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Zappos is an unconventional company run by an unconventional CEO, Tony Hsieh. You can read an earlier interview about his hiring strategy[0], take a look at his

Zappos is an unconventional company run by an unconventional CEO, Tony Hsieh. You can read an earlier interview about his hiring strategy[0], take a look at his office[1], and read about his plan to turn around downtown Las Vegas[2]. An unusual man, but unusually effective. [0] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10corner.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10corner.html?pag... [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/business/tony-hsiehs-office-welcome-to-the-rain-forest.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/business/tony-hsiehs-offic... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/magazine/what-happens-in-brooklyn-moves-to-vegas.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/magazine/what-happens-in-b...

hga 12y ago
I understand that, although to a greater extent now, e.g. they're the only compay I'll buy unfamiliar footware from (although I wish they did a better job with their inventory). And I find nothing wrong in your [0], although I'm trying to figure out exactly how I'd demonstrate I'd “Create fun and a little weirdness.” in an interview (relating past examples would be right for me). I'm just questioning if this new and most certainly unconventional approach---as filtered through a journalist---will allow them to hire the technical help they need. Or any other field where the labor market is tight.
- cratermoon 12y ago
  I read it as Zappos not wanting to pay market rates for good talent, so they introduce a wildcard game element to the process that "rewards" loyal people with job offers. Offers that happen to be what the company wants to pay, not what the market rate would demand.
- e15ctr0n 12y ago
  Many open source projects hire in exactly the same way: they look at their pool of enthusiastic community members and hire them when positions become available. DuckDuckGo[0] comes to mind. [0] https://duck.co/help/company/hiring https://duck.co/help/company/hiring Then there are companies like Automattic[1] (the parent of Wordpress.com) and Matasano[2] that hire based on work samples. [1] http://automattic.com/work-with-us/ http://automattic.com/work-with-us/ [2] http://matasano.com/careers/ http://matasano.com/careers/ Zappos is not that far off when you consider that all they are looking for is a little prior interaction with their potential hires.

hga 12y ago

I understand that, although to a greater extent now, e.g. they're the only compay I'll buy unfamiliar footware from (although I wish they did a better job with their inventory). And I find nothing wrong in your [0], although I'm trying to figure out exactly how I'd demonstrate I'd “Create fun and a little weirdness.” in an interview (relating past examples would be right for me). I'm just questioning if this new and most certainly unconventional approach---as filtered through a journalist---will allow them to hire the technical help they need. Or any other field where the labor market is tight.

cratermoon 12y ago
I read it as Zappos not wanting to pay market rates for good talent, so they introduce a wildcard game element to the process that "rewards" loyal people with job offers. Offers that happen to be what the company wants to pay, not what the market rate would demand.
e15ctr0n 12y ago
Many open source projects hire in exactly the same way: they look at their pool of enthusiastic community members and hire them when positions become available. DuckDuckGo[0] comes to mind. [0] https://duck.co/help/company/hiring https://duck.co/help/company/hiring Then there are companies like Automattic[1] (the parent of Wordpress.com) and Matasano[2] that hire based on work samples. [1] http://automattic.com/work-with-us/ http://automattic.com/work-with-us/ [2] http://matasano.com/careers/ http://matasano.com/careers/ Zappos is not that far off when you consider that all they are looking for is a little prior interaction with their potential hires.