6 ms·

So the biggest problem I had was hiring my first employee. I needed help with a lot of things -- development, graphic design, web design, sales, accounting, pro

So the biggest problem I had was hiring my first employee. I needed help with a lot of things -- development, graphic design, web design, sales, accounting, product management, etc. But the people looking for jobs are looking for a very specific role. Eg. they want a job as a developer, or as a graphic designer, and it's kinda hard to find someone who can do more than just one thing. But as a small company I don't really have enough work for a full time employee who does just one thing. Most of the people I met who are good at more than one thing had their own business or startup and weren't looking for a job.

sdrothrock 5y ago
That's really interesting to hear; as a generalist, I've had a hard time finding positions that aren't super spiky!
- WeaselNo7 5y ago
  Same boat here. Do we need a hiring market specifically for generalists?
- pyb 5y ago
  This. I've learned it's best to masquerade as a committed specialist in order to get a job. OTOH, saying "I'm going to do whatever is needed to help your company succeed" isn't great marketing.
- GianFabien 5y ago
  Me too. I have only had one job where I was specifically hired because of my broad range of skills and experience. It was with (at the time) a 6 person company. We grew and a couple of years later were merged with a much larger competitor. Seems to me recruiters are only interested in people already doing exactly the job being advertised. As if somebody with lots of experience in lots of technologies suddenly can't come up to speed with a different product/tool.
topicseed 5y ago
300% agreeing with this... In a small company, finding the right "right arm" is incredibly tough. So much so that I still have not despite multiple attempts.
- potta_coffee 5y ago
  You may have to find somebody with the right "raw ingredients" and grow them into the role. This is also tough because you don't have all your needs filled right away.
leroman 5y ago
Taking into account the risk/reward ratio, I suspect said generalists wouldn't want to join at that point.. get low wage, "first employee" little equity, and most chances not worth anything.. He's better off getting a job with some BigCorp really.. can't blame them.
osullip 5y ago
Find someone who has/is running their own business and partner with them. Forget the employee/employer relationship for this kind of skillset. I have done this several times in my life - it's amazing when two people, willing to do literally any job that is needed, get together. Pretty powerful combination.
- newaccount74 5y ago
  I'd love to hear more about how you structure these partnerships? I doubt you are helping each other out for free?
  - osullip 5y ago
    Two examples to explain what I mean. 1. I had my own consulting business (small, 2 of us plus some outsourced support). I didn't like the sales part of the business. Met a client who loved selling and needed support in other areas. I wrapped up my business and took a role as it was more focused on what I love. 2. Currently working with an individual whose business closed during Covid. They think at a high level and are helping with BA work, documentation, client comms etc. It's not so much a hire/employee and more an understanding that they can add value with less direction. They get paid a contract rate.
- topicseed 5y ago
  Partner how – they'll want us to work on their business, and I'll want us to work on mine, no?
  - quickthrower2 5y ago
    Like cofounders I would guess
  - giantg2 5y ago
    It's possible they have the skills you need but their time isn't fully utilized, so they can fill time with working on your projects rather than looking for more clients. Maybe something like retaining 25% of their time for your projects could work. If you need more than 25% of a person's time, then maybe find two people with different skillets (although coordinating could be more difficult).
akudha 5y ago
I’d love to have a job with multiple roles. I’d guess there are many people like me. The reason it is hard to hire such people is low pay. Why would I want to wear multiple hats (and take on extra stress, even if I love the job) when I can walk across the street and get higher salary for a bit more boring role? Of course I don’t know how much you’re paying, I am just pointing out the general case here.
- mlloydw 5y ago
  I think you answered your own question, no? It's more boring. Some people value excitement over compensation.
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  A higher salary for a bit more boring role is actually great for some people. You can master that boring job if you want, and the higher income combined with less stress allows for fun hobbies to scratch that generalist itch.
notRobot 5y ago
Are you (or anyone else reading this) by any chance looking to hire a generalist right now? I do development, graphic design, web design, writing, marketing, and a bunch of other stuff. If this sounds interesting, please share your contact info, or drop me an email (address in profile)!
hackerfromthefu 5y ago
You save a large amount of time and energy by having one point of contact for multiple disparate services/skills. In other words such a person delivers a higher amount of value, above the individual tasks done, by saving you time on coordination and hiring. I'm wondering if your offers are reflecting this value that a multi-skilled person would provide you? Or do you expect to get the benefit of their extra skills for free while they don't benefit from their own skillset, which they must have spent a lot of time learning?
- giantg2 5y ago
  And in my view, if you're a jack of all trades then you're setting yourself up for lower future compensation. Most of the jobs are at big companies, and big companies want specialists. Switching between roles reduces the opportunity to become an expert in any of them.
- newaccount74 5y ago
  My offer was based on how much I could afford to pay. Maybe that was the problem, I don't know. All I know is that the people who applied (and who I ended up hiring) were pretty focussed on their job description and liked to have someone tell them what to do. There was one guy who declined my offer because it was too low who later started their own business, so maybe you are right that people with multiple skills just want more money.
david38 5y ago
This is because people are told to specialize if they want to move up. I’ve known lots of people who wanted to be generalists, but couldn’t get promoted because as soon as you have promotion ladders, the first thing added is “deep expertise” in something narrow.
- valbaca 5y ago
  Seriously. It's hard just finding a job as a generalist developer, or even a "full-stack web & app developer" without every interviewer asking "so...backend or front-end?" Me: "Whatever helps bring value to the customer. I've done it all and [gives examples]" Them: "We have a frontend role and a backend role. Which do you want?" "Neither. Bye"
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    I consider myself a generalist, and if I had to choose, it would be backend. It's more low level and fun, and honestly, I'm not a great designer. The point of being a generalist is that you can adapt to more places.
danhab99 5y ago
When I was in college I took on fat-loads of freelance work. I had to be the product manager, product designer, graphics designer, UX designer, database design, deployment, all while having to explain what I'm doing and what I need to a board of white-haired boomers who know alittle cobol. It was EXHAUSTING!! Working the responsibilities of a team of 5-7 while having to communicate with admins and execs ruined the experience for me, I'm a programmer, I like to sit down for 5-6hrs a day and code. You need me to do something, assign me the issue I'll make it happen. And I feel like there's a lot of people who think like me. Specializing to move up in your company is important, but it also feels good. Focusing yourself on one thing that fulfills you and getting good at that is way more rewarding then having to work through the frustration of switching gears to another job. To all who think that you can start a company by collecting a tonne of venture capital and hire one dude to do all the work, cease. You can't do it. It doesn't work. That's not how you win.

