Re:Google just stole my employee #3
by felixdennis on Wednesday May 01, 2013 @05:41PM
(#5640992)
:) I guess this indirectly validates our hiring standard.
Re:Google just stole my employee #3
by 7Figures2Commas on Wednesday May 01, 2013 @10:00PM
(#5642043)
I wouldn't look at it that way. Perhaps it shows that you were able to verify the candidate's technical chops, but it also shows that you didn't do a good job assessing the candidate's motivations and career goals.
If you're hiring your third employee, it's probably safe for me to assume that your company is relatively young. Google, obviously, is a big, established company.
While you almost certainly cannot compete with Google compensation-wise, there are plenty of things startups like yours can offer that a big company like Google simply cannot. Playing up these intangibles, and identifying candidates who are truly interested in those intangibles, is something you can't afford not to do with early hires.
Put simply: you need to look for candidates who are excited about becoming Employee #3 at a young company, not candidates who are excited about getting a great job at any company.
The good news is that you are reaching high quality folks if Google wants them.
Make sure they understand what they are getting into. Google is great (I'm a Xoogler) but they will be toiling in a very large machine and will have a very narrow locus of responsibility. There is nothing wrong with that -- but make sure that's what they want versus a broader startup role.