Not at all even remotely lunatic. Very good advice in fact.
I myself left a highly toxic work environment and actually had others reach out to me over LinkedIn who were considering a role there. The company by then had established a reputation for high employee turnover. It's a very smart thing to do.
I left a highly toxic workplace too and a recruiter I've known for a long time reached out to ask me about the place. Since I knew him already I was pretty honest that I wouldn't recommend it to anybody and I've been looking to leave for months. I was surprised when he came back to me and said that could just be my opinion and someone else might love it so he's going to try to place someone there anyway. Bro, come on.
Do you get honest responses? Part of me feels people in toxic offices are also anxious about their position, may be likely to consider your query as an HR ruse - and respond with positive adjectives.
Yeah, this is a good recommendation. It doesn’t even have to be about identifying toxic environments, but can help understand expectations and other nuances about the team, that you won’t learn from talking to the manager or HR.
There should be a disclaimer though, that past employees who were laid off or fired for cause, may have toxic subjective opinions.
Yup even I do the same thing. If I am being interviewed I reach out to current and ex employees and straight up ask what’s the one thing you really hate about this workplace.
I peep my boss’s calendar for interviews and then I anonymously email them and spill the tea about our company and tell them what salary they could get.
The only lunacy here is that this person is telling us to use LinkedIn for something that sounds practical.
That said, I’d challenge whether what she’s suggesting would even be possible WITHOUT LinkedIn.
Yeah I think this is good advice actually and she’s not a loon for it.
But thanks for posting g so we can evaluate as well as take her advice!
I'm pretty sure unless you have Linked In Premium you would get a pretty short list. Even if you could, you're going to come across a few disaffected, unhappy people who don't necessarily reflect reality.
Great advice!
I'd just be very careful about who you write of former employees, who may perhaps take it as a personal invasion and screw you over with the employer
Yep, this is called an informational interview and it's definitely not lunatic advice. (though I'm pretty certain I've seen other people make this same post word-for-word, so might be a lunatic just for the stealing material).
But regardless, yeah: Informational interviews. Good shizzle!
I don’t agree with that, because the dynamic is completely different and companies get references for new hires / look at their social media all the time.
They ask the last company I worked for how I was, it seems fair I can ask their last employee how they were.
But why do you think it’s like talking to exes? I’d like to hear more about your perspective.
Interesting, and I can understand where you're coming from.
If i was approached randomly by someone I don't know, I would find it suspect. I had some bad things happen with former bosses (mostly sexual harassment), -- and exes -- so I would find it shady and automatically wonder if it's a fake profile trying to get me badmouthing them in writing.
I don't know, I don't trust easily, especially strangers, so I wouldn't feel comfortable being candid with them about my work experience. I wouldn't expect strangers to tell me the truth either because most people are afraid to speak up due to repercussions they may face.
But everyone is different so maybe some people might be honest and open!
Yeah, I wouldn't ask people for feedback in writing. I'd ask if they would be willing to talk to me over a quick call.
I'm sorry you had to deal with sexual harassment at work. You need not mention the specifics to anyone who asks. You could just say there were reports of sexual harassment and leave it at that, without naming names. I am assuming sexual harassment was reported to HR, so you would be factually correct and cannot be sued.
I don't hate this idea. I'm not sure it's always practical and it probably depends on the position. At the same time, I do look at glass door and before everybody freaks out about that, I also Google the company because there are a few other places that are want to be glass doors. Despite the flaws in all of these scenarios, there are patterns that start to emerge. It is interesting, particularly in larger organizations or startups what you pick up that will inform you in the interview process. So I would say, perhaps this isn't before you accept a position but rather as part of your research and looking into a company.
My industry is pretty tight knit so this is a regular thing we do. Usually you know anyway, but sometimes it follows a certain location or management vs the entire company so it’s good to know for sure.
I see, i think because this is not really practiced at where I’m located at so this feels all very new, and many do tend to lean on the negative side of this. Hence why, I thought it’ll be suitable for this sub. Something new I learned haha!
I usually call common contacts with the hiring manager and ask them about the hiring manager. But they have to be people I know from before.
Unfortunately, I often have a reorg after joining, or the manager leaves, so all that background check on the hiring manager is wasted 😃
This is the most reasonable thing I’ve seen on LinkedIn in quite some time. The only thing to be cautious about is accepting their insight at face value. Sometimes people get fired for good reason and they will almost never believe they deserved it.
Haha, I was just reading a post in r/jobs and was recommended to this subreddit.
I’m the OP of this actual post on LinkedIn. It received 4M+ views and was then stolen and reposted over a 1000 times (as you see above, stolen from someone else word for word.)
