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Wow, this is bound to backfire. Naively you'd think that this would be a win-win-win situation for company, employee and referrer alike. But emotional monkey-br

Wow, this is bound to backfire. Naively you'd think that this would be a win-win-win situation for company, employee and referrer alike. But emotional monkey-brain psychology intervenes. Frankly the idea of a friend of mine getting that kind of scratch for referring me to a job would put a bad taste in my mouth and poison the friendship. For whatever reason, if he were already working there and the company had an internal referral program (as many companies do), I'd feel fine about the arrangement, maybe because I'd assume his motivation in that case would not be mercenary. One good thing about this offer is that it's an attention grabber and signals that they're willing to pay a very large multiple of that $20,000 to the prospective employee as wages. But it also signals a certain level of desperation and that they don't have enough hot shot, well connected software engineers on staff to attract others in adequate numbers, with all that implies about culture. Or maybe it signals they're too stingy to pay a good professional recruiter's fee. Or that they despise that peculiar semi-sentient, parasitic life form as much as I do. :)

wccrawford 15y ago
I think you should re-examine. Referrals for jobs (and many other things) only work if both parties are on-board. So he can't do it underhandedly. He has provided a service for them (your name) and you (their name) and gets some kickback in return. He would have done it for your for free, because you're a friend, but the company is another matter. His taking the money doesn't in any way alter your friendship. His finding you a good job should be a bonus for the relationship. Do you think that your friendship is sullied by him taking the money? If someone offered me money to help one of my friends, I'd take it in every circumstance I can think of. There's just no downside.
cjzhang 15y ago
Would your friends not split any referral fee they got with you? I thought that was standard practice.
tptacek 15y ago
The referral fee here is on the very high side of engineer referrals, but mid-high 4 figures aren't unusual at all. $8k is also a big deal. Would that poison your friendship? Meanwhile, "too stingy" to pay a recruiter? How about, too savvy? Recruiters suck. I would be marginally more likely to want to work for a company that went out of their way to avoid recruiters.
kenjackson 15y ago
Frankly the idea of a friend of mine getting that kind of scratch for referring me to a job would put a bad taste in my mouth and poison the friendship. Why? I'd really be happy for them. I'd require them to take me out to dinner, but I'd be happy about it. If your friend referred someone else to this job that you didn't know, would that be better? What if you would have liked to have been referred to this job (learning about it post mortem), but your friend referred someone else instead, would that be better?
akat 15y ago
>Frankly the idea of a friend of mine getting that kind of scratch for referring me to a job would put a bad taste in my mouth and poison the friendship. I guess you need to do some introspection and (re)examine your friendships.

wccrawford 15y ago

I think you should re-examine. Referrals for jobs (and many other things) only work if both parties are on-board. So he can't do it underhandedly. He has provided a service for them (your name) and you (their name) and gets some kickback in return. He would have done it for your for free, because you're a friend, but the company is another matter. His taking the money doesn't in any way alter your friendship. His finding you a good job should be a bonus for the relationship. Do you think that your friendship is sullied by him taking the money? If someone offered me money to help one of my friends, I'd take it in every circumstance I can think of. There's just no downside.

cjzhang 15y ago

Would your friends not split any referral fee they got with you? I thought that was standard practice.

tptacek 15y ago

The referral fee here is on the very high side of engineer referrals, but mid-high 4 figures aren't unusual at all. $8k is also a big deal. Would that poison your friendship? Meanwhile, "too stingy" to pay a recruiter? How about, too savvy? Recruiters suck. I would be marginally more likely to want to work for a company that went out of their way to avoid recruiters.

kenjackson 15y ago

Frankly the idea of a friend of mine getting that kind of scratch for referring me to a job would put a bad taste in my mouth and poison the friendship. Why? I'd really be happy for them. I'd require them to take me out to dinner, but I'd be happy about it. If your friend referred someone else to this job that you didn't know, would that be better? What if you would have liked to have been referred to this job (learning about it post mortem), but your friend referred someone else instead, would that be better?

akat 15y ago

>Frankly the idea of a friend of mine getting that kind of scratch for referring me to a job would put a bad taste in my mouth and poison the friendship. I guess you need to do some introspection and (re)examine your friendships.