Job seekers and employees alike expect so much more from their workplaces. Increasingly, culture, flexibility and values trump retirement plans, health benefits and expense accounts in a competitive job marketplace.
Job seekers are no longer simply looking for a job. They’re looking for a professional home that feels welcoming and often finding that right fit requires more sophistication, individualized search options.
Career site powerhouses like Glassdoor—boasting 59 million unique visitors monthly and 2.2 million employers listed—are responding in kind.
Citing notable employee trends—43% of employees have witnessed or experienced discrimination at work and one in five (21%) plan to quit their job in the next six months—Glassdoor announced new advanced filters that enable users to “customize their job search by workplace factor ratings such as work/life balance, culture & values, diversity & inclusion and more, or by overall ratings from demographic groups including race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation and more.”
The addition of advanced functionality may be a response to broader shifts in the job search industry driven by job seekers’ heightened demands.
“Gone are the days when companies could lead with perks—think ping-pong tables and endless snacks—designed to make the office a home away from home,” LinkedIn’s 2022 Global Talent Trends report explains. “Today, forward thinking organizations are working with employees to make home an office away from office.”
The report further finds that 63% of respondents identified work-life balance as their top priority when selecting a new job, and 40% cited colleagues/culture.
LinkedIn’s report highlights the importance of recognizing individuality concluding: “In the future, one-size-fits-all is not likely to fit anyone.”
As a result of these trends, career sites offer increased tailoring and customization in their search capabilities.
Previously, job seekers may have viewed team culture, flexibility, and their own psychological safety and sense of belonging as secondary considerations. Now, these personal preferences have become hard requirements like salary, benefits, and title, driving the selection process for potential employees.
“We know that each individual job seeker has different values driving their job search, from healthier work/life balance to career growth, to being able to compare ratings of different employee demographic groups,” said Christian Sutherland-Wong, Glassdoor Chief Executive Officer in their recent press release. “The new advanced filters for Company Explorer aim to make it easier for people to uncover companies that align with their unique values and experiences, and can help them make even more informed decisions about where to work.”
Diversity and inclusion experts seem to agree that enhanced job search tailoring is a step forward.
“Now more than ever, people with disabilities want to work where their contributions are valued, where diversity of thought is celebrated, and where they can be part of an inclusive culture characterized by a sense of belonging—making them healthier and more engaged,” said Jill Houghton, president and CEO of Disability:IN. “1.3 billion people around the world identify as having apparent and non-apparent disabilities. They experience discrimination at work when there’s not a culture that fully harnesses their diverse talents, perspectives and shared lived experiences.”
“It is important to offer marginalized folks the opportunity to see first-hand accounts of how those with similar identities have experienced the company in question,” adds Hanna Naima McCloskey, Founder and CEO Fearless Futures. “By doing so, employees are given the power to sift through which workplaces will offer conditions for them to thrive and to publicly rate companies that may have mistreated those from minoritized backgrounds in the past.”
Dr. Kerry Mitchell Brown, a cultural architect and equity strategist who founded KMB, insists that, since the 2020 racial reckoning, many Black professionals in particular have been interested in discerning which companies have followed through on their public commitments to racial equity.
“Employees, current or potential, are curious about what these commitments have amounted to,” Mitchell Brown said. “Has the impact or change gone beyond a public statement promising that the organization will do better in the future and accompanied by ongoing deep equity work?”
As such, real feedback from Black professionals working within these companies is critically important for Black job seekers striving to separate the companies paying lip service from those who are seriously working to achieve racial equity.
Niche career sites like Fairygodboss, considered by some as a “Glassdoor for women,” and Jopwell, a career advancement platform for Black, Latinx, and Native American students and professionals, have intentionally focused on identity and specialized interests.
Launched in 2015 and 2014 respectively, these platforms were born out of a recognition that increasingly candidates don’t just want to conduct any job or company search but instead want one customized to their identity, interests, and cultural preferences.
According to an article published by the Stanford Graduate School of Business, citing research by an assistant professor of accounting Jung Ho Choi, “Jobseekers were willing to forgo more than $1,000 in wages to work at a place with a more diverse employee base.” Obviously, car buyers today no longer request standard features like cruise control and air conditioning. Instead, they tend to inquire about automatic driver assist, wireless smart phone connectivity and automatic emergency braking. They still want the cruise control and air conditioning, but those features are expected and won’t likely drive the research or selection process.
Similarly, job seekers today still want the core elements of company and job research, but increasingly they want more sophistication and specialization as well. Leading sites like Glassdoor are increasingly stepping up their game to meet them where they are.
