

Why hunting for unicorns is bullshit - pauloteixeira
http://blog.landing.jobs/why-hunting-for-unicorns-is-bullshit-and-how-to-hire-a-great-ux-designer/

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canthonytucci
"Design a challenge to evaluate the selected candidates’ skills. Good
professionals love challenges. If the candidate refuses to do a challenge,
consider this a red flag about their future commitment."

To me a bigger red flag is if someone has the time and desperation to put up
with this kind of bullshit. Good professionals love money and respect.

Edit: IMHO the "unicorn" is someone who is both competent and spineless, which
to me sounds like the candidate this article is asking you to find.

~~~
shubhamjain
> To me a bigger red flag is if someone has the time and desperation to put up
> with this kind of bullshit. Good professionals love money and respect.

Ouch, the cynicism here is astounding. Speaking for myself, I would love to
delve into a challenge, like, cracking a small program [1], even if it gets me
nothing because this, in itself, is so exciting.

[1]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8331381](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8331381)

~~~
canthonytucci
I think that we're talking about two different things.

This challenge seems great to get some, as the link refers to "part-time CS
student" employees.

I read the original article as aimed at an employer who is trying to find an
alternative to just seeking out "miracle" employees, for these people part
timers with no experience are probably not what they need.

If you need someone with experience who's likely already working in the field,
taking time and concentration energy away from current work/personal
projects/family/life is a much harder sell.

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erroneousfunk
"After selecting a winner in the challenge phase, try to work with the
candidate in a small project before hiring him. Pay for the hours spent on the
project, of course!"

It would be difficult to find a winning candidate who is unemployed, or who is
employed and has the bandwidth to come in during office hours and work on a
project with your team. That being said, performance on a paid "evening hours"
consulting project would be a very good hiring metric that I think more
companies should use.

~~~
nadams
> It would be difficult to find a winning candidate who is unemployed, or who
> is employed and has the bandwidth to come in during office hours and work on
> a project with your team.

Yes - please stop asking candidates to do this. I mean it's great that this
particular company will offer to pay you for your time - but I've seen some
companies require a candidate to come in and work for free for a day.

The last job application I was asked to take a 3 hour phone interview back-to-
back (remote job). It just seems disrespectful that you would ask someone to
be on the phone for half the day just for the possibility that they might get
the job. I don't know about you guys - but if I disappeared for 3 hours from
my job someone might be a little annoyed. I'm not saying to interview people -
but break it out into smaller chunks throughout the week. Could I have asked
this company to do that? Probably - but there were other red flags that
suggested I stay away.

~~~
ghaff
> It just seems disrespectful that you would ask someone to be on the phone
> for half the day just for the possibility that they might get the job.

The vast majority of jobs require coming in for a half-day or day of
interviews for the possibility of getting a job. I agree with your point about
doing projects for free but a block of interviews is pretty normal. If they're
by phone anyway, sure they could be spread out but most companies will have at
least some interviews in-person.

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jandrewrogers
These processes are inconsistent. The company can be picky but so can the
candidate if they are good. More often than not, companies are approaching the
good software engineers to work for them and not the other way around.

You end up with this bizarre recruiting process, which I have seen many times,
where some company approaches me about working for them because I am one of
the best and most experienced in my field, and once I agree to talk to them
they treat me like some idiot developer who rolled in off the street. The idea
that they would waste a bunch of my time "challenging" me, paid or not, is
just bizarre.

I can see it for developers with little experience. But no sane person wants
to build a team with nothing but inexperienced developers which means you need
to learn how to recruit highly skilled software engineers. The outlined
process is a recipe for annoying them.

------
eli_gottlieb
I thought the whole point of the term "unicorn" was to indicate that you are
referring to a class of employees/companies who just plain do not exist, but
are nonetheless the objects of immense amounts of fantasizing.

~~~
logfromblammo
It's a buzzword shift. You can probably just ignore anyone who says it.

I'm not sure exactly what it's replacing, because those words are equally
meaningless. As Humpty Dumpty would put it, it means exactly what the speaker
wants it to mean, no more, no less. Just add it to the list:

    
    
      - *unicorn*
      - rockstar
      - ninja
      - diamond
      - 10X
      - 6-sigma
      - Jedi
      - guru
      - wizard
      - unobtainium
      ...
    

Excessive focus on supernatural employees reveals that the company, for lack
of a better term, fervently believes in magic. By hiring _the chosen one_ , as
revealed by the hidden UV-fluorescent birthmark and 10 trials of worthiness,
the company will fulfill the founders' prophecy, defeat the competitors, and
pay out on all the options. And everyone lives happily ever after.

The article this industry needs is one on how to build an above-median team
from near-median employees without wasting any time on bullshit HR fantasies.

~~~
eli_gottlieb
> Excessive focus on supernatural employees reveals that the company, for lack
> of a better term, fervently believes in magic. By hiring the chosen one, as
> revealed by the hidden UV-fluorescent birthmark and 10 trials of worthiness,
> the company will fulfill the founders' prophecy, defeat the competitors, and
> pay out on all the options. And everyone lives happily ever after.

I vote that every time we meet anyone who talks as if they think this way, we
take out our smartphones and call up the _My Little Pony_ song on YouTube
until they learn to _stop that shit_.

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brobdingnagian
Great, glad we can agree. Now let's stop talking about them completely.

