[kolektiv]

Hmmm. I'm not one of the people you're really looking for here, but I could take a stab at reasons why I haven't been beating a path to your door...

a) I haven't really heard of you. A few words here and there over the years, but how much do you get out there and tell the geek community you exist? I'm guessing it's specific to a few specific tech areas - which I haven't seen. b) You're in London, you talk about "working hard" and being in your "Clerkenwell office". I've worked round there before, but really? I want a company who's more about working smart - and not in one place all the time. How much do you really need to physically see me? Commuting, plus a little bit of a tiny hint of "macho hard work culture" (probably unfair, but...) is enough for me to take a place off my list. It's a sellers market, generally. c) Also... money. London is expensive. Everyone knows London is expensive (and they're right). You don't say anything about money - no hints, etc. My reaction (being picky) is that it probably isn't enough to make it worth my while (and also that you may try and make me the lowest offer you think you can - I'm assuming you don't have open pay scales). d) Effort. You talk about your tough hiring - multiple rounds, tests, a day working with you (you don't say whether you'll pay me for this...) Why would I do this? If I'm smart, capable, good at what I do, I probably know people who want to work with me already - why jump through these hoops for a possibly good job then?

These may be unfair points - I hope not, but perhaps - but finding good people right now is about attracting them, not throwing up barriers or making them work for it.

[kaokun]

Thanks for your feedback kolektiv. Allow me to follow up on a few of your points:

a) If you have any advice on how to get our name out in the geek community then let me know. You are right that a lot of our community stuff is Perl or Geo focussed, but that's where our expertise is so that's where we can contribute the most. How well received would we be at a Python or Ruby event? Or are there more generic events we should be aware of?

b) When it comes to interns and more junior roles we really need to physically see you, every day, with face to face interaction. You just get more bandwidth and more effective communication that way.

Your point about working smart is 100% right. Internally we have 'work smart not hard' as one of our mantras, and that's not well reflected in the job ad at all. Thanks!

c) We don't say anything about money precisely because London is expensive and getting more so every year. One way to work smart is to write an intern job ad that we've hardly touched since 2006, despite the fact that intern salaries have increased consistently every year since then. We also like to be flexible based on people's experience - is it really worth putting on a job ad "£25K - 50K" when that's the range we're willing to consider for different candidates?

d) We're a small company of ~15 people with 4 engineers. That means if we hire you as our fifth engineer you're immediately making up 20% of the engineering team! You're damn right we want to make our interview process intense. I think it's fair to forewarn candidates about that.

Thanks again for your feedback. I hope you'll share some more, especially on point (a) about getting our name out there more.

[Peroni]

a) If you have any advice on how to get our name out in the geek community then let me know.

Come speak about something interesting at HN London. 400-500 people a month in the heart of London. http://meetup.com/HNLondon

My contact info is in my HN profile if you're interested.

[mseebach]

> is it really worth putting on a job ad "£25K - 50K" when that's the range we're willing to consider for different candidates?

Yes. It anchors your offering quite a bit. £25k is somewhat north of the UK mean income (not the London one, though), and especially as a foreigner allows me to get an idea on what my budget might look like. £50k is somewhat less what your competitors are paying for decent talent (no, not just finance, although it's a dumb career move to write off finance wholesale), so if I'm making £50k somewhere else and looking to level up, I know that I'll be wasting both yours and my time, on the other hand, if I'm making £30k, and my boss tells me it's a good salary, I know that that's a good chance I could make more.

Also, I plainly enjoy the honesty. "£Competitive" my ass.

[Peroni]

Agreed 100% with this advice. A large range beats 'competitive' or 'Dependent on Experience" any day.

[kaokun]

Great feedback, thanks mseebach.

[mseebach]

http://www.lokku.com/jobs/intern.html

    > Is this for real?
    > Yes.

Uhm, ok. I mean, it looks good, but it's not like I needed to pinch myself afterwards.

Also:

    > You're in London 
    > That's where we are. We're not hiring remote workers.    
      We're looking forward to some intense and fast paced face-to-face 
      brainstorming sessions. You need to be in London.

There's a certain vibe of, you know, needing to be in London and not, say, Portugal in that phrasing.

[kaokun]

You're right on that second point, that needs re-wording. With that in there it's surprising we've had so many people from Europe, the US, Canada, and even non-London-UK apply for and get internships with us :P

[disputin]

C. And worsening. I'm looking at moving in the opposite direction, from London to Spain/Portugal/France. I don't know why anyone who lives close enough to pop over to London for a break would want to live here. Unless they work in finance.

[kaokun]

I am truly amazed by this, and I would argue that London is the best place to live in the world. I don't think popping over, or even coming for an extended multi-week visit, can compare with living here for months or years.

Even if, as it sounds, you've lived here for years and you've gotten a bit tired of it, surely you can agree that if somebody hasn't ever lived in London they would be crazy not to try it out? :-)

[lotsofcows]

London's quite fun when you're young but on the whole it contains all that's bad about the UK and very little of the amazing stuff.