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The concept of having colleagues essentially pay for your salary during a probation period is inane. But if it were your former employer, it could essentially b
by alanlammiman 5y ago
The concept of having colleagues essentially pay for your salary during a probation period is inane. But if it were your former employer, it could essentially be a type of severance / outplacement benefit. The 'skip the interview' bit is also silly. You'd still interview, but the hiring company would have an extra incentive to give you a chance if they aren't 100% sure.
Having said that, I once tried something vaguely analogous and it backfired. I had left my job and was freelancing, looking into businesses to start for myself, but nothing solid yet, and a fairly senior job opening came bouncing around that I thought would give me useful experience even though in the long term I was set on entrepreneurship. it was clear the company wasn't quite sure about me. So I essentially offered them a free trial - I'd come in and just start working for a few weeks for free for us all to see if it was a good fit, no commitments.
Ironically, I think that seemed so bizarre to them at a senior level (or they read it as signalling that I was desperate, which I wasn't) that they passed.
In the end it was all for the best - I started a business, etc.
- vincentmarle 5y agoIt’s a legal thing: unpaid work is illegal. So they probably didn’t want to risk it and carry the liability.
- alanlammiman 5y agoThat varies by jurisdiction and this wasn't in the US. Even if free were illegal it could have been minimum wage. But I think you're right in that it doesn't fit in well with established processes (HR, etc)
- csense 5y agoAlso, copyright. If you're not paid, they don't fully own the code in any product you've worked on.
- alanlammiman 5y agoTrue, but in this specific case I wouldn't be programming or creating content. It was management.
- dragonwriter 5y ago> But if it were your former employer, it could essentially be a type of severance / outplacement benefit. The old-employer incentives there are the opposite of what is trying to be achieved by the reward aspect, and the existence of the reward is not sufficient to mend that, though.
- alanlammiman 5y agoI'm not sure I follow. You're saying the previous employer doesn't want the laid-off employee to get a new job? I guess that would vary ex-post (eg depending on the reason for the firing, and the industry - a professional services firm will be keener to have a successful alumni network), but I'd imagine that ex-ante having the reputation of 'we care of people even if they don't work out here' or a promise of 'even if this startup crashes and burns we'll do our best to ensure you land on your feet' would make an employer attractive.
- thunkshift1 5y ago+1. The entire time I was reading the thread I was thinking about wtf were the yc guys smoking to think this was good idea worth putting money into.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago> So I essentially offered them a free trial - I'd come in and just start working for a few weeks for free for us all to see if it was a good fit, no commitments. That's basically what the 90 day probationary period is, where they can fire you for no reason. You might've done better if you offered to work for minimum wage for your first X weeks, with the expectation they'll bump you up to a normal salary before the period is over.