Ideas

I've had similar experiences numerous times, and also on the opposite end (where I found amazing an amazing job and would definitely recommend working there). I think this idea is completely plausible and I'm all for it.

It's not a bad idea, but it might be really hard to implement. Studies show that people rate things they either love or hate. No one logs on to say, "the job was OK. The people were average and the coffee was free." So you end up with skewed ratings, either one way or the other.

Plus, you run a real risk of getting sued for defamation.

Figure these issues out and it could fly.

Interesting idea. There are sites which offer trade in contact lists... maybe a trade in corporate evaluations?

How about the data is private until you submit details of 2 previous employers, then you can review data on 3 (potential employers)?

What is to keep the data real (Cambrian House creating bogus account and claiming their office rocks!), what is to keep a company from patrolling the site to try determine the leaker of bad information?

Of course this sort of information could apply to a number of categories. Real estate agents. Painters. There are existing review sites for products and movies (which can suffer from false data too). What essentially makes our items (companies) different from those review sites? That the reviewers want anonymity (yet we still want credible data)?

my wife who is also an attorney assures me that the hosting site is not at risk in any way for defamation. Also, all postings are anonymous. Posters are encouraged not to post any personal traceable information. I think it may be a positive if companies log on to see how they rate. If they have an overwhelmingly poor rating it just may motivate them to do something about it. If they go after posters, that is bound to show up in the postings. I think that if there is an overwhelming amount of negative comments and a company logs on to "improve there rating" It will stand out as bogus. The wisdom of the crowd.

This is valuable. Like rate my teacher, rate my employer.

Awww...
Can I say you stole my idea when you wrote it down first?

Anyways this is what my job-blog was aiming to do.

This is pretty cool. People like to write about their work experiences and people (especially people like me) would like to see what a job is like before they take a dive in.

The biggest problem is that companies often change people so quickly that the data could become very out dated. I could write some complaints about a company, but they've turned over 2 new bosses and so my feedback is useless because the people I hated were gone or the policies have changed.

I guess it gives you something to look at and make sure it is changed.

I use LinkedIn for this.

ya linkedin could do this i guess

This sounds just like jobvent: http://www.jobvent.com/

They seem to be popluar (and fairly well written-up in the press) so maybe there's room for another good company in this space.

Jobvent looks kinda boring. I am in on this one.

This is very good, it will take some work to balance opinions of disgruntled vs. fair, but its a great social mob idea. Kudos

It's a good concept that may not have been done directly (although I agree with linkedin). But the major barrier that would prevent me from jumping into this is the fact that for it to be useful it would need to have a huge database of businesses with a large user base contributing and always updating the listings.

There are thousands of businesses in every city.. about 90% small businesses (which are said to have a life span rarely longer then 5 years). So unless you focus on scouring yellow pages and marketing heavily this will most likely not be useful.

Plus from the businesses I've worked at management shifts and employee move up ranks or leave... very often. Since the information has such as short lifespan it could easily be inaccurate. And if you build a strong core community how often can they really contribute? Twice a year if your lucky.

I like the idea, but I agree with others about using Linkedin, its what I have used for this kind of information.

This is good. But how do you ensure credibility? I mean ultimately its subjective when one comments. Rite?

It might be more useful and credible if you steer this away from very personal experiences to more general work environment evaluation - like the way they do surveys of business schools, as an example. So you define the categories that people would evaluate a work environment, rather than submitting personal anecdotes. For example: Flexibility in work hours, Frequency of late hours, Collaborative environment, Openess to new ideas, Office politics influences decision making.

Another approach is to get input from people who still work there - this would give a more balanced assessment, rather than just reviews from people who left because they didn't fit in, or left because they didn't get the promotion/raise they thought they deserved. Let's face it, even in the best work environments, there are people who just like to complain. Also, there will be a natural bias in which unhappy people are more likely to speak up than happy people who've simply moved on because they went back to school, relocated for personal reasons, started a family, etc.

slkjoy: great input. Rather than a free for all on comments, creating a structure or survey will allow you to compare apples to apples. This really works only if you are getting a variety of sources and experiences not just highly subjective opinions. though raw opinion may be a factor involved, I also I don't want this to turn into a flame off for disgruntled ex-employees. however I think opinion has place in this also. It should be a place to gather information by people who really know the in's and out's of a potential employer. I want this to be a positive resource, not a negative one.

Rather than put in comments... that can be deemed slander or something that can get you sued... Just make it an opinion page. I like the idea of a rating chart. Click here and rate common job traits..

Like the Idea but how would you motivate people to post? I have to agree with yacht_boy that people would only rate on extreme experiences, usually bad.