Dan Pink’s blog pointed me to a well-written posting from Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape and one of the guys who figured out how to make the Internet alot more usable with a web browser (Mosaic). For many of us, who spend alot of time using the Internet, this is like the Edison inventing the light bulb.
Andreessen’s posting is on how to hire really good people. His experience comes from hiring for startups but I think his advice applies to all companies. Andreessen has a way of busting myths and conventional wisdom with light, conversational humor. In particular, I like the posting because it draws from real life experience and boils it down to a few key, actionable tips. I won’t spoil it by giving you the golden nuggets here. Go read for yourself.
One more thing. I was impressed by not the number of comments and trackbacks on the posting itself, but by the fact that Andreessen was clearly reading all comments (some of them very lengthy) and then responding in detail to the comments. The wikipedia listing for Andreessen validates this in describing how Andreessen developed Mosaic, the first web browser: "Andreessen was fastidious in monitoring and responding to all user comments for suggestions and improvements to the browser, which fueled its accessibility and its popularity." Talents serve us in many ways.
This was an interesting article. And I’ve seen lots of articles about what employers should look for, but what about employees? What should job searchers be looking for in employers? what should they be asking (without getting weeded out) to ensure that they’re going to click with a company?
Thanks, Lyssann, for turning this around and asking some great questions from the other side of the table. Look for a posting on this topic next week, as it deserves a bit more space and attention than replying in a comment.