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Identifying Entrepreneurs During Job Interviews

5 points by mollylynn 18y ago

How to avoid hiring a "wantrepreneur" at your startup.

helveticaman 18y ago
Free Consulting Before you conclude the interview, assuming you are interested in the candidate, give them some meaningful homework. For instance, you might ask them to research a potential new market, analyze a competitor or assess a new distribution channel. Preferably select a task that will add value to your team’s efforts – not a make-work project. There are several potential positive outcomes from this approach: (i) you get free consulting, (ii) the candidate becomes engaged in your business and thus can hit the ground running if they are hired, and most importantly, (iii) it gives you an effective window into their soul and true motivations, as well as an assessment of their skills and abilities. Free consulting? Strikes me as a little sleazy.
- skmurphy 18y ago
  I agree, if an in depth technical interview is not sufficient, then pay for a small assignment so it's clear that you own the code. This method can easily give way to fraud and I think is already over the line into misrepresentation with the mention of "(i) you get free consulting."
skmurphy 18y ago
The personal questions proposed in this post are not in any way relevant to job performance and put you at risk of an anti-discrimination lawsuit in California. The relevance to entrepreneurship is never explained in the post, you might as well ask "what is your favorite color" as it's as useful as these questions. It's also interesting that all of the "homework" tasks are marketing or business development related. To help the average hacker understand what's being asked here, pretend that you were given a programming assignment and asked to bring the code in on a USB key so that it could be "reviewed" as a part of the interview. This is different from being asked to sketch out an approach during an interview, he wants real work for free. The downturn may embolden certain hiring managers to abuse candidates, please don't become one of them.

5 points by mollylynn 18y ago

How to avoid hiring a "wantrepreneur" at your startup.

Free Consulting Before you conclude the interview, assuming you are interested in the candidate, give them some meaningful homework. For instance, you might ask them to research a potential new market, analyze a competitor or assess a new distribution channel. Preferably select a task that will add value to your team’s efforts – not a make-work project. There are several potential positive outcomes from this approach: (i) you get free consulting, (ii) the candidate becomes engaged in your business and thus can hit the ground running if they are hired, and most importantly, (iii) it gives you an effective window into their soul and true motivations, as well as an assessment of their skills and abilities. Free consulting? Strikes me as a little sleazy.

skmurphy 18y ago
I agree, if an in depth technical interview is not sufficient, then pay for a small assignment so it's clear that you own the code. This method can easily give way to fraud and I think is already over the line into misrepresentation with the mention of "(i) you get free consulting."

skmurphy 18y ago

The personal questions proposed in this post are not in any way relevant to job performance and put you at risk of an anti-discrimination lawsuit in California. The relevance to entrepreneurship is never explained in the post, you might as well ask "what is your favorite color" as it's as useful as these questions. It's also interesting that all of the "homework" tasks are marketing or business development related. To help the average hacker understand what's being asked here, pretend that you were given a programming assignment and asked to bring the code in on a USB key so that it could be "reviewed" as a part of the interview. This is different from being asked to sketch out an approach during an interview, he wants real work for free. The downturn may embolden certain hiring managers to abuse candidates, please don't become one of them.