JOBSEEKERS know that Day 1 at a new workplace is seldom a walk in the park. In fact, it can be downright nerve-racking trying to make sense of an environment that has its own established culture, politics and dynamics.

Job listings typically do not reveal very much about a company beyond the standard corporate profile and a description of the vacancy available.

Enter Office Parrots (www.officeparrots.com), a start-up founded by former lawyer Tan Mei Chel. The website aims to help jobseekers in Malaysia and Singapore find out more about a prospective employer before signing on the dotted line. It offers company reviews and salary information, much like the US-based site Glassdoor.

Using the online review culture

Information on Office Parrot’s website comes from anonymous reviews, mostly by current or former staff of companies.

Tan says the information is volunteered by users in order to access more information on the platform, as Office Parrots goes on the “give to get” model.

People are already used to offering hotel and restaurant reviews online. Office Parrots is merely extending it to work-related information, she says.

As such, the main question that Tan and Office Parrots face is how accurate or valid the information is.

One argument is that anonymity enables people to be more frank, but the reality is that nothing is going to be 100% true given that different people have different experiences in different places.

Tan concedes that there will not be a single online platform that can really provide 100% true and accurate information, just as friends or acquaintances can only offer their own perspectives.

“If there is something bad, you would take that into account, but at the end of the day, you will still exercise your own judgement. Plus, you have other data points, so that is just one of them. It’s just another tool,” says Tan.

At the end of the day, the user needs to be reasonable in recognising that there’s no such thing as a perfect workplace.

Tan welcomes reviews and insights, be it positive or negative, as long as users are not using the platform to slander or vent their frustration.

“Additionally, there will also be algorithms and features that aggregate the data received so that the quality of data is not compromised,” she adds.

Growing Office Parrots

Office Parrots — which had a soft launch last November — has a long-term plan. Tan envisions it as a cornerstone resource for jobseekers that complements online job boards and recruiters. “The vision is to build Office Parrots into a one-stop destination where one can find out everything about an employer … from viewing videos and photographs and looking up salaries to reading reviews from its employees to see how they hold up on career progression and training.”

At the moment, Office Parrots is focused on employers in three industries: legal, accounting and consulting, and financial services.

Employers listed on Office Parrots include some of the Big Four accounting firms, Maybank Investment Bank, JP Morgan,

ZICOlaw and Wong and Partners. Tan wants Office Parrots to cover more industries.

The next step is to roll out its SwiftSearch function, where users can apply for vacancies directly on the website. This function will be available early this year, says Tan.

At the moment, she is speaking to employers to get them on board Office Parrots, where they can create their own profiles to attract potential talent.

Would employers want to be engaged on a platform where their employees could be saying less-than-favourable things about them?

Tan believes that employers will need to realise that transparency is important to the younger and growing workforce. This transparency will also work in their favour as it serves to identify people who are genuinely interested in joining a company, despite

their having read reviews that may not be so great.

“It helps employers find candidates who are serious about a role despite what may have been said, and who are coming in with their eyes wide open,” she adds.

At the end of the day, no scenario is perfect. What helps is to go in with your eyes wide open and with as much information as possible.

This article first appeared in #edGY, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on January 5 - 11, 2015.

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