Long story short, started work a week ago, in less than a week, got fired by company stating "No job fit." Countered HR and asked, "What fit is there to be found when the new hire is here for < a week." They couldn't retort, I couldn't be bothered since I thought it was a release, as long as they pay me, all is good. To be fair, not a Malaysian company.

See lots of friends and colleagues advising due-diligence on companies and suggested Glassdoor. Said company that fired me had really bad glassdoor scores and ex-companies claimed highly toxic culture that saw experienced/senior hires all leaving in a week, but I thought seeing is believing. Not to mention on certain Glassdoor accounts, employers create dummy accounts to boost their company ratings.

Has using glassdoor mostly been a hit-or-miss for you, especially with MY companies?

Note: Won't answer PMs regarding company's identity. Happy to put it behind.

Glassdoor is 50/50.

The Co HR will provide good reviews to counter the bad ones. But you should look at the bad reviews, and take it with a pinch of salt.

Because if the bad reviews are convincing and overwhelming, no matter how many HR reviews they put there, they won't be even able to convince people that shit taste like sweet pudding.

I do 3 types of evaluation b4 I take a job:

1) Glassdoor
2) SSM.my data to look at their audited accounts for financial stability
3) Ask friends and around about work environment (this one mind you, not easy to find)
4) sometimes face to face interview, when you go look at the office environment, you can tell if its a good or bad place.

This post has been edited by hoonanoo: Dec 30 2023, 10:04 AM

Correct, as with all other review platforms. Often time also need to look at the position of the reviewers, as well as the department they're from. Certain department may have higher negative reviews due to ie. highly stressful work nature, the boss, or other area - which actually is not related to the dept/ position one is going to interview for. Some may be more positive because that department's boss is nice etc.

All in all, its really hard to tell but during Interview, yes I'll say, fire away questions and doubts, then observe the reaction/ response of interviewer (it also reflects a certain work culture/ attitude of the soon-to-be-superior). Interview is a session to find out more about each other, and not just one sided.

I have been caught offguard before.

During interview, with the hiring manager, thought she was nice and not the micromanage type.

But when join, suddenly she moved to another department, and gotten another boss with different style.

Had to be stuck with boss of differnet style.

I adapted lah. But still I would not have joined if I had to work under a boss with different style.

Hahaha this is really not within your control. Survivors will always find ways to adapt, regardless of the boss's working style. Thus it's really important to be versatile in work place.

I've gone through one in the past whereby the 1st round was fine - the interviewer was very welcoming and nice, but there was a red-flag question that she asked, "How do you handle someone with an ego? a big ego."

Guess I knew why that question popped up during the 2nd round interview. Needless to say, the 2nd interviewer was self-triggered by even some simple questions I asked (which later on I understood why it was triggering - via another source, a mutual acquaintance working in that company). All in all, I'm actually glad the whole thing didn't work out.

it was good for her to come out honest that you may be potentially working for someone with big ego.

Adaption is one thing, but I had to make big sacrifices because the hiring manager and interview manager different style of work, caused me to work late, sacrifice my time with my family.

I prayed hard, and within 1 year, I was transferred to a new boss that is a 9 to 5 boss.

I think she wanted to manage this expectation from the start. If its a person with big ego, its quite simple - let his ego win because this person needs to have the final say in everything.

Those who work very late everyday are either way too meticulous, extremely short of manpower or inefficient. Depending on the situation, but IMO occasionally late hours whenever necessary is fine & understandable. Basically work with deadlines and freedom for the team to manage their own work & time.

On the bright side, you pulled through the difficult 1 year and are on the greener pasture of work now

This post has been edited by sweet_pez: Jan 4 2024, 10:23 AM

good point about letting a person with big ego wins.

well it is part and parcel of my job but I was moved to another type of work so no need to work late.

Do your own due diligence in researching whatever there is before joining a company...

My tip:

- Look for lengthy and elaborative glassdoor reviews... They tend to omit the truth... And so as the naysayers...

- Look into LinkedIn profiles and see a set of employees' serving term... if it is 3 months, 4 months, 7 months, or even 10, that is a sign of a no-go...

- Ask for the type of tools the said company uses... Determine if it is an industrial standard one or some backward proprietary built / unnamed software... World-class tools offer you a leeway on the job market and helps you be on-par with other world-class professionals... Moreover, unproven softwares are generally unnamed ones... Ones that you never even heard of despite you working for a long time in your industry... And it has a lot of problems / bugs / crashes...

- Slap a series of technical questions to your manager and see his/her response... If he/she can't answer it, you will likely have a weak leader... You do not want to work under a person who do not understand industrial-related workings...

- Disregard blog and article media, as well as big names being placed in the website as their serviced clienteles... Because they (big name clients as testimonials) may have done so for a short interim and have altogether left unsatisfied... For media and reviews, it can always be bought...

- [Bonus] Ask the current workflow compared to your past work (if you are applying for the same job / senior position).... Determine if it is feasible based on the timeline offered when doing 'quality' / world-class work... Many positions tend to be overstuffed with different tasks that are deemed for 3-4 people job...

This post has been edited by Hastebreak: Jan 6 2024, 08:27 AM

I trust glass door and I primarily look at the negative comments

These comments can’t be manipulated or deleted or amended by the company so it’s honest

Also take it with a pinch of salt as some could be personal and some could just be honest

In my view if they have way too many negative review especially about management then it’s a red flag


One example is one of Malaysia largest bank. In media best company to work for la best hr la best this best that award

Glass door has a rating of 3.9 and true enough I joined and left after a few month coz I found them to be extremely toxic and complicated and way too many fake assholes trying to be politician there

So in all scenario I do take glass door review into my deciding criteria


This post has been edited by Roadwarrior1337: Jan 6 2024, 07:20 AM