sdrothrock 5y ago

That's really interesting to hear; as a generalist, I've had a hard time finding positions that aren't super spiky!

WeaselNo7 5y ago
Same boat here. Do we need a hiring market specifically for generalists?
pyb 5y ago
This. I've learned it's best to masquerade as a committed specialist in order to get a job. OTOH, saying "I'm going to do whatever is needed to help your company succeed" isn't great marketing.
GianFabien 5y ago
Me too. I have only had one job where I was specifically hired because of my broad range of skills and experience. It was with (at the time) a 6 person company. We grew and a couple of years later were merged with a much larger competitor. Seems to me recruiters are only interested in people already doing exactly the job being advertised. As if somebody with lots of experience in lots of technologies suddenly can't come up to speed with a different product/tool.

topicseed 5y ago

300% agreeing with this... In a small company, finding the right "right arm" is incredibly tough. So much so that I still have not despite multiple attempts.

potta_coffee 5y ago
You may have to find somebody with the right "raw ingredients" and grow them into the role. This is also tough because you don't have all your needs filled right away.

leroman 5y ago

Taking into account the risk/reward ratio, I suspect said generalists wouldn't want to join at that point.. get low wage, "first employee" little equity, and most chances not worth anything.. He's better off getting a job with some BigCorp really.. can't blame them.

osullip 5y ago

Find someone who has/is running their own business and partner with them. Forget the employee/employer relationship for this kind of skillset. I have done this several times in my life - it's amazing when two people, willing to do literally any job that is needed, get together. Pretty powerful combination.

