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Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

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Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#11
post #8

Lots of good ideas in the article - the key is to really stand out. I take 10 weeks off a year to go travelling - true vacation time, not remote work. I know I can get a 20% raise if I switched companies (I know that because I got an offer), but I stay where I am because i can't imagine going back down to 3 weeks of vacation a year.

That's an awesome situation. Two interview cycles ago, I wanted a full month of unpaid vacation on top of the normal vacation package. I told each I would take a 1/12 pay cut in exchange. It was a huge obstacle for employers.

The problem is if they give you your special deal, they have to give everyone their own special deal which becomes an absolute nightmare to manage.

Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#12

People who espouse remote work seem convinced that it’s the end-all way to work. I don’t care if I have to go into an office. I like offices. What I care about is that you don’t mind if I work from home every once in a while. I care that it’s okay for me to leave early or come late.

Remote work is the only way I'd go now. Having had twins in the last year it's been vital.

It doesn't work for everyone, but a way I've seen remote-first companies get around that is to offer to rent a desk in somewhere like WeWork, so you can choose to be around other working people, away from home and then look to hire others in the same city who might opt for a desk there too, at least some of the time.

If the article is right that remote working works for, say 50% of people, a company able to attract remote workers is going to have a vastly bigger talent pool to fish in.

Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#13
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an awesome situation. Two interview cycles ago, I wanted a full month of unpaid vacation on top of the normal vacation package. I told each I would take a 1/12 pay cut in exchange. It was a huge obstacle for employers.

The problem is if they give you your special deal, they have to give everyone their own special deal which becomes an absolute nightmare to manage.

And here's an opportunity for smaller companies.

I have a small company, and I can't offer my employees the prestige or high salary that larger companies offer.

But I can offer to accommodate whatever other special wishes people have. Want to work just 4 days a week? Fine. Want to work from 12pm to 8pm? Fine. Want to take a day off on short notice? Fine with me.

Larger companies have all kinds of rules and policies in place. In a small company, you can design the policies together with the employees.

Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#14
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an awesome situation. Two interview cycles ago, I wanted a full month of unpaid vacation on top of the normal vacation package. I told each I would take a 1/12 pay cut in exchange. It was a huge obstacle for employers.

The problem is if they give you your special deal, they have to give everyone their own special deal which becomes an absolute nightmare to manage.

Yes and there often fixed overheads per employee (desk space, health insurance, payroll costs, management overhead) that don't necessarily go down when the employee chooses to work less.

Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#15
What this doesn't talk about enough is work impact -- mentioned yes but doesn't emphasize it. These are shitty years and it eats me I am working for an enterprise gardening their websites instead of literally making the world a better place. I mean, sure, it pays and challenging and whatnot but I miss NowPublic dearly because we made a god damn difference. We ran one of the biggest Katrina missing person boards. We were one of the first "citizen journalism" sites and had photos and reports from places where noone else had. It was amazing. I miss it so badly.

And you know what, I would be open to changing, I am still doing Drupal and I need the money but ... if you are doing something meaningful with Drupal, Elixir or Go and have some part time opening? Let's talk :) Click my username for email address.

Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#16
I wonder about recommending both remote work and spending quite some time mentoring. How well does remote mentoring actually work?

I was positively influenced by people giving me advice remotely (I don't know if I'd really call it mentoring), but my feeling is that face-to-face works much better.

Any experiences?

Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#17

I wonder about recommending both remote work and spending quite some time mentoring. How well does remote mentoring actually work? I was positively influenced by people giving me advice remotely (I don't know if I'd really call it mentoring), but my feeling is that face-to-face works much better. Any experiences?

I had a number of very positive remote only mentors when I was younger and I give them all a large amount of credit for who and where I am now.

Mentorship is important,but I don't think face to face is particularly important. Although I wouldn't rule it out if it was convenient to both parties.

Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#18
Senior developer salaries in my local area (Edinburgh, Scotland, UK) are £30k-£40k which is about $42k - $56k USD. On a £40k salary you pay roughly £9,500 in tax. Ive no idea what the tax rate is in America but the difference in salaries between the UK and the US is astounding.

Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#19
Are people really making these salaries? I mean like mid-level, not god-tier type people.

I don't know if I am stupid or just don't say the right things but are there really mid-level devs not at huge companies making $160k a year? I mostly hang out at startups and it is normally around like 130k for a senior dev.

Re: Turning a Job Opening into a Dream Job for Top Talent

#20

Lots of good ideas in the article - the key is to really stand out. I take 10 weeks off a year to go travelling - true vacation time, not remote work. I know I can get a 20% raise if I switched companies (I know that because I got an offer), but I stay where I am because i can't imagine going back down to 3 weeks of vacation a year.

It's weird that more companies don't offer more vacation as a perk. Offering 40 days instead of 25 means 15 days of foregone work for the company - 6% fewer days worked a year. But, it looks a lot better than a 6% increase in pay on paper.

Moreover, you probably lose much less than that because you'll have better rested, less stressed, probably more productive employees and it will help cut down on employees making themselves critical choke points.

Something to think about the next time you read the phrase "war for talent".

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