Reputations online can tumble like a pack of cards.

While doing some research for a client I came across Rate My Agency; a rating forum for IT contractors which allows them to rate the recruitment agencies they use. Mostly Wellington recruiters but a few based in Auckland.

Boy it was interesting…mostly uncomplimentary with similar gripes from IT contractors regarding poor communication i.e. emails and phone call not replied to, advertising jobs that don’t exist, cv phishing, big promises no follow through, etc. You cannot please all of the people all of the time but the comments on this forum were overwhelming negative.

I wouldn’t trust them, nor rate them. Avoid at all costs!

Rung the recruiter 4 times over 3 days, left messages each time yet he never rung me back.

I wondered did the recuritment agencies know about the rating forum and I wonder what they thought of it. Without a doubt when your industry is being critiqued by your clients you want to:

1. Know about it as soon as possible
2. Make someone responsible for monitoring and managing your online reputation
3. Have a plan in place to deal with client feedback and communication

From a reputation management perspective dealing with client/consumer generated content can be a challenge, no one likes to be criticized, especially publicly – it’s just bad public relations.

However, there are substantial benefits to positively addressing client/consumer dissatisfaction expressed online and there are great risks if you don’t. After all you want to attract the best IT contractors (and other types of employees) and they might be influenced by your ratings. You also want to attract employers – do you think they will be influenced by other peoples experiences of your services? Of course they will.

Online rating fora are a fact of life and people love, trust and put value on them. How is your business dealing with them today?