
Ask HN: How do you identify people with a strong work ethic? - diweirich
Is work ethic something that can only be seen by working alongside someone?
======
uberman
What exactly do you mean by "a strong work ethic"?

I ask because I thought opening up this post that I was going to start with an
easy answer, but the more I thought about it, the less I was sure what "work
ethic" even meant.

So, I looked it up:

 _" The principle that hard work is intrinsically virtuous or worthy of
reward."_

So, I came to this post/question absolutely certain that "a strong work ethic"
was absolutely something I agreed with and would look for in myself and
colleagues. Now, I am not so sure.

Is "hard work intrinsically virtuous"? Is working harder rather than smarter
more worthy of reward? There are plenty of jobs where real unpleasant, hard
work is required yet is often of little value. The architect will get more
reward than the foreman who will in turn get more reward than the person
spaying gunite. Life seems full of counter examples to "hard work is
intrinsically virtuous".

Even when comparing people in the same job...

Would I rather work with a partner who was "lazy" and produced 10 widgets
because they knew how to best use their tools, or would I rather work with
someone industrious who produced 10 widgets through sheer force of will? I
think the first one rather than the second.

Ultimately (to try to actually answer your question). If I did not know a
candidate or their actual "work ethic", I would ask them to tell me about a
time/job/project/assignment that was a (potential) failure and what they did
during and after the project as it was ending. What did they personally do to
mitigate the failure and after the project had ended what did they personally
take away from the post mortem.

~~~
gshdg
This. What's a strong work ethic and why is it important to you? What makes
you think the vast majority of people's work ethics are insufficient for your
purposes such that you have to specifically look for people with stronger
ones?

Have you had a problem with hiring people who slack off and get nothing done?
Are you asking how you find people who will work 80 hour weeks for months on
end without overtime and without quitting on you?

~~~
diweirich
My goal is to find other freelancers to work alongside that have a similar
work ethic. I want to find people who will collaborate and take ownership of a
project on an equal level. Ideally people who aim to deliver not just a
functioning "widget", but the best widget the client has ever seen.

~~~
afarrell
It sounds like you want to ask

1\. What motivates them.

2\. How they communicate in the face of roadblocks.

\-----

I suspect you want to do more thinking in order to be more precise about what
you really want.

