Well, I lose. It's not even 18 hours and I'm breaking from my self-imposed HN break. Dammit, I suck. Or, we'll just call this thread an exception, because I really want to contribute to this discussion.
Neat idea, but probably not. The problem with job boards is that they all turn into ghettos. The technology is fine. The material (sometimes on both sides, but almost always in terms of employers) usually ain't.
I was talking to an investor, years ago, about a dating site and he pointed out a mistake I was making. He said, "you think the problem with these other sites is technology, but that's wrong. The sites are fine; the people are broken."
We think that the recruiters peddling horrible subordinate corporate jobs are somehow unaware of HN and how geeks really think; but reality doesn't bear that out. We're damn easy to fool. If a sociopath can hoodwink a venture capitalist, then he can pretty easily hire nerds.
I don't want to get into a long-running HN thread (I have good reason for my month-long break that I just now broke from) but if you'd like to talk offline about some thoughts I've had about fixing the job market, I'm michael.o.church at gmail.
Thanks for that comment, you've hit it spot on. The focus at FiveYearItch is not the technology, it's the workflow for connecting the two sides.
> recruiters peddling horrible subordinate corporate jobs
That's exactly who we are keeping out.
We work with employers, preferably technically savvy hiring managers, and they have to be smart enough to reach out to developers rather than assuming developers will come begging for a job to them.
They have to be willing to commit to what developers require, which is often not salary or health plans but "ace colleagues" and "flat hierarchy."
And as to finding the folks to bring together: That's the key, we're finding various ways to do it -- and note where we're chatting right now :-)
How is this different from a conventional full-service executive search firm?
How does it scale if employers and candidates are rigorously screened (assuming that they are rigorously screened) since conventional full-service match making is built upon individual relationships and meaningful conversations?
This is not to say that there isn't a need for an HN full-service executive search firm. But rather that I don't see how the objectives are satisfied without a conventional labor intensive model.
First, it's for developers and other IT pros, not executives.
It's for introducing people, not a full-service search firm. Employers send quick screening question to candidates.
The workflow is designed to be very quick, easy, and easy to drop at any time. At the early stage of communication, both sites should be able to click a "No thanks" button and leave it at that.
Once the candidate has passed initial screening, employers continue in their normal interview process.
> Well, I lose. It's not even 18 hours and I'm breaking from my self-imposed HN break. Dammit, I suck. Or, we'll just call this thread an exception, because I really want to contribute to this discussion.
Hmmm... should I feel guilty about that or good ;-)
...Glad to be so good that it's worth breaking the ban!
Comments
Well, I lose. It's not even 18 hours and I'm breaking from my self-imposed HN break. Dammit, I suck. Or, we'll just call this thread an exception, because I really want to contribute to this discussion.
Neat idea, but probably not. The problem with job boards is that they all turn into ghettos. The technology is fine. The material (sometimes on both sides, but almost always in terms of employers) usually ain't.
I was talking to an investor, years ago, about a dating site and he pointed out a mistake I was making. He said, "you think the problem with these other sites is technology, but that's wrong. The sites are fine; the people are broken."
We think that the recruiters peddling horrible subordinate corporate jobs are somehow unaware of HN and how geeks really think; but reality doesn't bear that out. We're damn easy to fool. If a sociopath can hoodwink a venture capitalist, then he can pretty easily hire nerds.
I don't want to get into a long-running HN thread (I have good reason for my month-long break that I just now broke from) but if you'd like to talk offline about some thoughts I've had about fixing the job market, I'm michael.o.church at gmail.
Michael,
Thanks for that comment, you've hit it spot on. The focus at FiveYearItch is not the technology, it's the workflow for connecting the two sides.
> recruiters peddling horrible subordinate corporate jobs
That's exactly who we are keeping out.
We work with employers, preferably technically savvy hiring managers, and they have to be smart enough to reach out to developers rather than assuming developers will come begging for a job to them.
They have to be willing to commit to what developers require, which is often not salary or health plans but "ace colleagues" and "flat hierarchy."
And as to finding the folks to bring together: That's the key, we're finding various ways to do it -- and note where we're chatting right now :-)
How is this different from a conventional full-service executive search firm?
How does it scale if employers and candidates are rigorously screened (assuming that they are rigorously screened) since conventional full-service match making is built upon individual relationships and meaningful conversations?
This is not to say that there isn't a need for an HN full-service executive search firm. But rather that I don't see how the objectives are satisfied without a conventional labor intensive model.
Good question.
First, it's for developers and other IT pros, not executives.
It's for introducing people, not a full-service search firm. Employers send quick screening question to candidates.
The workflow is designed to be very quick, easy, and easy to drop at any time. At the early stage of communication, both sites should be able to click a "No thanks" button and leave it at that.
Once the candidate has passed initial screening, employers continue in their normal interview process.
> Well, I lose. It's not even 18 hours and I'm breaking from my self-imposed HN break. Dammit, I suck. Or, we'll just call this thread an exception, because I really want to contribute to this discussion.
Hmmm... should I feel guilty about that or good ;-)
...Glad to be so good that it's worth breaking the ban!