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Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

fortune.com

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Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#11

Post by RHSeeger »

georgeburdell wrote: post #7

I’m not a recruiter, but I am in “Big Tech”, and dealing with founders, or even just people who have only worked at startups, is frustrating. They tend to have underdeveloped skills in teamwork and listening to authority. Honestly, I just want likable people who will execute on my ideas (or the ideas I’m simply passing on from higher management), or with light discussion, even if the execution isn’t perfect. I feel l…

> I just want likable people who will execute on my ideas (or the ideas I’m simply passing on from higher management), or with light discussion, even if the execution isn’t perfect.

That sounds horrible. I want people working under/with me that will question the work, that will try to figure out if it's the right work. It is common for decisions "from higher management" to be made without a real in-depth knowledge of how the system(s) work. When that happens, there may be a (possibly radically) better approach that can be taken.

Software developers are generally paid a lot of money. Not taking advantage of their experience and problem solving ability sounds like a waste of money.

Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#12

Post by [deleted] »

georgeburdell wrote: post #7

I’m not a recruiter, but I am in “Big Tech”, and dealing with founders, or even just people who have only worked at startups, is frustrating. They tend to have underdeveloped skills in teamwork and listening to authority. Honestly, I just want likable people who will execute on my ideas (or the ideas I’m simply passing on from higher management), or with light discussion, even if the execution isn’t perfect. I feel l…

[deleted]

Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#13

Post by tom_ »

thinkingkong wrote: post #9
georgeburdell wrote: post #7

I’m not a recruiter, but I am in “Big Tech”, and dealing with founders, or even just people who have only worked at startups, is frustrating. They tend to have underdeveloped skills in teamwork and listening to authority. Honestly, I just want likable people who will execute on my ideas (or the ideas I’m simply passing on from higher management), or with light discussion, even if the execution isn’t perfect. I feel l…

Without noticing you might have pointed out one of the reasons founder type people are founder type people. Blindly follow orders isnt really on most startup folks’ list of things to do.

I assumed OP is well aware that the question is why these people took the big tech job in the first place, because it is obvious that it would be like this. Is this rocket science? I say no.

Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#14

Post by WWLink »

thinkingkong wrote: post #9
georgeburdell wrote: post #7

I’m not a recruiter, but I am in “Big Tech”, and dealing with founders, or even just people who have only worked at startups, is frustrating. They tend to have underdeveloped skills in teamwork and listening to authority. Honestly, I just want likable people who will execute on my ideas (or the ideas I’m simply passing on from higher management), or with light discussion, even if the execution isn’t perfect. I feel l…

Without noticing you might have pointed out one of the reasons founder type people are founder type people. Blindly follow orders isnt really on most startup folks’ list of things to do.

> Blindly follow orders isnt really on most startup folks’ list of things to do.

The really funny thing I'm thinking about here is when I bring people onto a project I'm leading: I give them an intro to the project, all of the components at play, the needs of the project... and then introduce them to something they could work on and the general gist of what needs to be done.

For some people that's enough to take it and run (and check in with feedback, minimal viable product, look for "does this sound good?" kinda stuff).

For others it really feels like they need to be spoonfed an entire spec down to block diagrams, flowcharts, sequence diagrams, etc. And I've worked with teams that wanted that before we even assigned any software engineers to the project. Meanwhile I'm trying to get SOMETHING on a computer so we can start looking for the bugs that take a long time to manifest themselves. (and "that's not what we were expecting it to do!" from the systems team lol)

Anyway, I can say that's not necessarily a big enterprise vs startup thing. It's more of a team vs team thing.

IDK about startups.

Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#15

Post by makk »

georgeburdell wrote: post #7

I’m not a recruiter, but I am in “Big Tech”, and dealing with founders, or even just people who have only worked at startups, is frustrating. They tend to have underdeveloped skills in teamwork and listening to authority. Honestly, I just want likable people who will execute on my ideas (or the ideas I’m simply passing on from higher management), or with light discussion, even if the execution isn’t perfect. I feel l…

Sounds awfully dreary.

Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#16

Post by shrubble »

georgeburdell wrote: post #7

I’m not a recruiter, but I am in “Big Tech”, and dealing with founders, or even just people who have only worked at startups, is frustrating. They tend to have underdeveloped skills in teamwork and listening to authority. Honestly, I just want likable people who will execute on my ideas (or the ideas I’m simply passing on from higher management), or with light discussion, even if the execution isn’t perfect. I feel l…

Well, what is the source of 'authority' in your view? Is it 'this is the best way to do it in my view', or is it 'because I said so'?

Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#17

Post by anon373839 »

Not specific to tech, there can be a kind of resentment that some corporate employees feel toward entrepreneurs and solos. They envy their freedom and willingness to take risks.

And of course, from a hiring perspective, if you are truly looking for someone who will march in lockstep and not ask questions, why would you want people who think for themselves?

Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#18

Post by thinkingkong »

WWLink wrote: post #14
thinkingkong wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without noticing you might have pointed out one of the reasons founder type people are founder type people. Blindly follow orders isnt really on most startup folks’ list of things to do.

> Blindly follow orders isnt really on most startup folks’ list of things to do. The really funny thing I'm thinking about here is when I bring people onto a project I'm leading: I give them an intro to the project, all of the components at play, the needs of the project... and then introduce them to something they could work on and the general gist of what needs to be done. For some people that's enough to take it a…

Oh! Yeah I think I know what you mean. I - personally - would attribute that to fear. People from certain experiences or backgrounds dont want to be wrong or look bad. So they’ll demand a spec instead of being given general guidance. To me people who need spoon feeding and entirely dismissable if they cant be coached. The whole style that seems to work best is “we need to cross this river” rather than “build me a temporary pontoon bridge that can carry a tank”.

Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#19

Post by szundi »

anon373839 wrote: post #17

Not specific to tech, there can be a kind of resentment that some corporate employees feel toward entrepreneurs and solos. They envy their freedom and willingness to take risks. And of course, from a hiring perspective, if you are truly looking for someone who will march in lockstep and not ask questions, why would you want people who think for themselves?

Also after 15 years of witnessing a successful entrepreneur doing the exact opposite than they advise, what stays? The dislike. I had the opportunity to observe this many times with many of them.

I am always amazed how closed people’s minds are. There are some good open people out there too.

Re: Study found corporate recruiters have a bias against ex-entrepreneurs

#20

Post by outop »

makk wrote: post #15
georgeburdell wrote: post #7

I’m not a recruiter, but I am in “Big Tech”, and dealing with founders, or even just people who have only worked at startups, is frustrating. They tend to have underdeveloped skills in teamwork and listening to authority. Honestly, I just want likable people who will execute on my ideas (or the ideas I’m simply passing on from higher management), or with light discussion, even if the execution isn’t perfect. I feel l…

Sounds awfully dreary.

Some people want to dedicate a lot of their work time and energy to LARPing Tony Stark. Other people just want to deliver the value the company needs, get paid, and pursue their other goals outside of their job.
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