Career site Glassdoor launches interview-prep section
Glassdoor, the career site that gives users details on what it’s like to work at thousands of companies, has launched a new section on its site designed to help the swelling ranks of job seekers better prepare for interviews. Basically, users will now have free access to questions they might confront during interviews at specific companies.
Already, Glassdoor gives its userbase an insider’s view of what salaries, work environments and bosses are like at about 23,000 companies across the country, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, you name it. But this type of information loses its luster when many people are just happy to have a job anywhere that pays decently enough. In this environment, meeting the needs of the unemployed is actually more beneficial for Glassdoor as well.
So far, the site has culled interview questions (and reviews of overall interview experiences and hiring processes) from private beta participants who have interviewed in the past two years. These individuals were asked questions about interview format, duration, difficulty, whether they were called back or hired, and, if so, whether they felt comfortable negotiating on salary and other conditions. Already, the site says it has collected 2,000 questions and reviews for 1,000 companies.
Starting today, users can access this material by clicking on the “Interviews” tab at the top right-hand corner of the homepage. Doing so takes you to a site where you can search by job title, company or keyword (like programming, brain teaser, C++, etc.), or you can post an anonymous interview recap of your own. Anyone can view interview details for Accenture, Cisco, Deloitte, Google, JP Morgan Chase, Microsoft and Yahoo, but you have to become a member of the site to view other companies.
If you’re just browsing, I recommend checking out the Google questions, which range on the fun scale from “Design a 2-D dungeon crawling game” to “Are you sure your GPA is over 3.0?”
Based in Sausalito, Calif., Glassdoor last raised funding in October, bringing in $6.5 million in a second round from Sutter Hill Ventures and Benchmark Capital. It previously raised $3 million. While it offers its content for free, without subscriptions or premium memberships, it brings in some revenue through advertising for other career-oriented services like TheLadders.com.
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About the Author, Camille Ricketts
Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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