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by loa_in_ 1024 days ago
No, nepotism is covering someone who's _failing_ at their duties, yet retaining them due to familial connections.

Otherwise, what are you really mitigating by refusing to hire your CTO's nephew? If he's a strong candidate, it's not pathological and calling it nepotism is pointless at best. Otherwise if CTO's nephew turns out to be a weak candidate and is let go then again, it's completely normal. If CTO's nephew is a bad hire, yet he's retained, then it's nepotism.
1 comments
philipswood 1024 days ago
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nepotism

>nepotism

>noun

>nep· o· tism ˈne-pə-ˌti-zəm

>: favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship

>>accused the company of fostering nepotism in promotions

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StevenWaterman 1024 days ago
There's a difference between

    (is kin) -> (preferred for job)
and

    (is kin) -> (insider knowledge that they're better than expected) -> (preferred for job)
Specifically,

    (insider knowledge that they're better than expected) -> (preferred for job)
would make complete sense and would not be looked down upon. The source of that knowledge is problematic on a societal scale, but not on an individual level.
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quickthrower2 1024 days ago
Still nepotism.

Person A and B are equally great for the role but cannot do a triple summersault to land on a beam, so neither can get past the interview stage

But… A’s uncle who went to Harvard with a high-up says “that boy is good” so they hire him on that. B posts on HN about getting no feedback and submitting their CV to 100 firms.

Nepotism has happened.

Later A may/may not succeed, turns out he does in this N=1 case.

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hgomersall 1023 days ago
This debate about definition is sort of irrelevant to the broader question. Should knowledge that someone is good be ignored if the knowledge was gained through prior personal knowledge of a candidate? Even if that was possible, it would seem to me an absurd a route to take. Surely the better question is how those without prior connections can be allowed to sufficiently demonstrate their competence.
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mikrl 1024 days ago
(is some race) -> (won’t fit in on team) -> (don’t hire)

Is transitive racism okay in your worldview?

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