I had worked at Yahoo with people who had been there forever; did good work and made a good impression. Working on a lot of stuff that needed to be done, but not enough work to have a person or usually do knowledge transfer until it breaks (or needs to move), so lots of interfacing with old timers.
Anyway, I got recruited by four people I worked with there, who had formed startups. I managed to choose the one that had the best exit, but just by luck. One person I didn't want to work with again, one was at a time I was still happy at Yahoo and the product wasn't super interesting to me, the other two called me within weeks of each other (they were both moving to larger offices from an office they shared that was closing) and I picked the one with a realistic commute and the product I liked better.
So, I guess make an impression that you can get stuff done with smart, entreprenuerial people.
Anyway, I got recruited by four people I worked with there, who had formed startups. I managed to choose the one that had the best exit, but just by luck. One person I didn't want to work with again, one was at a time I was still happy at Yahoo and the product wasn't super interesting to me, the other two called me within weeks of each other (they were both moving to larger offices from an office they shared that was closing) and I picked the one with a realistic commute and the product I liked better.
So, I guess make an impression that you can get stuff done with smart, entreprenuerial people.