Comment by karambahh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by karambahh | Hacker News Reader

As several mentionned, "spilling the beans" about the ins and outs about a current employer, and getting paid for it, is really frowned upon in some industries.

At least in Europe, in the industries I worked in, I always had a clause in my contract about releasing company information that was ground for termination without pay and/or damages. Being paid to reveal intel would be ground for termination.

I get it, we all do spill the beans at industry gatherings for instance, even sometimes publicly on hn! I also try and help young graduates get good jobs at great companies but I do it as a former student...or as a side help when I part-time teach classes at universities. (and I pay attention to who I mentor and where I suggest them to apply to)

While I don't agree with this state of mind, I know quite a few companies where a prospective employee is considered a potential asset but still an outside. The interview process is gamed to bring the brightest at the smallest pay possible. Be paid to counter these tactics...not good.

Being paid to essentially deliver intel to an outsider will not go well at some companies.

The interview process is confidential/privileged information. Revealing specifics would/could be in breach of employment contract. Being paid by TheLobby would be actual proof/reasonable doubt that you breach the contract.

(Despite this comment, I like your idea and your personal story and I'm glad someone was there to help you/mentor you when you needed it, I just wanted to expose what was, to me, a potential pitfall )

Thank you for the kind words and feedback! I'm copy pasting some stuff from the thread below.

"Definitely agree that this could be a problem. Practically speaking - we keep identities anonymous and so employees are protected.

Ethically speaking - if you have a buddy inside the company, they'll tell you how to prep with information the company wouldn't want you to know anyways.

It all comes back to our main point - if you don't have an inside connection, you don't get the juicy insights someone with that advantage does. So your odds of landing the job, let alone knowing what it takes to land it, are always lower. We bridge that gap - everything else in our view is a solvable problem because this engages current/former employees in the recruiting process + helps companies discover more talent.

The summary is that we're fine with keeping it anonymous now and here we have to take a bit more of a disruptive approach. Airbnb and Uber were both illegal (As in literally breaking laws) and still scaled and ultimately succeeded because they believed in the fundamental benefit of their service to the world.

The Lobby is completely legal, just maybe against some company policies, but we feel the benefits far outweigh the cons of some random company policy, even for the company itself as described above."

You're probably not going to launch very soon in Europe/France/Belgium but please do pay attention to these issues on the other side of the pond (which might still exist in the US, I guess you'd know better than me :-) )

The fact I anonymously revealed company information does not bring meany immunity wrt my current contract. I can still be terminated if they find out. Would I risk getting fired for $100? No way. If I don't want to take this risk, I'm not going to be a "customer" of The Lobby and thus, you get the chicken & egg problem others talked about.

I think I'm primarily "opposed" (for lack of a better word at 2AM, but you get the idea) to your pitch for ethical & risk profile reasons. These reasons are inherently personnal and the next guy over can be entitled to a very different pov.

However I think that the legal risk for the employee and thus the marketing/sourcing risk for The Lobby, still stand?

Wish you all the best :-)

Yes! See your points. We'll have to agree to disagree :). Good night!!! Appreciate the candid feedback.

It’s going to be tough for your consultants to stay truly anonymous. Presumably you’ll be issuing them 1099s, they may need to adjust withholding, they’ll have decide whether or not to incorporate in order to limit their liability, and so on.

Nor am I so sure this would be completely legal. It might run afoul of the honest services statute even as narrowed by SCOTUS.

Again here would suggest you check out GLG, Alphasights and other expert networks. They deal with much more sensitive info than "interview prep,"and much larger dollar figures; they do this with 1099's and have no issues for their supply side (which are employees or former employees at highly regulated institutions).

You are not required by law to report 1099's to your employer from what I understand - but we still encourage them to check with employers before agreeing to join The Lobby.

Last point, we've learned that if you use marketplace features on Stripe or PayPal, you potentially don't need to issue 1099's if you make less than $20k in a calendar year, which we don't know any of our individual insiders will make even at scale (if they make $20k, I suspect they’ll find a way to make the paperwork work!)

I'm not quite sure if this is a communication due to my recent 1099 status contractor employment with Lionbridge and just wanted to make sure that I hadn't missed anything that I needed to submit. Thank you, Sarah

> Ethically speaking - if you have a buddy inside the company, they'll tell you how to prep with information the company wouldn't want you to know anyways.

I feel there are two views on this: From the candidate's perspective, his/her buddy might "owe" it to them to provide additional info which will give them a leg up in the application/interviewing process.

From the buddy's perspective, if they (company/hiring manager) have already decided on one candidate, it _might_ be fruitful to help them get the job, otherwise it would amount to unethical behavior by not giving all the candidates an equal footing.

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