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have been hiring for the past three months and i am just noting down some interesting observations.
i decided to go different and straight out posted that it’s the worst environment and working with me is toxic and blah blah blah.
i probably missed out on some great people who might have seen those posts as red-flags. we ended up receiving 8k+ applications in total for 14 positions that we hired for.
i am very sure that i’ve hired the best for the positions that we opened for.
- devs: made up 80% of the applications
- designers: will apply in large, but finding really good designers is difficult. most who apply are people from ui-ux cohorts and they can only join as freshers. if you need to hire good designers, scout them and poach them.
this hiring cycle is memorable because of a recent hire. he quit on the fourth day and left me speechless. second person in my life to have made me speechless in a conversation.
he told me that he expected the workplace to be toxic, have long 16 hrs sprint, work day and night and constantly hustle in startup mode.
he was surprised to see that it was exactly the opposite, and we force people to leave the office when the clock strikes 18:00. only monday to friday and he didn’t like it. he asked for an exemption and i didn’t grant it.
he told me that i lied to him and he truly applied to get that experience and that’s exactly why he quit his freelancing to work somewhere with the same energy.
i was flummoxed. everyone around me laughed.
over the next set of hiring we did, we quickly iterated on the first call about the expectations on how we function like a regular office - especially for people who have freelanced.
recording my observations here, as i am thinking to keep the same tone in hiring while setting the expectations straight in the first call.
i am still confused now and i know that i am dancing with the devil. but it’ll be the best dance.
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