Ralph Dannhäuser on the effects of a good online reputation – for both employer and employee

A shortage of skilled workers has been the reality in Germany for a long time, according to Ralph Dannhäuser. And given that his consultancy, on-connect, has supported firms in their recruitment searches since 2009, he's in the position to know.His winning formula for staff recruitment is to actively address candidates while increasing the attractiveness of potential employers. He's been using social media for recruiting, with a great deal of success. How this works is covered in details in the 3rd edition of his practical guide, „Social Media Recruiting“ . And of course, anyone who consults other firms should have a good reputation to begin with. That's why Dannhäuser uses the ProvenExpert ratings seal. In this interview he lets us in on how he actively maintains his online reputation, and discusses how customer evaluations have a noticeably positive effect on both sides of professional working life.

Why did you decide to use ProvenExpert as a ratings platform for your consultancy firm, on-connect?

We found out about ProvenExpert through a contact though our business network, who recommended it. We have built our existing online reputation on Google through the use of specialist articles and publications, and then decided using ProvenExpert and integrating it into our website would help us cement this reputation further. Customers have already left positive feedback and quotes on our website, but we think it's more transparent for external users if feedback is left via another portal, not just published on our own site. Another major advantage of ProvenExpert is that apart from the fact that we have no influence, or limited influence on ratings, it's someone else posting the reviews online, so they appear more authentic and trustworthy. That was reason enough for us to say – let's try it out.

Can your business be rated on other platforms?

Yes, we also use the platform kununu. This is more a platform for employee feedback: it's the market leader for employee ratings and it works very closely with Xing. On this platform, we can be rated by employees and job applicants, but not by customers, so that's why we use ProvenExpert. We still maintain a presence on kununu, and check from time to time on how our reputation there is evolving and to reply to and comment on any feedback.

What are the advantages of using ProvenExpert in comparison with other portals?

We don't really deal with other portals. There is a whole range of benefits, as I've outlined in my other book „Enhance your job satisfaction...with the compass strategy“ . These benefits can be felt on both the company side and the employee side of the equation. I'll start by describing some of the benefits to the company. There are many technical features offered by the portal; that simplify integrating a customized ratings seal into your own website or platform, for instance. Since it's embedded, there's no other maintenance required on your behalf – all ratings left automatically appear on the platforms.

As an employer this saves me a lot of time. A second advantage I've noticed through my use of ProvenExpert is the high level of authenticity. ProvenExpert has become well-established and the ratings seal looks professional. In addition, a customer can rate us anonymously, but they can also log into Xing and create a public review. I find that this really substantiates the credibility of the reviews.

The user benefits for employees are also huge. As an employee, you can use any references you've received on the ProvenExpert profile if you want to apply for a different job. This form of external evaluation is not only credible, but it's also more meaningful than a normal job reference. With the help of the basic plan from ProvenExpert, getting ratings and reviews from customers online is easy and fast. In this way, anyone can build their own online reputation independently of their employer. It also means that if you're terminating your employment, you don't have to wait around for a reference from your former employer, since you already have these testimonials available online.

How do your customers respond to invitations to provide feedback – and how do you request feedback?

When a project has been completed, we usually send out feedback requests right away. We ask our customers to provide feedback by sending them a personally addressed email with the URL link to our ProvenExpert profile. This has the best response rate, in our experience, and is straightforward.

For what reasons would you recommend ProvenExpert to other consulting firms?

I can keep this answer short and sweet: it's online-based, simple to use and brings a high level of credibility. Also, I'm of the opinion that ProvenExpert can enable anyone to build a sustainable online reputation that can be accessed anywhere, at any time.