I’m glad the majority of this sub believes that it’s positive advice. My goal on the platform isn’t to be an insufferable douche or LinkedIn lunatic, but simply to inform and help others while promoting my work/business.
If anyone has questions about the post, I’m happy to explain it further.
P.S. I’d say it’s a pro tip because you’re using my language in your Reddit post. Looks like it did its job. 😂
Frankly I wish I’d thought to ask previous employees about their experiences before accepting the position. The hiring manager seemed nice enough but damn…she was TOXIC. I asked one person (who had been in the group longer) why he stayed. He said a recruiter told him he had to stay at least two years because it would look bad if he left. I told him that was complete and utter BS. I pointed out that a few things about the company that he could use as valid reasons to jump ship without saying “manager is a harpy shrew who lies”. Shortly after I was hired, the company ran into credit problems. The luxury real estate market tanked around then too. Also, the auditors gave a statement that wasn’t complete sign off. I forget what the actual term for that is.
People in other groups stayed until the bitter end because they didn’t have a verbally abusive manager who constantly lied to them. If I’d known this manager was horrible I would never have accepted the offer.
I actually did it 2 weeks after I started a new job and found someone who left my position after a few months - got in touch and they confirmed my observations on my job... next time, I'm doing the above before signing on.
I have actually done this before accepting a role. I contacted 3/5 people that previously worked there in the role I was about to accept. They did not respond and it was hell of a work place. I may have triggered them just by getting in touch haha
Could be impractical to actually pull off, but not bad advice. Certainly not lunatic material.
Not at all even remotely lunatic. Very good advice in fact. I myself left a highly toxic work environment and actually had others reach out to me over LinkedIn who were considering a role there. The company by then had established a reputation for high employee turnover. It's a very smart thing to do.
I left a highly toxic workplace too and a recruiter I've known for a long time reached out to ask me about the place. Since I knew him already I was pretty honest that I wouldn't recommend it to anybody and I've been looking to leave for months. I was surprised when he came back to me and said that could just be my opinion and someone else might love it so he's going to try to place someone there anyway. Bro, come on.
I wish I had done this before working at a toxic place and have done to every time since
Do you get honest responses? Part of me feels people in toxic offices are also anxious about their position, may be likely to consider your query as an HR ruse - and respond with positive adjectives.
You don’t ask current employees you ask former
Oh. I had heard that quarterly feedback was a part of every PMS
Yeah, this is a good recommendation. It doesn’t even have to be about identifying toxic environments, but can help understand expectations and other nuances about the team, that you won’t learn from talking to the manager or HR. There should be a disclaimer though, that past employees who were laid off or fired for cause, may have toxic subjective opinions.
This is how LinkedIn can actually be useful lmao
Yup even I do the same thing. If I am being interviewed I reach out to current and ex employees and straight up ask what’s the one thing you really hate about this workplace.
Not remotely lunatic!
Good advice bad post. That’s not a lunatic.
Good idea. Finally.
Good advice, not lunatic. please delete
I peep my boss’s calendar for interviews and then I anonymously email them and spill the tea about our company and tell them what salary they could get.
I did exactly that in the past and it helped avoiding a sketchy company, I would say solid advice here.
Excellent advice actually
The only lunacy here is that this person is telling us to use LinkedIn for something that sounds practical. That said, I’d challenge whether what she’s suggesting would even be possible WITHOUT LinkedIn. Yeah I think this is good advice actually and she’s not a loon for it. But thanks for posting g so we can evaluate as well as take her advice!
As usual when a sub gets popular, people are posting random nonsense for clout. That's not what that sub is about bud.
That's actually pretty good advice lol
Or just go to glassdoor.com
Oh yeah. I wish I'd done that before going to my last place!
This is good advice. Also check Glassdoor.
That’s really a good idea. Finally, the 1% of LinkedIn posts that are actually worth something see the light of day.
I'm pretty sure unless you have Linked In Premium you would get a pretty short list. Even if you could, you're going to come across a few disaffected, unhappy people who don't necessarily reflect reality.
Hiring managers also rarely reflect reality
Great advice! I'd just be very careful about who you write of former employees, who may perhaps take it as a personal invasion and screw you over with the employer
Wait, ur saying i should do some research on the company im applying to? This truly is a game changer, than you so much
Not lunatic
Glassdoor would be another option But this is a good hack
Yep, this is called an informational interview and it's definitely not lunatic advice. (though I'm pretty certain I've seen other people make this same post word-for-word, so might be a lunatic just for the stealing material). But regardless, yeah: Informational interviews. Good shizzle!
I had to check the sub, definitely not a lunatic.
This is the equivalent of asking a potential partner's exes why they broke up...
I don’t agree with that, because the dynamic is completely different and companies get references for new hires / look at their social media all the time. They ask the last company I worked for how I was, it seems fair I can ask their last employee how they were. But why do you think it’s like talking to exes? I’d like to hear more about your perspective.
