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Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

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Re: Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

#21

Post by [deleted] »

slap_shot wrote: post #11
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #5

I sit squarely in the "insider" role here, and normally would be very interested in anyone who is proactively calling me up and saying "i want to work on your team" - but to avoid breaking any protocols / laws we would want the interviewee to come in the front door as usual. All I suspect that is happening here is if I sign up as one of your insiders, you drop me interesting candidates and then they have to go throug…

I don't think you understand what this product is. Looking at your bio/comment history, I don't think you work in a field that this product is targeted to.

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

#22

Post by dchhugani »

eganist wrote: post #19

This is extremely smart. I hope you succeed, especially considering I was initially filled with cynicism for the first five seconds until I read your marketing type. Others might disagree, but it won me over because it reminded me of similar products in other markets. A good analogy in the audit space would be a pre-assessment. You pay for a pre-assessment to get an informal walk through the process on a much smaller…

Exactly! Do you have any thoughts on how to convey this benefit to users? Most of them get it, but sometimes we get people who compare us to "reaching out on LinkedIn" which clearly is not the case, since any other kind of conversation isn't really a practice run - it's the real thing!

Re: Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

#23

Post by dchhugani »

michaelt wrote: post #20
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #5

I sit squarely in the "insider" role here, and normally would be very interested in anyone who is proactively calling me up and saying "i want to work on your team" - but to avoid breaking any protocols / laws we would want the interviewee to come in the front door as usual. All I suspect that is happening here is if I sign up as one of your insiders, you drop me interesting candidates and then they have to go throug…

Also, why are the interviewees paying? It cannot be to pay me (the insider) It's a question of whether the insider is on your side of the table or the company's. There are some pieces of career advice that are, if not employer-hostile, then at least not entirely employer friendly. For example, will my strong foreign accent block me from promotion into the upper echelons of your company? Someone on the company's side…

Exactly right. Any kind of professional conversation is very different than a conversation designated to helping the candidate prep. The goals and motivations on both sides are fundamentally different.

Re: Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

#24

Post by dchhugani »

eganist wrote: post #19

This is extremely smart. I hope you succeed, especially considering I was initially filled with cynicism for the first five seconds until I read your marketing type. Others might disagree, but it won me over because it reminded me of similar products in other markets. A good analogy in the audit space would be a pre-assessment. You pay for a pre-assessment to get an informal walk through the process on a much smaller…

Lastly - thank you very much for the kind words!

Re: Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

#26

Post by throwawayaway12 »

This seems pretty interesting and useful!

It does seem like the pricing structure does not incentivize people actually getting jobs though. With a small pool of people (people looking for top finance jobs) it seems like the way to make the most money is to perpetually sell job seekers mock interviews, rather than prioritizing a job seeker to find a position on the first go. Is this a fair reading of the situation?

Re: Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

#27

Post by dchhugani »

ronilan wrote: post #25

> it's controversial to build a recruiting-focused company that charges job seekers instead of just the companies. There is no controversy. It’s just plain wrong.

Respect that you see it this way, but I disagree, for all the reasons discussed here.

If you're a candidate who goes to a 3rd tier school dreaming of getting a top-tier Wall Street job, you have no alumni to reach out to, half of your cold emails don't result in anything, and you're applying online with a poor resume, preparation, and no insights.

What's the solution? You can definitely grind it out on your own for months googling, cold-emailing, trying to catch a break. However, I've seen first hand from my own school and friends that a few targeted & tactical conversations with the right people can catapult you ahead way beyond any textbook, course, bootcamp, and more.

The conversations I had that helped me land my jobs were way more valuable than what I paid for in school or even in tutoring or others.

Re: Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

#28

Post by dchhugani »

throwawayaway12 wrote: post #26

This seems pretty interesting and useful! It does seem like the pricing structure does not incentivize people actually getting jobs though. With a small pool of people (people looking for top finance jobs) it seems like the way to make the most money is to perpetually sell job seekers mock interviews, rather than prioritizing a job seeker to find a position on the first go. Is this a fair reading of the situation?

Hello! Glad you see it's merits.

As discussed below, today we focus mainly on coaching & prep. We think that it's a service that should exist no matter what for the reasons discussed in the thread.

Beyond that - we are working on creating a structure where job seekers can get "assessments" from these insiders and if they are above a certain threshold, we can help them get noticed by employers.

If they do poorly on the calls, then at least they get real feedback on how to improve. We've also learned that most employers have liability reasons that prevent them from telling you why you didn't get hired, so here we also solve for that in the "worst case scenario" which is that the insider didn't think you are a good fit for the role today.

At least you'll know why and how to solve for it.

Re: Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

#29

Post by GavinMcG »

ronilan wrote: post #25

> it's controversial to build a recruiting-focused company that charges job seekers instead of just the companies. There is no controversy. It’s just plain wrong.

It might be wrong to charge for filling positions but there's plenty of "recruiting-focused" activities that I'd be happy to pay for.

Re: Launch HN: The Lobby (YC W18) – 1-on-1 calls with company insiders to get hired

#30

Post by dchhugani »

GavinMcG wrote: post #29
ronilan wrote: post #25

> it's controversial to build a recruiting-focused company that charges job seekers instead of just the companies. There is no controversy. It’s just plain wrong.

It might be wrong to charge for filling positions but there's plenty of "recruiting-focused" activities that I'd be happy to pay for.

Exactly - we're not a "pay to get a job" site. There's plenty of those. We just think that the insights people have inside companies are incredibly valuable and if you want to make them free, then you'll have the same pitfall every "mentorship platform" has today: it doesn't scale.

I'm a mentor who helps 5 people a month for free + everyone else in my network I already agree to help. What about when that reaches 10 or 15 people? Do you still keep doing it enthusiastically out of the goodness of your own heart?

I'm sure some would, but I'd rather they get compensated and do a good job of helping everyone. Some of our best insiders ask us for 7-10 calls a week, and before adding the monetary incentive, I couldn't get my friends to take even 2 calls in the same week because "they're busy".

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