I was already using Glassdoor in my job search, thought it was pretty cool, then when I saw a PR job open at Glassdoor on Twitter, I applied immediately. Needless to say, I heard back from the Corp Comm Director within 20 minutes. That's how fast these people are, at least in PR, when they're interested in you. I replied back immediately - wanted to show my interest - and a phone interview was set up for the next morning. I did my research and prepared for an initial phone screen and it went well. PR director had a lot of energy over the phone, asked a lot of questions about my PR/media experience, and the conversation flowed naturally. At the end, she asked when they could fly me out for an in-person interview. Well, I was on a plane the next week, on site for a 4 hour interview, and then flew back home. Two days later, I had a Skype interview with the CEO, and later that afternoon received an offer that was more than what I had asked for. It was pretty awesome and I went out to a fancy dinner that night.
How can this help you? if you're interviewing in the PR department, be quick, responsive, fast, accurate, inquisitive and do your research. Come on, people, it's PR - anything and everything they are doing is already 'out there,' so there's no excuse not to find it and show that off. They really liked that. Also, it was easy to see all the great things in PR they are doing, but I knew I had to go further to show my value to them by identifying the things they were NOT doing in PR and how I could plug those holes and contribute by doing something new. That's the name of the game, especially at small companies growing quickly. I had to do a writing test, pitch the director over the phone as if she was a reporter, and explain what I would do for Glassdoor's PR program. I wanted to cut them off at the pass, so I came prepared with a 2-page document on new ideas and suggestions on what they could do to improve their program. Needless to say, I really really wanted this job, so I did all I could to show them that I was awesome. It worked and like I said, if you go above and beyond what their expectations might be, you might even surprise yourself in what they offer you. Did I mention to do your research and go beyond what the normal person does? Now working here at Glassdoor, it's clear that most people are overachievers and set high expectations, so it's kinda the status quo at Glassdoor. BTW, that's a good thing.
PS - In addition to applying online via the standard process, I really wanted to get noticed, so found some in-house PR contacts, got their names and found an email address and emailed them directly to get their attention. That worked. I recommend anyone doing this who is serious.
