Glassdoor appoints new CEO as it continues its global push

Dive Brief:

Glassdoor CEO and co-founder Robert Hohman will be stepping down, the company announced, and Christian Sutherland-Wong, currently chief operating officer for Glassdoor, will take his place as CEO. Hohman will stay on as chairman. The appointments are effective starting Jan. 6, 2020.
Sutherland-Wong served as the company's first COO since February 2018, not long before the company was acquired by Recruit Holdings Co. for $1.2 billion in May 2018. Prior to joining the company in 2015, Sutherland-Wong held roles at LinkedIn and Bain & Company.
In 2019, the company has opened offices in France, Germany and Canada as well as expanded its site reach to Latin America and Asia. "After more than twelve years of leading Glassdoor, it's simply time for me to step out of the day to day and begin serving as chairman, responsible for helping guide the long term direction of the company," Hohman said in a statement emailed to HR Dive.

Dive Insight:

Experts have previously told HR Dive that Glassdoor's big selling point — and the reason it was bought by Japan-based Recruit Holdings — is its access to job seeker insights through the reviews on its platform. Glassdoor remains one of the bigger names in the employee review site and job board space, especially now that it is directly aligned with Indeed, another Recruit Holdings brand.

The company will continue its global expansion under Sutherland-Wong, he confirmed in a statement: "Our investments will be primarily in our product with the goal of creating more value to job seekers and employers. In addition, we are expanding our platform to help make it more relevant to more people throughout the globe."

In the modern talent market, the breadth of Glassdoor's reach represents the growing value employees place on employer brand; negative reviews on sites like Glassdoor, Monster and Indeed can turn off applicants and disrupt an employer's recruiting process. In response, more employers have turned to creating a positive employee experience that echoes the kind of experience companies want to build for customers, too — partly with the intention to make brand advocates out of happy employees.

The growing global reach of Glassdoor also reflects increased pressure on employers to recruit worldwide to make up for talent gaps. To do so successfully, employers have doubled down on figuring out their employee value proposition — something employees usually end up communicating on sites like Glassdoor.