One of my early bootstrapped startup failures was a site for anonymously referring colleagues' cv's, linkedin and other profiles to a pool of recruiters with th

One of my early bootstrapped startup failures was a site for anonymously referring colleagues' cv's, linkedin and other profiles to a pool of recruiters with the intent that the person would get recruited away. The premise was that these neutral referals were higher quality leads for recruiters than reaching out via cold emails, and just because one of your co-workers would prefer to see you somewhere else doesn't mean you can't be great at what you do in a new role with new relationships. I spoke to one manager who had to do layoffs and said he would have loved to be able to get some of them recruited away, as it would have been a net-positive for everyone involved. It was in the time when Tinder and other taboo breaking apps were coming to market, but it's better than the alternative. If it sounds mean spirited, consider it against the alternative of "managing-out" or "pip'ing out" people, which is a terrible artifact of labor law where instead of setting clear expectations and outcomes, it incentivises gaslighting people for months, sabotaging their mental health and relationships with their colleagues, and with knock-on effects for bringing that home to their families. Firing someone with clarity and closure sucks, but the band-aid comes off. Managers who avoid difficult conversations and use passive gaslighting instead can wreck the families and homes of people who are accountable to them. Referring out someone who isn't a fit to external recruiters (outrefer'ing) seemed like a relatively humane solution. Free to out-referers, subscription fee for recruiters to get the warm leads by city/role and skills. Maybe the time for it will eventually come.