New York City.
In this example, the base pay average is $71,308 with additional pay averaging at $59,574. Additional pay includes commission, stock, and cash bonuses. But none of those are guaranteed. Ask yourself if a base pay of approximately $70,000 is enough to support you during a slow sales quarter.
Scroll down and you’ll get more information about the salary range. Account executives at this company get paid between $58,325 and $186,869 annually. A brand new account executive with one or two years of work experience will be on the lower end, while a highly experienced account executive looking after major accounts will be on the high end.
Hover over the information symbol next to Total Pay Average to get an idea for how many salary reports are included in these calculations.
Finally, take a look at the Salary FAQs to compare this company’s salary range for an account executive to the national average. Again, your location and cost of living are the most important factors to take into consideration.
The sales trajectory section is a little confusing. It means that, for an typical account executive in the US, they can make up to $59,263 at the most. Then they’ll need to move up into a more senior sales role for more money. Account executives at this company get paid more than the average salary trajectory.
Interview reviews
Interview reviews are easy to overlook but they are so valuable! They can tell you how a company treats job candidates. Do they respect a potential employee’s time? Is the recruiter communicative about updates and deadlines? Not everyone reports the questions they were asked but if a reviewer does, you have a leg up and can prepare ahead of time.
Before diving into each individual candidate’s review, look at the high level graphs that aggregate all of the feedback:
Interview experience – positive, negative, neutral
Getting an interview – online application, employee referral, etc.
Difficulty – easy, average, hard
Interview questions overview for a large company
The majority of candidates had positive experiences
Employee referrals and online applications are the best ways to get an interview
Interview difficulty was about average
An employee referral is the fastest way to a recruiter call. Someone vouched for you and recommends at least a phone screen. After that, you’re on your own. Some companies will pay employees a referral fee if they recommend a candidate who is later hired. This is great for the employee’s wallet and for the candidate if everything works out.
But employee referrals can have unintended consequences. People refer their friends, many of whom come from similar backgrounds. If that’s the main source of new recruits, you’ll end up with a team of people who all think the same way. It can be uncomfortable for someone to join a team if they don’t fit the same mold.
It also means that recruiters spend less time scouting for talent, resulting in less diverse candidate pools. This is especially true for women, who are less likely to apply for open positions, and more likely to stay at their current employer. No matter the gender, top professionals don’t fill out application forms – recruiters come to them.
Interview questions overview for a small company
Candidates had slightly more negative experiences than positive ones
Most candidates secured an interview by applying online. Some came through employee referrals or recruiter outreach.
Interview difficulty was about average
Frankly, it’s shocking to see such a high percentage of negative experiences. The interview period is for each party to put their best foot forward. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the management team and HR discuss these numbers.
This business also relies on candidates applying to open roles on their own. This generates questions for me like:
Are current employees averse to referring friends to this employer? If so, why?
Why is the recruiter generated candidate number so low?
Do they struggle to get talented professionals to agree to an interview?
If employee referrals are so low, what does this mean for employee retention?
If you weren’t looking for it on Glassdoor, you might miss the 44% negative experience feedback. There is a lot of information to sift through. Now that you have seen it, cross reference this information with feedback from employee reviews to find out what is happening at this company.
The good, the bad, and the meh
Just like with employee feedback, don’t take the reviews on interview experience completely at face value. There is always nuance. Still, trends are important so continue to look for consistency in the reviews.
Negative experience
The candidates description of the hiring managers as “good cop bad cop,” “unamused,” and “drill sergeant,” definitely tells us why they had a bad experience. No one likes to be interrogated.
If I read between the lines, I’d guess that the hiring managers went into the interview with their minds already made up. Perhaps this interview is late in the game and they’re set on someone else.
Also, some companies require all new headcount to be posted as an open role online. It could be a foregone conclusion that they’re hiring internally. Sitting through interviews is not a great use of their time, though this is definitely not the candidate’s fault.
Regardless of the reason, interviewers should never play good cop, bad cop. There is a cut off line between a difficult interview and just plain rudeness. It’s a bad look. The hiring managers are not doing themselves, or the company, a service.
