We know that true career discovery requires candid, honest information, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of professionalism, accountability, or psychological safety.
We’ve all seen the toxic dynamic of anonymous review sites (the bashing, the love bombing) and the performative nature of traditional networking sites. We asked: What data can professionals share comfortably and non-anonymously that still provides candid insight?
At oyster, the answer lies in our intentional, structured evaluation system.
How you share & review career experiences on oyster
Instead of open-ended, subjective commentary, we prompt you to evaluate organizations you’ve worked at by selecting from a pre-defined set of attributes.
- Top Attributes Liked (e.g., Work-Life Balance, Mission & Impact +20 more criteria options): Identify what you like most about the organization. Feel free to select none of the attributes in the drop down if you feel none are applicable. It’s not bashing, it’s what we call leaving room for interpretation.
- Top Skills Used (e.g., Data Analysis, Insight Derivation): Identify the skill sets you used the most to shed a glimpse of light into what your day-to-day actually entails in a role like this. So often we start jobs and are using none of the skill sets that were on the job description, this data helps provide a more authentic picture.
- Emoji (optional): A fun way to give again another type of taste into how you’d describe your overall experience working at the organization. Fire emoji?! Wild West cowboy emoji?! Smiling emoji with sweat?
- Other notes (optional): This is the only space you have to provide an open-ended response (although there is a character limit!). We recommend sharing your favorite project you did (at a high level) or the types of people you think would like or thrive in a role like this.
- Team: Unlike LinkedIn which isn’t captures the role but not the team you work within, at oyster we believe ‘team’ is a highly shareable and critical piece of data for professionals to share. A team gives a lot of color into the type of work you do, projects you might have, and area of expertise.
3 reasons behind the design of the oyster experience cards
- Psychological Safety: Unlike Glassdoor, oyster is not anonymous. This structured approach ensures you share authentic insights without fear of “bashing” or reprisal, fostering a culture of constructive, honest sharing.
- Honesty via Selection: What you choose (and not choose) to highlight tells a powerful story. It’s an honest evaluation of alignment without a public critique.
- Granular Organization Alignment: This data fuels our matchmaking engine, ensuring we connect you with organizations whose top values in a job truly align with yours.
The Impact: Authentic snapshots of organizations
At scale with millions of oysters, this information becomes immensely valuable. It’s authentic non-anonymous data on what employees actually liked most about the organization they worked at (e.g., “70% of oysters who worked at NBCU tagged ‘Innovation & Creativity’ as a top attribute”) that other oysters can use to validate if whether or not they want to pursue a role there. For organizations, it’s actionable data they can use to improve their environment.
We believe that being honest about your career experiences doesn’t have to be inflammatory or on the other hand, sugarcoated. It can be genuine in a way that helps others unlock a more fulfilling career.
oyster Beta is launching in 2026.
Find your path, find your people.
https://oyster.thekindsocialmediacompany.com
