4 ms·

Then I'm not sure you're the person to be working as a startup employee.

bartonfink 16y ago
Fair point, and I'd agree. My career goals aren't particularly amenable to most startups, and with a child I have little interest in the risk/reward profile of startups. Further, I have little interest in mixing my personal and professional relationships - that seems like a needless complication for little gain. That said, my point still stands. $2000 isn't worth it for me to do my company's dirty work and knowingly save them $18000 in the process.
lsc 16y ago
Really? I'd expect a startup employee to be more interested in, ah, 'extracting value' than a regular employee. I mean, you've gotta have /some/ reward for all that risk. (I mean, it's different if it's a company that wouldn't have paid a headhunter anyhow; but I think the grandparent was objecting to the difference between what you are paying the headhunter and what you are paying the employee, more than the absolute amount you are paying.)
- eftpotrm 16y ago
  Extracting (appropriate) value, yes, but how and when becomes the issue. If the company is going through a cashflow issue - far from unheard of in a startup - insisting on extracting the full value of your pound of flesh there and then would be counterproductive. Equally one's startup should be increasing in value by more to than the cost of the hire so again it could very well be in your interest as that sort of employee not to extract the full value if to provide the lead for free could permit a far earlier hiring than would otherwise be the case.
  - lsc 16y ago
    eh, if you can afford to pay a headhunter $18K, you can afford to pay your employee little more than a grand. (Most programmers, rightly or wrongly, once they judge a few recruiter-arranged candidates, believe that recruiters bring no value, so the very idea that you are using a recruiter implies waste.) On the other hand, like I said, if you can't afford to pay the headhunter, then your employee shouldn't whine about not getting a recruiting bonus. I've personally referred many people who got jobs, and I don't think I've ever gotten more than a free beer out of the deal.

Fair point, and I'd agree. My career goals aren't particularly amenable to most startups, and with a child I have little interest in the risk/reward profile of startups. Further, I have little interest in mixing my personal and professional relationships - that seems like a needless complication for little gain. That said, my point still stands. $2000 isn't worth it for me to do my company's dirty work and knowingly save them $18000 in the process.

lsc 16y ago

Really? I'd expect a startup employee to be more interested in, ah, 'extracting value' than a regular employee. I mean, you've gotta have /some/ reward for all that risk. (I mean, it's different if it's a company that wouldn't have paid a headhunter anyhow; but I think the grandparent was objecting to the difference between what you are paying the headhunter and what you are paying the employee, more than the absolute amount you are paying.)

eftpotrm 16y ago
Extracting (appropriate) value, yes, but how and when becomes the issue. If the company is going through a cashflow issue - far from unheard of in a startup - insisting on extracting the full value of your pound of flesh there and then would be counterproductive. Equally one's startup should be increasing in value by more to than the cost of the hire so again it could very well be in your interest as that sort of employee not to extract the full value if to provide the lead for free could permit a far earlier hiring than would otherwise be the case.
- lsc 16y ago
  eh, if you can afford to pay a headhunter $18K, you can afford to pay your employee little more than a grand. (Most programmers, rightly or wrongly, once they judge a few recruiter-arranged candidates, believe that recruiters bring no value, so the very idea that you are using a recruiter implies waste.) On the other hand, like I said, if you can't afford to pay the headhunter, then your employee shouldn't whine about not getting a recruiting bonus. I've personally referred many people who got jobs, and I don't think I've ever gotten more than a free beer out of the deal.