Your Company Dirty Laundry Has Never Been MORE Public.

When they say the Internet is the great equalizer, they aren’t kidding. It has never been easier for potential employees to uncover your company’s background. This means the good…as well as the bad.

Employees have an entire arsenal of tools. One way they can find out what it is like to work for your organization is job vent websites, where your employees (ex-employees and current employees) can write about their experiences working there. Some websites include:

• http://www.jobvent.com/


• http://www.disgruntledworkforce.com/


• http://www.furiocity.com/


• http://www.jobacle.com/


• http://www.tecross.com/

At a recent presentation that I gave in New York City to a group of entrepreneurs on how to start up a business in trying economic times, I struck up a conversation with a Business Analyst that worked for a consulting firm based outside Chicago, IL.

We got to talking about our beliefs in consulting. She suggested I have a dialog with the head of their recruiting team, in order to explore the prospect of contract work with them.

I scheduled a time to speak with that person, but first did some investigation…and here is what I found out:

· Their President was disbarred from practicing law in NY for soliciting a 16-year old prostitute;

· They had a class action lawsuit filed against them by 113 female employees claiming sexual harassment;

· They had a lawsuit filed against them by 400+ ex-clients they had bilked them out of money on bogus consulting services.

Armed with this information and other research, my one and only conversation with the head recruiter was very enlightening, to say the least.

If your company is interested in recruiting top-notch talent, it can no longer hope to hide behind its private company status. Lawsuits, liens, judgments, bankruptcies…none of this type of information can be swept under te rug and hidden from plain sight.

Gone are the days when proactive job seekers, potential partners, vendors, suppliers, etc. would have to go to a firm like Dun & Bradstreet to obtain this type of information on your company.

The information is publicly accessible and can be obtained in minutes with a quick search on Google. So you better be prepared to answer tough questions from job seekers looking to understand what ethics your company espouses, what it is REALLY like to work there and what sort o culture you have created.

What do you think?