Dear Stephen,
I work for RH, and I genuinely enjoy my job. I like the people I work with, I believe in the brand, and I’m proud to tell people where I work.
The problem is that lately, it feels like every time I go on social media, someone is criticizing RH. One person says the furniture is overpriced. Another says the quality doesn’t justify the price. Someone else makes fun of the oversized sofas, the galleries, the CEO, or the customers who shop there. It seems like everyone has an opinion, and most of them are negative.
At first, I ignored it. But after seeing the same criticism over and over, I’ve started wondering if I am missing something. Friends send me posts asking if they’re true, and I find myself defending my employer more often than talking about the work I actually do.
I still enjoy going to work every morning, but all the negativity has started to make me question whether I should. Am I ignoring warning signs, or has social media simply become a place where successful companies are easy targets?
— Proud to Work at RH...But Starting to Wonder
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Dear Proud,
The furniture industry has always had opinions. The difference is that years ago you heard them over lunch at NeoCon,
in a showroom at Design Days, or at Salone or Orgatec while walking the market. Today, you can hear thousands of opinions before you've had your first cup of coffee. That’s exactly why your question is worth answering.
After more than thirty years recruiting executives throughout the furniture industry, I’ve learned that one of the biggest mistakes people make is confusing a company’s public reputation with their own career. The two are often very different!
Over the years, I’ve recruited executives away from companies everyone admired, and I’ve recruited executives into companies many people criticized. Here’s what surprised me: Some of the happiest executives I’ve ever met worked for companies with challenging public reputations, while some of the most unhappy people I interviewed came from companies everyone considered "dream employers." The logo on the building does not determine whether you have a great career. The people inside it do.
To be fair, every well-known company in our industry has supporters and critics. RH simply happens to be one of the brands generating strong opinions right now. Some people admire the company. Others think the products are overpriced. Some question the design direction, while others appreciate exactly what RH has built. Every one of those people is entitled to an opinion, but none of those opinions should determine the direction of your career.
Ironically, I’ve found that the companies attracting the most attention are often the companies doing something significant. They may not be perfect, and some criticism may be deserved, but companies that no one talks about usually have a much bigger problem—they’ve become irrelevant. Success has always attracted scrutiny. Social media has simply amplified it.
Before I would ever advise someone to leave an employer, I want answers to questions that have nothing to do with social media. Are you learning from talented people? Are you respected by your manager? Are your responsibilities increasing? Are you being compensated fairly? Are you building relationships that will make you more valuable five years from now? Most importantly, when you wake up on Monday morning, are you still excited to go to work? Those answers tell me far more about your future than anything I read online.
As an executive recruiter, I never ask candidates what social media thinks about their employer. I ask what they accomplished while they worked there. Did they grow professionally? Did they lead people? Did they increase sales? Did they solve difficult problems? Did they become more valuable in the marketplace? Those are the things hiring managers care about because those are the things that predict future success.
Ignore the noise! If you still enjoy your work, if you respect the people you work with, if you are growing professionally, and if your current position is preparing you for the next step in your career, be very careful about letting anonymous opinions convince you to leave a job you genuinely enjoy.
On the other hand, if you are unhappy because of poor leadership, limited opportunity, a lack of professional development, unrealistic expectations, or a culture that no longer aligns with your values, no matter where you work—those are legitimate reasons to explore other opportunities. Notice that every one of those reasons comes from your own experience, not from someone else’s opinion.
As recruiters at The Viscusi Group, we spend our careers evaluating companies from the inside out. Social media usually evaluates them from the outside in. Those are two very different perspectives, and if you are making one of the most important career decisions of your life, I know which one I would trust.
Stephen