Since I am now consulting on my own, I regularly get alerts about jobs that might fit my qualifications. Of course, the jobs seem to miss who I am by miles. I have received listings to apply for store manager at a big box store or local supermarket. It seems that the algorithms for finding candidates are way off but I assume that companies might strike it rich by mass recruiting people who miss the mark. Good for them if it works.

Recently I received job matches from Glassdoor. What surprised me was how they advertise the position they are trying to fill. My most recent job match was for a Volkswagen auto dealership looking for a Controller/Office Manager. In the email, Glassdoor provided some specifics on estimated salary, the industry and brand. But what startled me most is pictured below. In their effort to get me to pursue the job opportunity, they provided employee ratings on the percent of users who would recommend the company to a friend, benefits and the approval rating for the chairmen/CEO, Herbert Diess. Mr. Diess is the chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen Group and the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. His excellent CEO approval rate (93%) is indeed a plus to anyone considering a position with them. What pleased me was how Glassdoor concluded that the perceptions of the CEO of a company is critical to perceptions of the company as a good place to work. Glassdoor has been doing their homework. People want to work for companies where their values align with that of the person at the top.

Much of the work I did in my career focused on the added value of having a highly regarded CEO. It was considered somewhat radical that 50% of a company’s reputation was linked to the reputation of the CEO when this fact was first publicized two decades ago. The importance of the CEO has always been underestimated. Since then, this finding has remained relatively consistent but I’d have to admit that it is probably stronger now with the intense scrutiny of social media, the higher visibility attached to CEOs today and the greater emphasis on CEOs behaving in line with corporate values.

I will keep a look out for my next job opportunity from Glassdoor and the CEO’s approval rating. I somehow doubt I will be getting job descriptions for companies where the CEO approval rating is low, no matter how successful the company is financially. CEO reputation matters to job prospecting.