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Getting a job in San Francisco

blog.penso.info

1–10 of 104 posts

Re: Getting a job in San Francisco

#3
>When rejecting candidates for my own company I wanted to tell them why I rejected them, and how to improve, but I have been told not to do it, for legal reason.

When the laws prevent you from giving actionable feedback to the person you didn't hire, you know it has gone too far.

The government should have no business in your selection or rejection of new hires, and the firing of them if needed.

>I believe the US way to be better

I don't. It may be less backward bent than France, but there is certainly a lot of room for improvement - like being able to give proper feedback.

Re: Getting a job in San Francisco

#6
post #3

>When rejecting candidates for my own company I wanted to tell them why I rejected them, and how to improve, but I have been told not to do it, for legal reason. When the laws prevent you from giving actionable feedback to the person you didn't hire, you know it has gone too far. The government should have no business in your selection or rejection of new hires, and the firing of them if needed. >I believe the US way…

I don't buy it. The legal reason is to be short. It's not about being rude. The valley's hiring standards are dismal and everybody is just following Google's antisocial geek stance. I believe they need to grow up as this will backfire. Good candidates are already being headhunted by competitors with smarter hiring policies.

Re: Getting a job in San Francisco

#7
post #3

>When rejecting candidates for my own company I wanted to tell them why I rejected them, and how to improve, but I have been told not to do it, for legal reason. When the laws prevent you from giving actionable feedback to the person you didn't hire, you know it has gone too far. The government should have no business in your selection or rejection of new hires, and the firing of them if needed. >I believe the US way…

The government doesn't prevent you from giving actionable feedback to the person you didn't hire, it just gives the person you didn't hire the ability to sue you should you not hire them based on some criteria (race, sex, religion, or whatever their lawyer can argue).

Re: Getting a job in San Francisco

#8

Although this is written for French developers looking to come to the US, I found it interesting as a window into what things are like in France. Thanks for writing it!

AFAIK salaries are rather low there, but cost of living is quite expensive.

Re: Getting a job in San Francisco

#9
post #3

>When rejecting candidates for my own company I wanted to tell them why I rejected them, and how to improve, but I have been told not to do it, for legal reason. When the laws prevent you from giving actionable feedback to the person you didn't hire, you know it has gone too far. The government should have no business in your selection or rejection of new hires, and the firing of them if needed. >I believe the US way…

The government doesn't prevent you from giving actionable feedback to the person you didn't hire, it just gives the person you didn't hire the ability to sue you should you not hire them based on some criteria (race, sex, religion, or whatever their lawyer can argue).

I thought the real reason was that if you have a candidate that is, say, Black, and you tell him that you didn't hire him because you "felt that he didn't have enough knowledge of Ruby", he would be able to sue you if he found out you hired someone who supposedly has the same level of knowledge of ruby as him.

Re: Getting a job in San Francisco

#10
Excellent post, thanks for writing it. The viewpoint of a French developer probably resonates with anyone from Europe.

> You’ll see an immense amazing positive atmosphere everywhere, people working day time for a normal job and coding on evenings in coffee places, trying to work on their latest idea. They might even raise a few millions dollars on it, really.

I completely appreciate this - it's an amazing cultural difference.

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