The Art of the Job Offer: Encourage Candidates to Turn You Down • Hacker News Board

Re: The Art of the Job Offer: Encourage Candidates to Turn You Down

#21

Post by gaius » Thu, Jun 26, 2008, 9:56 AM UTC

sealedidentity wrote: post #7

Nonsense. Anyone who knows his talent and worth, and has an ounce of pride wouldn't stand being jockeyed or lowballed. If I figure at any interview that it's being played like the article says, I'd walk right out. It's the company's freaking loss. Any guy worth his salt should do it.

Yeah, it's not a test of "does this candidate really want to work here". It's an attempt to establish a subservient relationship right off the bat.

There was another article on HN that I don't have a reference to offhand but it was something like, hiring an employee at a small company isn't like buying services from a supplier, it's like inviting someone to be a member of a community.

Re: The Art of the Job Offer: Encourage Candidates to Turn You Down

#22

Post by gaius » Thu, Jun 26, 2008, 9:59 AM UTC

DaniFong wrote: post #19

Tekhne wrote: post #8

I wish I still had the links handy, but there's over a century's worth of research out there showing that it's a bad idea to go over 40 hours in a workweek for any extended period of time. Of course, everyone's different, but I've noticed I have 4-6 hours of productive time in me per day for knowledge work (e.g. programming). I'm guessing I could get multiples of 4 provided there were long breaks in between, enjoyed…

Perhaps this is true in a corporate environment, but some of the more productive periods in, say, open source development, or research, are pretty much whole life affairs. Einstein's Annus Mirabilis, for example.

No-one can sustain crunch time indefinitely.

Re: The Art of the Job Offer: Encourage Candidates to Turn You Down

#23

Post by CSchonwald » Thu, Jun 26, 2008, 4:02 PM UTC

DaniFong wrote: post #17

I'm not sure if this is totally over the board here, but Rapleaf has a number of... unusual hiring practices. So I want to weigh in before others decide to copy their practice without thinking. For example, the job description for an 'Amazing Software Engineer' is a little over the top. http://blog.rapleaf.com/jobs/#engineer - Amazing coder who takes no prisoners. Master of all things Internet. One of the best coders…

i actually went through their interview process too, and I do agree that the questions were a joke for anyone with a real CS background, and I really think that part of the interview process was in fact meant to filter out people with strong personalities that don't reflexively subscribe to the culture they're located within.

Re: The Art of the Job Offer: Encourage Candidates to Turn You Down

#24

Post by DaniFong » Fri, Jun 27, 2008, 2:55 AM UTC

gaius wrote: post #22

DaniFong wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps this is true in a corporate environment, but some of the more productive periods in, say, open source development, or research, are pretty much whole life affairs. Einstein's Annus Mirabilis, for example.

No-one can sustain crunch time indefinitely.

I agree, but it's never crunchtime when curiosity drives you.