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We're not short of people who want to work at Stripe, we're short of the bandwidth to identify the best ones. And so we focus on those we know to be good. Some
by pc 14y ago
We're not short of people who want to work at Stripe, we're short of the bandwidth to identify the best ones.
And so we focus on those we know to be good. Some of them live outside the US; some grew up outside the US and now live here; some are US natural-born US citizens. We're performing a BFS of our personal networks. Sometimes, visas get in the way.
- basiceconomics 14y ago"As foreigners, we have many foreigners in our personal networks who we'd prefer to employ rather than going to the inconvenience of seeking out qualified Americans to work at our US company" is a rather different argument from "the best technical talent can only be found outside the US". It's also probably not an argument that will elicit much sympathy from American workers.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- muzz 14y agoSo your problem is not immigration, but rather talent-identification at your compensation level. Increase your compensation level and the talent will find you.
- btilly 14y agoIncreasing compensation will increase how many people want to work for you. However it does not help you identify which of those people are any good. There is a lot of research demonstrating that interviews - even the best - are pretty bad filters. Ditto standardized tests. What does work well? As a lot of organizations have found, personal referrals from people you trust. Which is what Stripe sounds like it is trying to do. Which returns us to the grandfather's point that they are identifying people that they want, and then are unable to hire them.
- muzz 14y agoWow. So we must change our immigration policies because of Stripe's chosen solution to their talent identification problem? What other profession would that work for? e.g., s/engineer/day-care-provider . I need to hire a good day care provider, and can't find one. But I know a good one in another country. Laws get in the way of my hiring them. Let's change the law!
- btilly 14y agoI was arguing that someone else's argument was wrong. That is not the same as arguing a position on this immigration bill. See https://plus.google.com/114613808538621741268/posts/bNrjdAWpvTT https://plus.google.com/114613808538621741268/posts/bNrjdAWp... for my actual opinion on what I'd like to see happen. (It never will.)
- muzz 14y agoI think I see your point. The second half of my original comment may have claimed more than it needed to.
- enraged_camel 14y agoI don't normally call people out on their bullshit, but you, sir, are incredibly ignorant. Stripe's problem is not "talent-identification at their compensation level." It's the general overhead that comes with trying to sort through all the applicants. Increasing compensation does not change that. Seriously people need to understand that "hiring foreign workers" thing thrown around is simply a myth. I'm a foreign engineer working for a US-based software company, and I make more than my coworkers AND that is on top of what my H1B application and renewals cost the company in terms of lawyer's fees and HR costs. So why did my company hire me? Because at the time they couldn't find any Americans for the position.
- muzz 14y ago"the general overhead that comes with trying to sort through all the applicants" is exactly the same problem I have in trying to find a quality day care provider! I know someone in another country that can do the job, but the law gets in the way! Sorry if I just call you out on your bullshit.
- jquery 14y agoNo more how special you think you are, if you were a citizen you'd be making even more.