Ask HN: What should a startup not do when posting a job ad? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What should a startup not do when posting a job ad?

7 pointskinkora8 comments

I distinctively remembered a post about half a day ago about a user ranting about how amateurish a YC job posting was but I can't seem to find both that post and the YC job posting.

While the tone of the post may have been a bit snarky, I for one found it (and along with the comments) pretty informative in terms of what a start-up should do (or rather not do) when posting a job ad. I'm perplexed at why the post was removed as I don't think it violated any guidelines though I must say I am relatively new to HN.

So my question is, what should a startup avoid doing when posting a job ad? I am contemplating hiring someone for my venture and I would like to know how to attract good talent without coming across too amateurish.

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The job posting and the separate discussion were deaded. Since there's no other place to mention it now, I'll just mention here how unhappy I was to see [dead] appear for a reasonable, calm discussion about a YC-funded startup advertisement (the only kind of ad that appears here). Having no discussion link on the ad isn't such a big deal, but going out of the way to censor discussion about it stepped over the line, for me.

oh, so i wasn't dreaming about the post. :)

Assuming they were censored, I wonder what the reason was. Could it also be possible that the OP deleted it himself? Nevertheless, you're right. It was quite an odd move to remove the post.

no, i didn't delete it. The original is available at:

https://raw.github.com/gist/1051210/fd7008d908c2929f8476ad57...

The post was deleted because someone made a judgement call. It's a subjective thing. Was it too rantish? Was it not constructive enough? Were the comments any different/better/worse? I'm generally fine with people not agreeing, even if it means you end up on the wrong side of a rule that doesn't seem fair. I'll take some control over none any day of the week. C'est la vie.

In your settings, switch "showdead" to yes and you'll see most things that get killed (but not deleted), such as that post.

was it this (angry) guy http://yourstartupsucks.com/post/6595798517/how-to-fucking-h.... If so that was a lot about the interview process I think rather than job posting.

For the job posting, I think be informative. Ie languages and environment, plus that this is an early (employee 2?) stage hire in a (hopefully interesting/growing/challenging) venture. Be honest about who you are is the best advice. I'd also recommend phone interviews if you want to screen people without using a lot of their/your time and requiring them to travel to you. I wrote up the phone interview process which works for me here http://thecodeofbob.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-i-use-30-min-ph....

HTH, Robin

Be honest and realistic. Stuff like "we will disrupt the XYZ market" is not something that happens every day, so only say things like that if it could really happen. And even then, think twice.

I'd caveat that if you often walk around saying things like "we are going to disrupt XYZ market" then having that in your job ad can filter out people who won't like that and filter in people who will.

Use any of the following words:

* Rockstar * Superstar * Ninja * Pirate

In fact, just leave ANY sort of hyperbole completely out of your job ad.

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