Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#31

Post by _ah » Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 5:14 AM UTC

The compensation question has been beaten to death, and you claim to be well above FAANG, so I'll add one more: does your company have a black mark next to their name (real or perceived)? Here are some profitable, high-paying companies that individuals in my network have completely written off:

* Facebook (creepy) * Amazon (stress/politics) * Palantir (government contracts) * major banks (bailouts) * Uber (executive bad behavior)

If this is your situation, you need to embrace who you are. Some people hate you... great! Hopefully some people LOVE you as well. Even if you don't have a well-known name, you still have an opportunity to build your brand and explain the "why".

If you are truly interested in top talent, meeting the comp bar is necessary but not sufficient. Give people a reason to join you, and a reason to spread your name through their network.

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#32

Post by TuringNYC » Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 11:33 AM UTC

yani wrote: post #11

otras wrote: post #4

How competitive is the salary you're offering for engineers? How does it compare with salaries found at the big tech companies?

We are paying higher than top companies.

I’ve heard this often but just as often it is “we want senior engineers for higher than entry level big co salaries”. Are you comparing apples to apples?

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#33

Post by rchaudhary » Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 2:47 PM UTC

Just curious, have you tried platforms such as https://www.vettery.com, https://triplebyte.com/ or https://hired.com/?

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#34

Post by tmaly » Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 3:10 PM UTC

I think you have to listen to who you are trying to hire.

What do they really want?

How can your organization goals intersect with their personal goals?

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#35

Post by yani » Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 3:42 PM UTC

rchaudhary wrote: post #33

Just curious, have you tried platforms such as https://www.vettery.com , https://triplebyte.com/ or https://hired.com/ ?

I recently learned about hired.com. We are pending approval with them. I will check the other sites that you mentioned

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#36

Post by yani » Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 3:43 PM UTC

raquo wrote: post #13

yani wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for the 2 cents. Very useful suggestions. I have experimented with disclosing the compensation. The result was a bit surprising - less applications. Can disclosed compensation be intimidating to some? My pain point is getting the offer infront of the right eyes.

Well, being approachable is a benefit too. You don't want people thinking that you will take them through crazy interviews like Google does if that's not what you're doing, so again I'd say the answer is revealing more information about what your hiring process looks like. Similarly for work hours - if you publish an uncommonly good salary range you better explain what you're expecting in return, in terms of work hou…

Thank you. It is refreshing to get the perspective from the other side of the table.

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#37

Post by yani » Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 3:46 PM UTC

ddorian43 wrote: post #20

raquo wrote: post #7

I don't know anything about your particular company, and I'm not hiring myself, but here's my two cents from the other side of the table: 1) If you want elite engineers either offer them elite compensation and/or elite working conditions (remote, flexibility on workload, many weeks of vacation, time shifting, etc.). 2) If you want elite engineers make sure they know your job offer is elite by publishing specific comp…

This. Best job would be: Remote (your own timezone); Pay: $180K-$360K; 40 Vacation Days; Work on hard crazy tech; Will be surrounded by smarter people etc

Yes. We offer it. What we do not have is working on a bleeding edge work - electric vehicles, space flights, cure cancer .. etc

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#38

Post by yani » Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 3:47 PM UTC

richardknop wrote: post #22

yani wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, compensation is not the issue. It is finding the people.

Well, you don't know that do you? Or do you have insight into why people are ignoring your recruiting messages? Could be very well about compensation but could be other reasons, too.

Absolutely, I do not know for certain.

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#39

Post by yani » Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 6:47 PM UTC

Chyzwar wrote: post #14

Did you tried Github?

Yes, 1.5 years ago and the results were poor. Has anything changes during that time? Is it worth another look?

Re: Ask HN: How do you hire top talent in 2019?

#40

Post by amuresan » Sat, Apr 13, 2019, 6:28 AM UTC

It might also be specific to the niche you're hiring for. What's your field of operation? What technologies / technical disciplines are you looking for?