From time to time each of us finds ourselves looking for a job. And it’s not surprising that the World is Changing when it comes to job searching too. We're on the cusp of something great. This is a time of opportunity in the job search/recruitment/talent-acquisition world. In the words of a great and talented friend, Phil... "It’s sub-optimal."
37Signals is Changing the World. If you’re out of the loop, 37Signals is the company that created Basecamp and the development of Basecamp spawned the invention of RubyOnRails. And both Basecamp and RubyOnRails are awesome... but that's not what this article is about. I hire a handful of people a year. I search for candidates and they search for jobs like everyone else. Every once and a while, heck...I'm looking for a job myself. And we're all doing it wrong.
37Signals doesn't make recruitment software and they don't have a job board. But 37Signals is Changing the World of Talent Acquisition in the most significant way. They are changing their hiring behavior. And it's working. In eleven years at 37Signals, only two people have left the company. TWO. Ever. And actually, one of those two recently rejoined the team. 37Signals is a company that takes acquiring and retaining employees to a whole new level. If you hire people... Or if you look for jobs... (yes, that's everyone), then the three links below are required reading. They give you some insight to how Jason Fried and 37Signals tackle finding some of the most talented and loyal employees in the country.
There are a surprisingly small number of articles on the web about the 37Signals' hiring of Jason Zimdars. But it's revolutionary. First, check out [CEO] Jason Fried's stance on finding people in the first place... or at least read our excerpt.
Key excerpt: For one thing, we ignore resumés. In my experience, they're full of exaggerations, half-truths, embellishments -- and even outright lies. They're made of action verbs that don't really mean anything. Even when people aren't intentionally trying to trick you, they often stretch the truth. And what does "five years' experience" mean, anyway? Resumés reduce people to bullet points, and most people look pretty good as bullet points.
Key excerpt: We liked what we saw, heard, and read from JZ so we asked him to do a few paid contract projects for us. One was a quick one week exploration of variations on the Highrise Contacts screen. We gave him a week, barely any direction, and let him run with it. Jason had a full time job, so he had to squeeze in time after work. All things considered, we were very happy with the explorations, how he explained himself (although he’s a bit verbose — something he’ll have to work on), and the decisions he made.
Have you hired a developer that didn't do this for you first? Stop doing that.
