zlacker

>>jrs235+(OP)
When I interview candidates I always bring up his book and ask: "If all this goes well and you come work for us, what's next for you after that? Where do you want to be positioned to go after you move on from here?"

It's a weird question. But it's how I know whether or not I can deliver value to that potential employee. At big companies, salary and benefits is usually the main "value" that they provide. So, in essence, they provide the higher comp package necessary to make up for the fact that an employee is not going to learn as much as they would at a smaller company. A small company or an early stage startup is full of opportunities to learn. If your goal is to start your own company someday, I can make sure you're leaning the things that will help you get there. If you want to be a race car driver, I don't have much for you.

Employment is a two-way agreement. It's true that employers have the upper hand because they typically represent 100% of that person's income. The employee, on the other hand, is 1/N of the workforce. Switching costs are also likely higher for the employee.

For many people, I would imagine that a transparent and honest assessment is preferred to a pretend make-believe world where we imagine that an employee will spend their entire career in one place.

>>nwenze+l5
Do you expect a non-bullshit answer? For better or worse, this sounds to me like one of "those" interview questions, and expecting a company to care about what I do next makes about as much sense as expecting the company to treat me like family.

>>analog+a8
Maybe he's self-selecting for sociopaths/people who are good at telling him what he want's to hear? I've always wondered about an organization consisting of psychopaths. You disguise it as a consulting firm, at which point it severely cripples the target company as they infiltrate and demoralize. Then the evil mastermind covers his short positions/options. Seems like it could make for a good book or movie anyway.

>>xrange+e9
Ha! Funny that you should mention it. I used to run a consulting firm. We got up to 12 people. Of those employees, 2 got married (not to each other), 2 bought a new house (1 bought their first house), 2 moved in from a different state, 6 kids were born (I'm pretty sure it was 6) to 3 different employees, 1 came back to work after a 2 year leave to raise her kids.

Your idea about building, then destroying a company is intriguing. But it would really suck to hurt those people. Or my customers who count on the great work those people do.

I like to think I'm not a sociopath. Posting on HN is probably not a great way to be told what you want to hear. :)