Whom Should You Hire at a Startup? (Attitude Over Aptitude)
Startups. We know the mantra: Team matters. Is this philosophy exaggerated? Overrated? Cliché? No. Team is the only thing that matters. Whatever you’re working on now, the half-life of innovation is so rapid now that your product will soon be out-of-date. Your existence is irrelevant unless you continue rapid innovation. Your ability to keep […]
Job Posts that Don’t Suck!
Ok, as promised, this is the post with solutions. Job posts should get a prospective candidate excited about a possible gig. Don’t lose top talent the second you post, don’t freak out people and load it up with a “we’re hiring so we just have to throw bait out for all you sucker programmers” type […]
I’m Not Looking, But These Job Posts Just Suck
BEWARE: This is the beginning of a rant. If you’re temperamental it might piss you off. You’ve been warned, prepare to have a bit of rant with reality thrown on top for good measure. I’m not looking for another gig. I’m extremely happy with what I’m doing right now. The Russell Team I’m working with […]
Turn about is not fair play on the broken hiring process
We have all heard about the problems with finding the right employee for the jobs you are trying to fill. Usually from my vantage point as a hiring manager my biggest problems have been about resumes that did not make sense for the position being filled. It is very hard to go from an AA […]
The Long-Term Value of Loyalty
Oh, boy. Here we go again. Another post on job hopping. This will be my final word on the topic. I promise. My goal here is to move the debate forward, add my POV but not inflame things any further. Inflaming was never my goal. Let’s see if I can achieve that. My WORD of […]
Never Hire Job Hoppers. Never. They Make Terrible Employees
This is part of my startup advice series. This post isn’t going to be popular. I’m sure of that. That’s OK. It’s still important advice for startup founders and something that I’m passionate about. And I care more about the debate than trying to be popular. And it’s important because it’s true. I never hire […]
Cloud Computing Globalization and the American IT Worker
There are many postings this morning about the influence that cloud computing and globalization will have on the American IT Worker. From my viewpoint Cloud Computing is a benefit to an organization requiring an entirely new mindset and skill set for any IT Worker. Globalization is the same; it requires a different view of the […]
No Outsourcing is not Immoral it is a fact of business
Dennis Stevenson over at Toolbox.com asks a very important question, is Outsourcing Immoral, the sad reality is that the debate over the morality of the process will in no way lessen or stop the process of outsourcing. Dennis (whom I respect and read on a regular basis) has asked a great question, the morality or […]
Hiring at a Startup? Know Thy Weaknesses
This is part of my ongoing series on Startup Advice. I was reading one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs, VentureHacks, this weekend and noticed that they are running a long piece on how to pick a co-founder. If you’ve read my blog for a while you’ll know that I’m a fan of starting businesses […]
Hiring for Social Media
If you have not been reading Amber Naslund lately, you are missing a great deal of information on how to hire for social media. Amber goes through many different processes that businesses must look at to find the right person for any social media process that a company will attempt. As social media moves beyond […]
Business Recruiting 2.0
The world is changing. The technology has had a profound effect in the way we live our lives. From our personal habits like watching television programming to the way we do business collaboration to, if the Obama administration have their way, the way we can get the government to work for us, things are changing […]
Don’t Roll out the Red Carpet on the Way out the Door
This is part of my Startup Advice series. Before I started my first company in 1999 I worked for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). One of the things I noticed was that when really talented people – The “A players” – wanted to quit, the firm would quickly scramble to try and keep that person from […]
Who Should you Hire at a Startup?
This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. There are people who tell startups that they should hire the most senior people that they can find. I’m not one of those. I believe that you should always hire people are are looking to “punch above their weight class,” which means to hire people who […]
Is Hiring Fundamentally Broken?
Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr For all of those who are looking for work, it has turned into a comedy of errors, omissions, and no answers from anyone if you were even considered for the position. When the rare thanks but no thanks message comes through via e-mail it makes us have to stop […]
Reverse Brain Drain to India and China
America is a great place to start a company, there are no questions about that, and when Governments were busy making it harder to start a company, many immigrants came to America. Reports state that 52% of all Silicon Valley companies were started by Immigrants, and we have HP and Google as prime examples of […]
