[swalkergibson]

I agree with you to an extent. However, the flyer says the session starts at 6:00PM, not 5:50 or 5:55PM. Generally speaking, when someone says to arrive at a particular event 5-10 minutes early, it is simply so that everyone can be seated and things can get going at the prescribed time, 6:00PM, not that the participants should disregard the stated start time of the event. Plus, if the story that the company representative was rude is true, then that is not cool for the exact reason that the participant specified. The company theoretically lives and dies by its couriers, so frustrating them (perhaps it is a little harsh to say they treat their couriers like trash) right out of the gate is not exactly a good growth strategy.

[cjbprime]

> The company theoretically lives and dies by its couriers, so frustrating them (perhaps it is a little harsh to say they treat their couriers like trash) right out of the gate is not exactly a good growth strategy.

That depends on whether they're constrained by supply (couriers) or demand (customers). If they're demand-constrained, I think it makes sense to be very selective about which couriers they take on to ensure their customers have a great experience, and choosing which couriers to accept based on how early they arrive for their job interview seems like an excellent metric to use to attempt to differentiate between applicants you otherwise know very little about.

[potatolicious]

> "That depends on whether they're constrained by supply (couriers) or demand (customers)."

Treating someone decently and with respect is not a supply/demand equation. Your sentence is why everyone hates us. Are you rude to your waiter because he's on the short end of the supply/demand stick?

> "and choosing which couriers to accept based on how early they arrive for their job interview seems like an excellent metric"

No, not it doesn't. This is cargo cult hiring, no different than hiring programmers based on how well they can reason why manhole covers are round, or why one lightbulb is warmer than the next.

You can determine who is an effective courier and who isn't by having them deliver things. Just like you can determine who is an effective programmer and who isn't by having them write code.

This sort of "hiring by proxy signal even though the primary signal is perfectly testable" is endemic in our industry, and apparently isn't limited to hiring devs.

Tell people what you expect of them, and expect that of them. To do otherwise is shitty mind games no better than the classic Monty Python sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP0sqRMzkwo&feature=kp

> "an excellent metric to use to attempt to differentiate between applicants you otherwise know very little about."

... and we arrive at the core of tech industry idiocy. "We don't have enough information to make a good decision" is answered by "Let's concoct logical-sounding but completely unverified proxy signals to make the decision instead of collecting more information".

[pavel_lishin]

> You can determine who is an effective courier and who isn't by having them deliver things.

I agree with your post, but I have to point out that his first job was delivering himself to the presentation on time. Given zero other information, I'd take the guy who showed up pretty early over the guy who barely made it.

But as you said, that's not really enough information.

[potatolicious]

> "I agree with your post, but I have to point out that his first job was delivering himself to the presentation on time."

Yes, and he did. I'd agree also that given no other information I'd take the guy who was earlier, but that seems on the verge of "how many pieces of flair are you wearing" territory. If you expect people to be early, tell people to be early.

"The orientation begins at 6pm, late arrivals will not be accepted, but early arrivals (within reason) given additional consideration. We are after all a delivery service that aims to beat customer expectations."

How hard is that?

I'm a firm believer in communicating expectations. Not communicating your expectations and then expecting it is unreasonable, and rationalizing your own lack of communication into some twisted character-judge logic is just arrogance.

[cjbprime]

Thanks, good points, I agree that it's disrespectful not to communicate the actual expectations.