If you are in a situation where you are a seasoned workforce or a fresher, deciding which is the company to work for, or having difficulty figuring which interviews to accept, then this article is for you.

A few years ago, before accepting an interview or a job offer of a particular company, I remember we would either rely on the job consultant, our friends, parents and siblings, neighbors or some acquaintance of the parties mentioned to help us form an opinion about the prospect company. And the questions asked were more general like  “which industry”, “how large is the office”, “perks and incentives” etc.

Over the years with start ups, dotcom (a few dotin) ventures and niche businesses have changed the way we used to look at companies to work for. As a recent phenomenon, job seekers have become adventurous and are not generally risk averse. But what is that, they are looking for? Besides the regulars like company image etc, people have started focusing on qualitative aspects like “management team”, “ethics and values”, “infrastructure”, “work politics”, “processes”, and other variables, you get the picture.

Now where does one get to know about these and more?

With the advent of internet, networking has become much easier and reliable means of communication. And sites like www.talentequity.in, www.orkut.com (for its communities related to companies) help job seekers to  read what others are saying about these companies.

These reviews are first hand observations/feedback from employees of these companies and they surely help the job seeker to create the correct image of the company which no other media (company newsletters, newspaper ads) can compete with. Third party endorsements have always worked starting from which school/ institute to opt for, which courses to choose, to more personal choices like which car/ washing machine/ music system or home theater to buy. These endorsements are now very valuable for the work force community.

Reading about employee opinions about workplaces and contributing to it online, also helps in creating a valuable resource pool for job seekers to identify the bestemployer and the ideal work place environment.