CEO texts job candidates at odd hours on the weekends | Hacker News Reader

CEO texts job candidates at odd hours on the weekends

businessinsider.com

26 pointsTheBiv18 comments

""Here's something I do," she said. "If you're in the process of interviewing with us, I'll text you about something at 9 p.m. or 11 a.m. on a Sunday just to see how fast you'll respond."

This is also a good way for the prospective employee to understand what kind of work environment they'd be getting into. If the CEO interrupts me on Sunday to tell me something that's not urgent (and what could possibly be urgent if I don't even work there yet?), my response will be, "Sorry, I'm not interested in this job anymore." There, I just escaped a workaholic CEO who thinks that my entire life should belong to her company.

She gives some 'advice to college grads' in her interview; here's mine: When you first start out professionally after college, it might seem exciting to work for a boss or a company that demands 'everything' from you. Many company cultures are designed to get you to think of yourself as subordinate and, in some ways, as a child. This makes you more likely to stay on the hamster wheel for the company. But eventually you begin to develop more respect for yourself as a person and as a professional, and just a respect for your own time -- and you get savvy about avoiding these types of bosses/companies. Work smarter, not harder. And get real about the tradeoffs that your employer appears to be asking you to make; if you don't spend time reflecting on what kind of life you really want, you'll end up making those tradeoffs unconsciously without even realizing it.

As a millennial, I've fallen into this work martyr trap. After the 2008 recession it was a badge of honor to have a non dead-end job and to always be hustling, to thrive despite the crash and not be a 'loser' who had to move back home. I still can't shake that mentality, and despite how well the market is doing or how good my finances are doing I always feel like being homeless and foreclosed on like my parents is just around the corner

This is possibly the stupidest "CEO" ever. Who would want to work there? I work in an extremely high pace startup but our corporate culture dictates that people turn off on the weekend if they want.

The article says the CEO is always thinking about work and so should staff.

So ummm how much is the CEO paid vs those workers? Give me 7 figures and I will gladly "always think a lot about work" for a year or two.

I'll save you all a click

> CEO thinks about her job constantly and wants young people who do the same. She will message potential candidates at odd hours and they have 3 hours to respond.

I personally don't think that she will get far and I'm guessing that most of us on here agree.

"It's really great to feel uncomfortable," she said.

No. No it's not. Perhaps yes if you're a masochist, but for the majority of us it's a no.

No job is worth this.

Her job-hopping resume probably shows she enjoys being uncomfortable. Interviewing is like a fun game to play.

Good for her

I rarely respond to any message on my phone outside "normal" hours .. with a couple exceptions (one being my wife)

And messages from unknown numbers? They get filed to possibly never be responded to (possibly blocked)

I feel like this is actually a great idea -

As a night owl,I've noticed people who get up in the morning have life worked out way better than me.

If the ceo text people at 3am, excluded anyone awake to respond, and upmarked anyone who responded before 8, it would be a good cultural fit test for some places!

(I can think of one place that I wish had detected me as ' not likely to attend unofficially mandatory 8am scrums and saved some stress)

Sounds like a CEO and company I'd rather avoid.

In theory, one might think this just makes you hardcore and productive. In practice, it always seems to be people who are (merely) equally or a little less productive than people who don't work all the time. But the optics is so convicing before you join and early on. As time goes on, you see the truth. I think everyone has this experience at least once.

Sounds like a terrible way of doing work. If you are expected to react to everything sent your way you never get to do any deep and meaningful work. Furthermore, running around and firefighting all the time does not give you the time and space require to learn, reflect, and improve. More people need to think about the long term impact of their work habits.

Why would you ever want to work there?

"If you're in the process of interviewing with us, I'll text you about something at 9 p.m. or 11 a.m. on a Sunday just to see how fast you'll respond."

Response: "Please consider my application withdrawn."

This is weird. I just don't know, what does it achieve?

If your call someone who is not a founder, during off hours, it is better to be super urgent and means that something went terribly wrong in the management layer.

If you flip the scrk

Bleh, whatever. This kind of things doesn't really prove anything.

Workaholism without aligned interests (ie, real, founder-class stock for employees, eg a co-op) isn't rational except for people whom sell their whole existence to a company, but that's also a recipe for burnout.

As the basecamp folks said, "Fire the workaholics."

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