Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google • Hacker News Board

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#11

Post by dasil003 » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 12:51 PM UTC

smoyer wrote: post #3

This may be a catchy way to make your company known, but I imagine you're only getting those who were thinking of leaving anyway.

Well yes, by definition, you can only poach employees from a company who at some point think of leaving the original company.

Seriously though, to your point, why do you say "but"? Are the ones who think of leaving somehow less valuable than the ones don't think of leaving? In my mind, those who never think of leaving probably tend to be the weaker talent. That could just be my unsubstantiated bias, but either way, I think the point is that they all got hired by Facebook/Google at some point which is a pretty good signal as far as tech signals go.

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#12

Post by smoyer » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 1:07 PM UTC

dasil003 wrote: post #11

smoyer wrote: post #3

This may be a catchy way to make your company known, but I imagine you're only getting those who were thinking of leaving anyway.

Well yes, by definition, you can only poach employees from a company who at some point think of leaving the original company. Seriously though, to your point, why do you say "but"? Are the ones who think of leaving somehow less valuable than the ones don't think of leaving? In my mind, those who never think of leaving probably tend to be the weaker talent. That could just be my unsubstantiated bias, but either way, I…

It wasn't supposed to imply you were getting lower quality applicants BUT rather that you were getting some fraction of a bigger pool.

It's entirely possible I use the word "but" too much or that I don't need a conjunction there at all - would two shorter sentences be better?

Or maybe I'm just a butt?

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#13

Post by dasil003 » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 1:12 PM UTC

smoyer wrote: post #12

dasil003 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well yes, by definition, you can only poach employees from a company who at some point think of leaving the original company. Seriously though, to your point, why do you say "but"? Are the ones who think of leaving somehow less valuable than the ones don't think of leaving? In my mind, those who never think of leaving probably tend to be the weaker talent. That could just be my unsubstantiated bias, but either way, I…

It wasn't supposed to imply you were getting lower quality applicants BUT rather that you were getting some fraction of a bigger pool. It's entirely possible I use the word "but" too much or that I don't need a conjunction there at all - would two shorter sentences be better? Or maybe I'm just a butt?

Okay, that reasoning makes sense. I would never read it that way though, because when you're hiring you're always getting some fraction of a bigger pool.

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#14

Post by bayesianhorse » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 1:12 PM UTC

The article uses an interesting phrase "[BC] has been accused of poaching [employees]".

As if competition on the buyer-side of the labor market was morally suspect... Steve Jobs would have approved of the sentiment!

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#15

Post by bayesianhorse » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 1:13 PM UTC

MicroBerto wrote: post #6

Those are not good enemies to make... seeing as though they probably drive well over half of your network's traffic.

On the other hand Facebook and Google might be encouraged to buy out the company to get their employees back.

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#16

Post by smoyer » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 1:19 PM UTC

dasil003 wrote: post #13

smoyer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't supposed to imply you were getting lower quality applicants BUT rather that you were getting some fraction of a bigger pool. It's entirely possible I use the word "but" too much or that I don't need a conjunction there at all - would two shorter sentences be better? Or maybe I'm just a butt?

Okay, that reasoning makes sense. I would never read it that way though, because when you're hiring you're always getting some fraction of a bigger pool.

I usually associate the idea of "poaching" employees with convincing those that weren't thinking of leaving that they should join you (I'm not saying my impression is correct). Think about Jobs "poaching" Sculley from PepsiCo. Jobs didn't even give him an egg sandwich (just the famous line: "Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?").

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#17

Post by ghfdaghkj » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 1:29 PM UTC

If someone harassed me while I was waiting for the subway and tried to get me to quit my job, I definitely wouldn't want to work for them. I'd probably go out of my way to never use their product, actually. I don't see how this is any better than the "do you have a minute for ____" clipboard people that prey on tourists for donations/signatures on the sidewalk.

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#18

Post by danbarker » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 1:30 PM UTC

The writing on this site seems pretty terrible: http://www.freshtechapps.com/7-reddit-amas-that-went-horribl...

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#19

Post by dasil003 » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 1:50 PM UTC

smoyer wrote: post #16

dasil003 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, that reasoning makes sense. I would never read it that way though, because when you're hiring you're always getting some fraction of a bigger pool.

I usually associate the idea of "poaching" employees with convincing those that weren't thinking of leaving that they should join you (I'm not saying my impression is correct). Think about Jobs "poaching" Sculley from PepsiCo. Jobs didn't even give him an egg sandwich (just the famous line: "Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?").

I see, so you were originally saying that you don't think the campaign would cause anyone to consider leaving Facebook or Google that wasn't already thinking about it?

I think it's really hard to pinpoint the moment in my own head when an idea like leaving my job first crosses my mind, probably even harder for an abstract class of people such as Google or Facebook employees. To me, poaching is more concrete, it means going after someone you know works at a specific place.

Re: Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google

#20

Post by sergiotapia » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 2:12 PM UTC

This is fantastic! Don't be fooled a company has _zero_ allegiance towards you, sure they pay you but when things go south they will drop you lickity-split. I've seen it done and I've had it done to me once.

Employees out there: don't feel guilty about leaving a company, always find what's best for you - not the company.