Hiring is one of the most important things for any start up. You can’t disagree on it.
However still many get trapped in a vicious trap. We spend 3 months of time and labor is closing in on our recent co-worker. Some of you might say – “That’s it, just 3 months?!”
Finding the right person is tremendously difficult. And sometimes the person seems fit for the job at the time of hiring but it turns out the other way around in just a couple of days.
A friend of mine just shared what happened with him yesterday. After reading it I was unsure if I had sympathy or empathy for him.
He narrates the day as:
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So I have a developer working under me.
This is an exact conversation which happened with him
Me: G, What are you working on now?
G: The Footer issue.
Me: What’s the status?
G: I haven’t started yet
Me: What were you working on till now?
G: The footer issue.
Me: So whats the status?
G: I haven’t started yet.
.
.
(3 hours later)
Me: G, have you fixed the footer issue
G: No. I’m having some issues.
Me: What issues are you having with the footer?
G: No, I haven’t started yet.
Me: Then what are you having issues with?
G: The Footer Issues
Me: But I thought you hadn’t started that.
G: Yes. The Footer Issues.
.
.
(about 9 hours later)
Me: Do you have any tasks for tonight?
G: Yes, the footer issue
Me: Oh it’s still not fixed?
G: Yes, I haven’t pushed it in staging
Me: But it’s fixed
G: No. I haven’t started yet.
Me: Started what?
G: The footer issue
Me: What were you working on since we last spoke?
G: The footer issue.
G: Actually, I don’t know how to fix it.
Me: What is the problem?
G: (some alignment issue)
Me: Did you put a “margin-top: -2px”?
G: No.
Me: Can you put it and try?
G: Yes.
Me: Will you.
G: Yes.
Me: So does that work?
G: Let me try.
G: Yes. This is fixed. I’ll do that tonight.
Me: Do what? It’s done now, I hope.
G: Yes. Correct. I’ll move to other task.
Me: What will you be working on next?
G: The footer issue.
*me banging my head on the wall
Me: But we just fixed the footer issue
G: Yes. I’ll work on the <next task>
.
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Please do share your worst hiring experiences and the learnings from them.