This interview was for a junior sales role with limited work experience. That’s why there are so many situational questions. These questions don’t always have a right answer; the interviewers are more interested in seeing how you come to a decision when confronted with a problem.
Neutral experience
This person had two rounds of interviews but was not offered the position. Their feedback is straightforward and very...well… neutral.
They did list the questions they were asked which is super helpful. These are great examples of situational questions that are designed to tell us how the candidate thinks through problems.
For example, the question about not finishing a task is very open ended. The hiring managers are not looking for you to say, “oh that never happens, I always finish by the deadline.” There are always things that can come up and interfere with your work. This is what they are looking for:
As soon as I was aware that I was going to miss the deadline...
I informed my manager and asked for help completing this task.
I informed my manager and asked for help with my other tasks so I can prioritize this urgent one.
I informed my manager and explained why I’ll miss the deadline. I told her that I’ll complete the task by the end of the day tomorrow.
Positive interview experience
I like this review because they gave a detailed account of their experience even though they didn’t get an offer. Thank you anonymous candidate!
What we learned from this review:
The interview process was quick, just 3 weeks
The recruiter was respectful of the candidate’s time
The first two interviews were about the role itself, giving both parties the chance to determine if the candidate is a good fit
A separate skills assessment covered competencies required of the candidate like issue spotting, personnel issues, and drafting employee policies
Finally, they gave examples of behavioral, substantive, and situational questions that came up in the interview
If I’m planning to apply to an open legal counsel role at this company, I’d be thrilled with this information. It’s reassuring to hear that the hiring team supported the candidate through the interview and were respectful of their time. This is how you show candidates that your company is a great place to work.
Negative experience
Yikes! We don’t know exactly what happened here, but for the purpose of this guide, it looks like this company is using candidates to get a leg up on their competitors.
In the sales and marketing world, people work within specific industries. If you have experience selling cars, you’ll keep working at car companies. You probably won’t start selling refrigerators.
There are two problems here. First, employees have non-compete clauses in their employment contracts and can’t share non-public information about their employer, products, and customers. If you’re asked for this information during an interview, run away. It’s unethical and can get you fired.
Second, the interviewers are well aware of this and have a loose relationship with ethics. If they behave this way in an interview, imagine how they treat their actual employees.
Positive interview experience
This security analyst candidate had a positive experience, was offered the job, and accepted the offer – and I can see why. As a security analyst, their job is to follow strong processes and procedures for the protection of the company, employees, and the customers.
The interview was thoughtfully run and the hiring team demonstrated that they take their jobs seriously. Much like with the legal counsel review, this company put their best foot forward.
Benefits overview
Start by filtering based on your location. Every country has different laws and customs about benefits. For the United States, you can find out more on the Department of Labor’s website.
Next filter by employment type. Benefits usually only apply to full time workers, especially the ones mandated by state and federal laws. But many perks – like free snacks in the office or discounted gym memberships – are offered to part time workers as well.
This company built its benefits overview around a concept they call “signature life moments.” Although I want to roll my eyes a little with the “we care about you” tagline, I like that they offer support for the many different ways to build a family.
Most publicly traded companies offer stock to their employees, at a discount, through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). Sometimes they’ll give you stock as part of a signing bonus. This can really pay off later when you are looking to fund a vacation, a wedding, or pay for an emergency.
In Part 1, we combed through the company overview. Each company has a rating for overall trends in culture & values, diversity & inclusion, work/life balance, senior management, and compensation and benefits.
Remember to relate the information we’re seeing in benefits to the overall ratings for the company. If the employer has a low score for compensation and benefits, read through the benefits reviews to understand what is lacking. Always look for consistency.
Good luck on your job hunt!
I hope you found the Ultimate Job Hunter’s Guide to Using Glassdoor helpful. Remember, you’re not the only one being interviewed, employers need to convince you that they’re a trustworthy partner too.
Do your research, ask lots of questions, and follow your instincts. And most importantly, work for a company that treats you like a human being.