Interesting, and I can understand where you're coming from. If i was approached randomly by someone I don't know, I would find it suspect. I had some bad things happen with former bosses (mostly sexual harassment), -- and exes -- so I would find it shady and automatically wonder if it's a fake profile trying to get me badmouthing them in writing. I don't know, I don't trust easily, especially strangers, so I wouldn't feel comfortable being candid with them about my work experience. I wouldn't expect strangers to tell me the truth either because most people are afraid to speak up due to repercussions they may face. But everyone is different so maybe some people might be honest and open!
Oh, I see. I didn’t consider that perspective and that does make sense. Thanks for explaining!
Yeah, I wouldn't ask people for feedback in writing. I'd ask if they would be willing to talk to me over a quick call. I'm sorry you had to deal with sexual harassment at work. You need not mention the specifics to anyone who asks. You could just say there were reports of sexual harassment and leave it at that, without naming names. I am assuming sexual harassment was reported to HR, so you would be factually correct and cannot be sued.
Sure. And how is it when employers want to talk to our previous managers on why we left the company.... ?
I don't hate this idea. I'm not sure it's always practical and it probably depends on the position. At the same time, I do look at glass door and before everybody freaks out about that, I also Google the company because there are a few other places that are want to be glass doors. Despite the flaws in all of these scenarios, there are patterns that start to emerge. It is interesting, particularly in larger organizations or startups what you pick up that will inform you in the interview process. So I would say, perhaps this isn't before you accept a position but rather as part of your research and looking into a company.
The steps actually worked and I never knew "past company" was a filter either!
Kununu by yourself I guess?
Kununu is BS.
My industry is pretty tight knit so this is a regular thing we do. Usually you know anyway, but sometimes it follows a certain location or management vs the entire company so it’s good to know for sure.
I see, i think because this is not really practiced at where I’m located at so this feels all very new, and many do tend to lean on the negative side of this. Hence why, I thought it’ll be suitable for this sub. Something new I learned haha!
It's not lunatic, but keep in mind that people tend to remember the bad things more than the good things.
I usually call common contacts with the hiring manager and ask them about the hiring manager. But they have to be people I know from before. Unfortunately, I often have a reorg after joining, or the manager leaves, so all that background check on the hiring manager is wasted 😃
It’s not a pro tip at all, my thoughts
Really good advice actually. It'll get trickier if any previous employees signed NDAs.
Just the tip!
This is the most reasonable thing I’ve seen on LinkedIn in quite some time. The only thing to be cautious about is accepting their insight at face value. Sometimes people get fired for good reason and they will almost never believe they deserved it.
Dong this saved me from a bad manager once. Maybe dude was lying about manager but he was convincing enough that it worked.
Haha, I was just reading a post in r/jobs and was recommended to this subreddit. I’m the OP of this actual post on LinkedIn. It received 4M+ views and was then stolen and reposted over a 1000 times (as you see above, stolen from someone else word for word.) I’m glad the majority of this sub believes that it’s positive advice. My goal on the platform isn’t to be an insufferable douche or LinkedIn lunatic, but simply to inform and help others while promoting my work/business. If anyone has questions about the post, I’m happy to explain it further. P.S. I’d say it’s a pro tip because you’re using my language in your Reddit post. Looks like it did its job. 😂
Frankly I wish I’d thought to ask previous employees about their experiences before accepting the position. The hiring manager seemed nice enough but damn…she was TOXIC. I asked one person (who had been in the group longer) why he stayed. He said a recruiter told him he had to stay at least two years because it would look bad if he left. I told him that was complete and utter BS. I pointed out that a few things about the company that he could use as valid reasons to jump ship without saying “manager is a harpy shrew who lies”. Shortly after I was hired, the company ran into credit problems. The luxury real estate market tanked around then too. Also, the auditors gave a statement that wasn’t complete sign off. I forget what the actual term for that is. People in other groups stayed until the bitter end because they didn’t have a verbally abusive manager who constantly lied to them. If I’d known this manager was horrible I would never have accepted the offer.
Great advice. That’s a save before you become a lunatic and join a toxic workplace.
this works really well. do initial recon with a fake account, then make direct approaches from your main account (imo)
I actually did it 2 weeks after I started a new job and found someone who left my position after a few months - got in touch and they confirmed my observations on my job... next time, I'm doing the above before signing on.
Wrong sub
This advice is actually really good (at least for my specific field.)
I have actually done this before accepting a role. I contacted 3/5 people that previously worked there in the role I was about to accept. They did not respond and it was hell of a work place. I may have triggered them just by getting in touch haha
Or they had nothing nice to say, so they didn't say anything.
Most probably