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Comment by seanlinehan | Hacker News Reader

To anybody affected by this layoff, my company Placement.com created a Better.com Alumni Job Board [0] to help smooth the transition. We've seen over and over how much easier it is to get a job at a company where:

1. You have a connection (or can build one easily)

2. The company recognizes the companies you previously worked for

Targeting companies that ex-colleagues work at is a powerful strategy! So we made this board for everybody affected. Also, if you are interested in talking to a career coach, I'm happy to give a free intro session to everybody affected here. Just email me sean@.

The lack of empathy shown in this situation is intense and I hope y'all know that there are amazing companies that will value you more waiting with open arms!

[0] https://www.placement.com/boards/bettercom-alumni-companies

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Just checked out your website: Seems like a nice idea. One thing that looks shady though: it is hard to understand the costs. So, there is $19 for an intro session, $99 (with bulk discount) for reviews, and also 'credits (used for what?) and this information is scattered around different FAQ entries. When companies make me work to understand what I will need to pay, or worse (appear to?) not tell me until I have made an initial expenditure, then I become very wary.

Don't be ashamed of being upfront about costs. If you're worth it, then you're worth it. If you're not worth it for someone, then you will only get a bad rep by tricking them.

Very good feedback – thank you. We are working on a new homepage that spells it out as clear as day!

(Sent from a new acc because my account is on noprocast)

Never let a tragedy go to waste

> The lack of empathy shown in this situation is intense

You're right! ;)

One of you is trying to help these people find their next job.

I have a few qualms with this comment:

1. For a person who just lost their job, you can already search for such an opportunity yourself quite trivially by getting a resume, editing it locally with notepad, and then using email to send it. From Windows or Mac, this resume could be accessed through built-in software.

2. It doesn't actually replace a new job prospect. Most people I know choose to promote their startups themselves or promote them somewhere online to be able to gather users, but they still carry pre-formatted advertisement in case there are opportunities. This does not solve the employment issue.

3. It does not seem very "viral" or income-generating. I know this is premature at this point, but without charging users for the service, is it reasonable to expect to make money off of this?

I’m confused by this comment. Are you arguing that the GP is engaged in unethical behavior, engaged in bad business, being insensitive, cluttering the thread with a low-value contribution, or some door #N that I’m failing to see?

The latter

The poster seems to be trying to draw a parallel between his comment and an infamous post that I made nearly 15 years ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224), or maybe just to make me feel bad. I personally don’t think the tones of the two posts are comparable at all. My post has been quoted out of context for the last decade or so, though, so it’s not surprising to me. (Ask yourself, what did “app” mean in my comment?)

Several people seem to expect that I would be embarrassed by my comment or regret making it, but it honestly doesn’t bother me at all. I, HN, and even the world have changed a lot in 15 years.

Anyway, I’m pretty satisfied with where life has taken me. I’m certainly not going to sweat someone combing through my post history in a vague attempt to dunk on me after pointing out that they’re being a bit of a shithead.

So do you have a problem with the placement.com service, or the GP promoting it?

Because shifting goal posts does nobody good.

Wait, what's the implication with this comment? I feel like you haven't thought through this satire completely.

The "joke" (deserved or not) with Brandon's comment about Dropbox is that it's widely perceived by a lot of people to have turned out to be wrong. So why are you formatting your argument to look like it's the same comment? You want to overlay the other person's argument into Brandon's comment if you're trying to mock them or make them seem out of touch; you accidentally executed this all backwards.

Doing it where you're pushing back against the offers to apply instead makes it seem like you're making a joke criticizing yourself for being out of touch with job searches.

There seems to be a bit of a bug, or confusing element. It appears that Change Everything, Inc. and Facebook are linked together somehow. It says the company is Facebook, but the size and description appear to be for Change Everything, Inc.

All fixed thank you! This was a data collection error – looks like one of our data vendors sent us very incorrect data.

(Sent from a new acc because my account is on noprocast)

If you feel bad, make it free

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