newaccount74 5y ago
I'd love to hear more about how you structure these partnerships? I doubt you are helping each other out for free?
- osullip 5y ago
  Two examples to explain what I mean. 1. I had my own consulting business (small, 2 of us plus some outsourced support). I didn't like the sales part of the business. Met a client who loved selling and needed support in other areas. I wrapped up my business and took a role as it was more focused on what I love. 2. Currently working with an individual whose business closed during Covid. They think at a high level and are helping with BA work, documentation, client comms etc. It's not so much a hire/employee and more an understanding that they can add value with less direction. They get paid a contract rate.
topicseed 5y ago
Partner how – they'll want us to work on their business, and I'll want us to work on mine, no?
- quickthrower2 5y ago
  Like cofounders I would guess
- giantg2 5y ago
  It's possible they have the skills you need but their time isn't fully utilized, so they can fill time with working on your projects rather than looking for more clients. Maybe something like retaining 25% of their time for your projects could work. If you need more than 25% of a person's time, then maybe find two people with different skillets (although coordinating could be more difficult).

akudha 5y ago

I’d love to have a job with multiple roles. I’d guess there are many people like me. The reason it is hard to hire such people is low pay. Why would I want to wear multiple hats (and take on extra stress, even if I love the job) when I can walk across the street and get higher salary for a bit more boring role? Of course I don’t know how much you’re paying, I am just pointing out the general case here.

mlloydw 5y ago
I think you answered your own question, no? It's more boring. Some people value excitement over compensation.
ASalazarMX 5y ago
A higher salary for a bit more boring role is actually great for some people. You can master that boring job if you want, and the higher income combined with less stress allows for fun hobbies to scratch that generalist itch.

notRobot 5y ago

Are you (or anyone else reading this) by any chance looking to hire a generalist right now? I do development, graphic design, web design, writing, marketing, and a bunch of other stuff. If this sounds interesting, please share your contact info, or drop me an email (address in profile)!

hackerfromthefu 5y ago

You save a large amount of time and energy by having one point of contact for multiple disparate services/skills. In other words such a person delivers a higher amount of value, above the individual tasks done, by saving you time on coordination and hiring. I'm wondering if your offers are reflecting this value that a multi-skilled person would provide you? Or do you expect to get the benefit of their extra skills for free while they don't benefit from their own skillset, which they must have spent a lot of time learning?

giantg2 5y ago
And in my view, if you're a jack of all trades then you're setting yourself up for lower future compensation. Most of the jobs are at big companies, and big companies want specialists. Switching between roles reduces the opportunity to become an expert in any of them.
newaccount74 5y ago
My offer was based on how much I could afford to pay. Maybe that was the problem, I don't know. All I know is that the people who applied (and who I ended up hiring) were pretty focussed on their job description and liked to have someone tell them what to do. There was one guy who declined my offer because it was too low who later started their own business, so maybe you are right that people with multiple skills just want more money.

david38 5y ago

This is because people are told to specialize if they want to move up. I’ve known lots of people who wanted to be generalists, but couldn’t get promoted because as soon as you have promotion ladders, the first thing added is “deep expertise” in something narrow.

valbaca 5y ago
Seriously. It's hard just finding a job as a generalist developer, or even a "full-stack web & app developer" without every interviewer asking "so...backend or front-end?" Me: "Whatever helps bring value to the customer. I've done it all and [gives examples]" Them: "We have a frontend role and a backend role. Which do you want?" "Neither. Bye"
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  I consider myself a generalist, and if I had to choose, it would be backend. It's more low level and fun, and honestly, I'm not a great designer. The point of being a generalist is that you can adapt to more places.

danhab99 5y ago

When I was in college I took on fat-loads of freelance work. I had to be the product manager, product designer, graphics designer, UX designer, database design, deployment, all while having to explain what I'm doing and what I need to a board of white-haired boomers who know alittle cobol. It was EXHAUSTING!! Working the responsibilities of a team of 5-7 while having to communicate with admins and execs ruined the experience for me, I'm a programmer, I like to sit down for 5-6hrs a day and code. You need me to do something, assign me the issue I'll make it happen. And I feel like there's a lot of people who think like me. Specializing to move up in your company is important, but it also feels good. Focusing yourself on one thing that fulfills you and getting good at that is way more rewarding then having to work through the frustration of switching gears to another job. To all who think that you can start a company by collecting a tonne of venture capital and hire one dude to do all the work, cease. You can't do it. It doesn't work. That's not how you win.