We Only Hire the Best • Hacker News Board

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#91

Post by joncrocks » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:15 PM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #86

dccoolgai wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And almost always these places pay their conference-calling-bullshitters top dollar. But it's like the apocalypse if you try to get more money for the people that actually do things.

The thing about salespeople is that you can objectively determine their value over any given time period. That's how they should be paid: a very small base salary that wouldn't cover their mortgage, coupled with a clear and unambiguous bonus structure that gives them a reasonable amount of money when they hit the targets that make the company profitable. Salespeople "actually do things". The problems come when you ma…

The counter-point is that without something to sell, the sales people wouldn't make any money.

They don't make the company any money, they're middle-men. The value comes from the product.

I would argue it's equally hard to objectively measure the value of a salesperson, but as there's already specific figures one can latch onto, it's easy to think it's easy.

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#92

Post by cobbzilla » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:16 PM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #86

dccoolgai wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And almost always these places pay their conference-calling-bullshitters top dollar. But it's like the apocalypse if you try to get more money for the people that actually do things.

The thing about salespeople is that you can objectively determine their value over any given time period. That's how they should be paid: a very small base salary that wouldn't cover their mortgage, coupled with a clear and unambiguous bonus structure that gives them a reasonable amount of money when they hit the targets that make the company profitable. Salespeople "actually do things". The problems come when you ma…

it also helps attract the better salespeople if there are higher tiers of "somewhat unreasonable" payouts for spectacular results. but again, as you said, all targets must be clear & unambiguous. it should be extremely hard to hit top bonus tiers quarter over quarter. and if they do, your company should be on its way to an IPO. watch out for the ego on that account exec :)

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#93

Post by raverbashing » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:16 PM UTC

CaptSpify wrote: post #79

pmiller2 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the big deal with internal recruiters? Most companies, unless they're very small, are going to have them.

I actually prefer internal recruiters. At least they typically have some motivation against throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Yeah, I agree. Better than outside recruiters who usually have a fuzzier idea of what the company does

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#94

Post by kstrauser » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:17 PM UTC

optimiz3 wrote: post #53

asb wrote: post #11

Corp: "We only hire the very best" Programmer: "What's the salary?" Corp: "Market average. Also, we're looking for people who aren't just motivated by money"

If someone says to you: "we're looking for people who aren't just motivated by money" You should counter: "there's no shortage of meaningful problems; I'd be irresponsible if I didn't work on the one that improves my family's standard of living the most"

"Money is the measure of how valuable my work is to you. Are you saying you don't value my work as much as your competitors do?"

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#95

Post by dasil003 » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:21 PM UTC

dccoolgai wrote: post #77

CaptSpify wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see a similar effect that drives me nuts: Corp: "We only hire the best, but we can't find any good people. There must be an industry shortage of good engineers!" Me: "What about $candidate that we interviewed last week, I thought you liked him?" Corp: "He was great! But he wanted too much money" Me: "..."

And almost always these places pay their conference-calling-bullshitters top dollar. But it's like the apocalypse if you try to get more money for the people that actually do things.

If you don't recognize the value that good sales people bring, then you don't understand enough about business to make any determination of how much anyone should be paid.

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#96

Post by kamjam » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:21 PM UTC

hvs wrote: post #52

vasilipupkin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all companies are the same. Sure, all companies exist to make money for shareholders, but some companies make cigarettes while other companies make life saving drugs. So, yes, it does make sense to take the company's mission into account when deciding whether to work there or not

Companies that make life saving drugs aren't usually short on money.

If a company made a life saving drug and then released the patent say after 5 years of exploitation, I'd agree with the argument as well.

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#97

Post by venomsnake » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:26 PM UTC

asb wrote: post #11

Corp: "We only hire the very best" Programmer: "What's the salary?" Corp: "Market average. Also, we're looking for people who aren't just motivated by money"

Corp: "We only hire the very best"

Programmer: "Too bad, I consider myself mediocre, bye"

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#98

Post by kough » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:29 PM UTC

jemfinch wrote: post #32

Nothing is said here that wasn't better said by Joel Spolsky over a decade ago: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/01/27.html

Yeah, I got a weird sense of deja vu.

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#99

Post by arethuza » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:31 PM UTC

joncrocks wrote: post #91

dsr_ wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about salespeople is that you can objectively determine their value over any given time period. That's how they should be paid: a very small base salary that wouldn't cover their mortgage, coupled with a clear and unambiguous bonus structure that gives them a reasonable amount of money when they hit the targets that make the company profitable. Salespeople "actually do things". The problems come when you ma…

The counter-point is that without something to sell, the sales people wouldn't make any money. They don't make the company any money, they're middle-men. The value comes from the product. I would argue it's equally hard to objectively measure the value of a salesperson, but as there's already specific figures one can latch onto, it's easy to think it's easy.

"The counter-point is that without something to sell"

Never met a salesperson who was deterred from selling something by the trivial detail that it doesn't actually exist. ;-)

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#100

Post by jakub_g » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:32 PM UTC

pascal1usa wrote: post #88

pmiller2 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry. I'm sucking right there along side you. 3.5 years experience and I'm not even getting recruiter spam in the volume some of the people here are. :P

You probably would be if you lived in SF. Since the available housing ratio to jobs is 1 to 3, they have effectively guaranteed that not all jobs can ever be filled. Great for the job supply!

Never tried but I think it could be an interesting experiment to temporarily change your LinkedIn location to SF and see how much it affects the recruit-o-spam numbers.