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HR leaders have a new fear: Job candidates asking ChatGPT what their company is really like.
Some 70% of job seekers now use generative AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity to research employers, new Indeed data shows. And when job seekers ask about company culture, roughly 40% of the sources cited come from Glassdoor and Indeed, not company career pages.
That creates a new challenge for HR. AI is helping shape candidates’ perceptions of employers using information companies don’t directly control. A polished career page may tell one story, while employee reviews tell another—and job seekers can ask a chatbot to piece it all together.
But AI isn’t uncovering anything that isn’t already online, says Taylor Meadows, principal advisor at Glassdoor. His advice is to feed the beast.
“Your employer brand exists whether you are participating in it or not,” Meadows says. He recommends starting with an AI audit, asking different LLMs, “What is it like to work at X company?” Then, “reverse engineer” the problems that surface.
Meadows also suggests publishing Q&As addressing real questions from employees and candidates on social media and third-party review sites. “Let that be the good, the bad, and the ugly,” he says. “It’s going to be an opportunity for you to talk about what’s going well, but then it’s going to also be an opportunity to exercise some humility.”
Companies should also create content that showcases what it’s like to work in different departments, since culture can vary by team. Encouraging employees to share authentic experiences helps, too, Meadows says.
Even offboarding matters. Departing employees may leave reviews that AI later surfaces, making their final impression of the company especially important.
“None of this is about perfection and none of this is about control,” Meadows says. “It’s just about informing and influencing.”
Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Fortune Live Media
kristin.stoller@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
