How to Use Blind: 7 Insider Tips From a Longtime HR Executive
Ragini Holloway can tell you the exact moment she heard about the professional social network Blind.
In a recent Twitter Spaces live-audio event, the former vice president, people at Credit Karma, said “everybody on the engineering team” and on the leadership team was “freaking out” after seeing Credit Karma engineers share their compensation with other users on Blind in 2014.
Since then, she has used Blind more actively, reflecting upon those early days as interesting “from an HR perspective.”
Check out how to use Blind with the insider tips from a longtime human resources and people executive, Ragini Holloway.
1. Find current trends in the job market because professionals compare notes on Blind.
After learning about Blind from her colleagues on the leadership team, Ragini signed up. She quickly realized Blind could be useful for employees, recruiters, human resources professionals and executives.
“My thought was this is where people come anonymously to complain, which in hindsight, is actually not the right way to think about it,” explained Ragini.
She saw professionals using Blind as an outlet to talk about their burnout, pay equity, job changes and offers—the same topics that have become top of mind amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting “Great Resignation” trend.
In short, Ragini experienced firsthand how professionals rely on Blind to seek advice and insights to advance their careers.
“There’s a platform for people to compare notes,” Ragini said, referring to Blind. “I think that’s very powerful whether you’re an employee or a candidate.”
2. You can verify how your diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are doing on Blind.
Ragini has dedicated her career of nearly 20 years as a recruiter and people executive to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
“I am a huge advocate and champion in the DEI space… I know that… not all companies actually afford it top of mind,” noted Ragini.
Sometimes, it may be just one of many priorities for a busy leadership team or people executive. It can also be challenging to benchmark or measure the impact or progress of your work on your team or the talent you want to reach.
But Ragini found a solution in Blind.
“You can get firsthand accounts from folks, whether they are being made the same offer at that moment in time… compared to somebody else who’s received it,” she said. “I think that shared information [on Blind] is great.”
Indeed, how companies approach diversity, equity and inclusion in everything from their company culture to its total compensation packages are popular topics of discussion on Blind. For many professionals, anonymity helps them voice their opinions about potentially difficult issues or sensitive topics without fear or judgment.
3. Use Blind to identify which issues to address.
It is often a human resources or people professional’s first instinct to dig in and deny a workplace problem that has been identified and discussed on Blind, but a deliberate, studied approach can be more productive, Ragini advised.
“Okay, your employees are sharing this information. There’s obviously a problem. Let’s try to talk about that rather than trying to fix what has either been shared online that you think is correct or not,” said Ragini.
The former two-time head of people believes that attempting to control the conversation on Blind or shut down discussion is the wrong thing to do.
“From an employer perspective, [you need] to really address whatever the issues are,” Ragini said plainly.
She notes that the best approach is not to downplay the information presented on Blind but to use it as a prompt or starting point. You can take action by having direct conversations with executives, managers and employees and then assessing your workplace policies or initiatives.
4. Assess whether your company’s total rewards philosophy is genuinely competitive.
Any human resources, people or talent acquisition professional can confirm: Most professionals and candidates do not understand how pay packages and employee benefits are determined. As a result, expectations are commonly misplaced.
It is no wonder why total compensation is one of the most popular topics discussed on Blind.
Ragini even recommends job candidates use Blind to ask these questions of companies they are interviewing with or considering a job offer.
“You have to do your research—not just look at the numbers that are on the offer letter,” Ragini told job-seekers at the Twitter Spaces event. “Check the boxes. You really [have] to sit there and figure out the right company.”
Additionally, Ragini notes that many employees have taken to the professional social network in the last two years to understand how companies treated employees during the pandemic and whether they offered support.
Mental health has become top of mind for professionals and job seekers, as some workers start to feel the impact of burnout two years into a pandemic.
Ragini has observed more job candidates are seeking out information about company policies and employee benefits, as well as the current state of work-life balance and how leadership treats employees, as evidenced by recent layoffs, rescinded job offers and more.
5. Blind can help your recruiters source candidates.
According to Layoffs.fyi, a crowdsourced list of reported layoffs in the tech industry, more than 50,000 employees have been laid off in the first seven months of 2022.
Similarly, crowdsourced spreadsheets and lists are often created soon after to help affected employees look for new jobs. The spreadsheets are then shared on Blind and elsewhere.
After layoffs or other workplace changes, professionals often seek help on Blind, including job-hunting advice, job referrals and new information about the company and industry. Notably, seven out of 10 professionals said they use Blind to feel more connected to what’s happening at their company, according to a recent survey of Blind users.
Ragini believes the increased activity on Blind, including posting lists of those impacted and reactions to companies who have had layoffs, is an excellent resource for sourcers and recruiters.
The human resources executive regularly encourages talent acquisition professionals to find candidates from these lists and online communities, such as Blind, where professionals share their layoff experiences.
“We should be sourcing from these [lists],” said Ragini. “I’m always tweeting these reminders for people to source from these lists. That’s number one.”
6. Use Blind to get a current gauge of your company culture and employer brand.
Many professionals ask employees at specific companies what their company culture is really like, on Blind, Ragini observed.
Eighty-two percent of professionals said they use Blind to evaluate a company before applying for a job or accepting a job offer, according to a recent user survey by Blind.
Ragini believes the honesty from your employees says wonders about how your company culture is perceived and can give you a near real-time pulse of the state of your employer brand in the current job market.
“I think Blind is a great platform to check out [and] see if there’s anybody talking about the company,” said Ragini. “Is it toxic? Is it not? What are their values as a company?”
7. Engage directly with your employees on Blind.
Ragini has observed more professionals have turned to Blind to complement or even replace the existing employee-feedback channels.
“Of course, you can see if there’s any feedback there,” Ragini said, referring to Blind.
Some Blind users brainstorm all-hands questions outside of the company’s formal Q&A tool. Others might react to all-hands meetings or memos on Blind instead of on the companywide chat program. In both cases, the people or human resources team and company leadership can benefit from the frankness and immediacy of the near real-time feedback.
The bottom line
Human resources, people and talent acquisition professionals can use Blind to gauge the impact of their work, according to Ragini Holloway, the former vice president, people at Credit Karma and senior vice president, people at Affirm. Because many professionals rely on Blind for interview tips and the latest information about companies, employers can get a firsthand, current look into how employees and job seekers perceive their company culture, workplace policies and employer brand.
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