Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees • Hacker News Board

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#51

Post by jlarocco » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:05 PM UTC

omonra wrote: post #18

josefresco wrote: post #8

I can only imagine how hard it is to have fair negotiations when a prospective employee applies at a competing company only to be told "no thanks" simply because of a hush hush agreement between the executives of said companies. This flies counter with Google's "do no evil" statement and certainly doesn't paint a positive posthumous picture of Jobs.

I'm tired of people bringing up 'don't do evil' EVERY time Google does something they dislike. New search results using personal targeting - EVIL! Anti-poaching agreement with Apple - EVIL! Closed down a bagel cafe next to my cubicle - EVIL! Can we all agree that the word Evil has a more sinister use - ie knowing endangering lives, environmental damage, maybe closing press freedoms? And, therefore, we should be more…

"Can we all agree that the word Evil has a more sinister use - ie knowing endangering lives, environmental damage, maybe closing press freedoms? And, therefore, we should be more selective in its application?"

Using that version of "evil", makes it a completely empty marketing statement. Surely no company does "real" evil on purpose.

Actually, you'd be hard pressed to find a legit company that does "real" evil even by accident.

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#52

Post by mjwalshe » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:07 PM UTC

Maxious wrote: post #2

"If a Pixar employee applies to Intel without being recruited by Intel, contact Pat Gelsinger and explain to him a Pixar employee (provide the candidates name) has applied to Intel without being recruited and he will contact the CEO of Pixar for approval to hire" Scary.

yes that goes well beyond non poaching

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#53

Post by wtvanhest » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:14 PM UTC

AlexV wrote: post #50

I would be curios to see a LinkedIn graph showing (and proactively finding) evidence of this whole saga. That is, I would expect to see less movement of employees with certain talents, between conspiring companies.

Absolutely. I bet there is a huge statistical relationship there.

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#54

Post by jphackworth » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:14 PM UTC

So let's say I am running a startup with two employees. A friend of mine is also running a startup and needs to hire people. Is it wrong for me to ask him not to hire my employees?

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#55

Post by wtvanhest » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:18 PM UTC

It just occurred to me that when I told Intel I wouldn't be returning after my internship, HR was very pushy about where I was going. I'm glad I was going to a company outside the agreement or I would probably have had no job.

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#56

Post by AlexV » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:18 PM UTC

wtvanhest wrote: post #53

AlexV wrote: post #50

I would be curios to see a LinkedIn graph showing (and proactively finding) evidence of this whole saga. That is, I would expect to see less movement of employees with certain talents, between conspiring companies.

Absolutely. I bet there is a huge statistical relationship there.

Is there a way to get this information off of LinkedIn?

I am guessing it would be possible to pull it out of Google+ profile pages, but I am not sure it has historical data, or been around long enough for that matter.

Facebook would surely have it but I doubt this information is accessible.

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#57

Post by JabavuAdams » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:20 PM UTC

jballanc wrote: post #40

I think anyone whose opinion of Steve Jobs is changed by this knowledge needs to take a good look in the mirror and ask if they are not the hypocrite. Jobs always was a consumate businessman. Before Apple, even, he was scheming his way through a job, getting Wozniak to do his work and going back on his word to split profits. But isn't that what America is all about? Aren't your shoes, clothes, electronics, etc. made…

You're invoking a tired ends justifies the means argument for ... consumer devices? Not societal survival, not space travel, not some other grand enterprise, but ... iPods?

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#58

Post by SonicSoul » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:23 PM UTC

somewhat related. Last week a friend of mine that is growing his recruiting business tried to put me in contact with someone at this firm in NYC, for a position that sounds ideal for me and my background. Once he got to the HR department, and as soon as they saw where i currently work, they told him that they have some agreement about not hiring people from my current company and that was it. They didn't even seem to want to explain the details of said agreement. Now, i definitely didn't sign a contract forbidding me from going to that place. Is this even legal?

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#59

Post by abrahamsen » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:28 PM UTC

jlarocco wrote: post #51

omonra wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm tired of people bringing up 'don't do evil' EVERY time Google does something they dislike. New search results using personal targeting - EVIL! Anti-poaching agreement with Apple - EVIL! Closed down a bagel cafe next to my cubicle - EVIL! Can we all agree that the word Evil has a more sinister use - ie knowing endangering lives, environmental damage, maybe closing press freedoms? And, therefore, we should be more…

"Can we all agree that the word Evil has a more sinister use - ie knowing endangering lives, environmental damage, maybe closing press freedoms? And, therefore, we should be more selective in its application?" Using that version of "evil", makes it a completely empty marketing statement. Surely no company does "real" evil on purpose. Actually, you'd be hard pressed to find a legit company that does "real" evil even b…

Some of the alleged business practices of United Fruit (Chiquita), De Beers, Monsanto, and APOC (BP) have been comic book levels of evil.

Re: Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees

#60

Post by coffee » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 5:33 PM UTC

Maxious wrote: post #2

"If a Pixar employee applies to Intel without being recruited by Intel, contact Pat Gelsinger and explain to him a Pixar employee (provide the candidates name) has applied to Intel without being recruited and he will contact the CEO of Pixar for approval to hire" Scary.

I'm surprised that people in these threads say "I'm not at all surprised by this behavior" - It's a sad state of affairs when we, as employees, wholly expect this behavior between the few leading companies in this area.