How companies use kununu for their employer branding

No, today more than half of all applicants prepare by looking at an employer portal.

High relevance of online reviews for decision-making

kununu is still at the forefront in Germany, but glassdoor is catching up. One reason for this is that when creating an account, new users are strongly encouraged to write an employer review themselves. Stepstone, indeed and Google for Jobs also provide 1-to-5-star ratings directly next to the job advertisement.

We have been familiar with such online reviews for some time in other areas, such as the hotel industry. The opinions of previous guests bring forward the decision-making point for subsequent guests. The selection process begins as early as the research stage. Employers are now also feeling the effects of this.

What I didn’t know: kununu comes from the African language Swahili and means “blank slate” – at least according to kununu itself. Thanks to the various online rating options, companies’ slates are no longer blank and white. Statistically speaking, positive ratings fortunately outweigh negative ones. In individual cases, of course, the situation may be different. Some HR departments suffer greatly from a series of negative comments that scare off applicants.

How should you respond to negative reviews?

Here are a few very bad ideas:

• Hoping that the issue will somehow resolve itself.
• Posting a series of positive reviews under different user logins.
• Buying positive user reviews.
• Respond with a comment from the employer stating that the criticism is completely unjustified.

Requesting deletion is also unlikely to be successful. In such cases, kununu requires a statement regarding the specific text passage with proof of the false claim. If this proof can actually be provided, usually only the passage will be deleted, not the entire post. Star ratings cannot be changed because they represent subjective value judgements within the scope of freedom of expression.

In rare cases, I have seen that, due to obviously inappropriate feedback, the entire comment was taken offline and the author was asked to review it. If the author does not respond, the comment remains invisible.

Active review management is better for employer branding. This works in two ways:

1. Comment on negative reviews as sympathetically as possible, thereby mitigating them

• Thank people for their feedback – even critical feedback.
• Agree with individual points if the criticism is justified.
• Briefly describe any improvement measures that have already been taken.
• If there are passages that are difficult to understand, kindly ask the commenter for clarification in a personal conversation. In my experience, however, the likelihood of this actually happening is close to zero.

kununu offers employers the opportunity to comment free of charge. For an extended self-presentation as an employer, there is the Employer Branding Profile, the prices for which are based on the size of the company.

2. Encourage positive reviews

• Discuss the importance of employer reviews internally and show gratitude for positive reviews.
• Ask loyal employees who are leaving to write a review, e.g. if they are resigning for personal reasons and with a heavy heart.
• Ask applicants for a review if they turn down a job offer but have a positive opinion of the company.
• For applicants who enthusiastically accept a job offer, mention the usefulness of a review.

With a little tact and patience, the average rating will definitely increase.

Do you have any other suggestions or experiences? Then please share them in the comments below!