Robert Sweeney

I received my offer from Netflix 24 hours after I interviewed with them. The offer was double my current salary. They didn't even ask what my current salary was. They offered top of market right out of the gate.

Their process was:
1. Call from recruiter
2. Tech screen from hiring manager
3. Onsite interviews
4. Offer

The entire process only took a week.

Offers should take 48 hours at most. More than that is a red flag. It means the company is old and slow or isn't prioritizing hiring you.

A company will never treat you better than when they are trying to hire you!

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If you are struggling to hire tech talent, www.facet.net can help you avoid mistakes like this.

#softwareengineering #recruiting #startups

I don't believe in rewarding only certain employees for their job offer negotiation skills.

Microsoft offered me $72,000 back in 2004. I was still in college and there were not very many jobs in tech at the time. It was the only offer I had and I was thrilled…but I felt like I was supposed to negotiate. Companies never start with their best offer, right?

I told them I was expecting more and that I would think it over.

I didn’t sleep at all that night. I was so afraid they would withdraw the offer that I arranged a call with the recruiter early the next morning. I told her I would take $73,000 and held my breath. Her response: “Well, I already got approval for $74,000 so how about we go with that.”

I immediately accepted and was SO relieved that I hadn’t blown it.

Two of my classmates accepted the first offer at $72,000. That didn’t seem fair at all.

Negotiating a job offer is terrifying for candidates, so at Facet (www.facetdev.com) we always start with our absolute best offer. The little bit of money we might save by starting low is not worth the loss of trust that inevitably will happen when employees find out someone else got more for the same job.

#softwareengineering #hr #recruiting

Startup founder: We're going to offer you $90K and 1M stock options.

Candidate: But I told you I was currently making $115K...

Startup founder: Yeah, but we're giving you 1M stock options.

Candidate: OK, that sounds like a lot, but how many total shares are there? What percentage of the company would I own?

Startup founder: I can't tell you that.

Candidate: Uh, then how am I supposed to know how much those 1M stock options could be worth? What's the current price of the stock?

Startup founder: I can't tell you that either. But we're backed by some great investors!

Candidate: Yeah, I think I'm going to pass.

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That candidate was me 13 years ago. The startup shut down a few years later.

There's no valid reason for a startup to hide what percentage of the company they are giving you. If they won't tell you how many total shares there are, they are hiding it because they don't want you to know how little it is.

#startups #founders #jobinterviews