I'm curious to understand the varying experiences of a technical vs. non-technical candidate, but I also will offer a hypothesis that many startups simply are very, very poor at managing a recruiting process.
Case in point: It wasn't until I began interviewing for business development roles with startups that a dialogue around high-level employment was simply ended with no follow-up.
I had spoken with one particular five-person shop (with a TechStars pedigree and a new wave of Series A under their belt) for a month or so. I had met the entire team and had an incredibly good rapport with the CEO/Co-Founder. We were down to the point of salary negotiations...
...and then, radio silence. That was eight weeks ago. I even sent two short emails every ten days just to see if there was any other insights or thoughts I could provide to help firm up their decision. The emails were ignored; I even bumped INTO the founder one day, and said founder promised to "follow-up this week". That was three weeks ago.
My time as a recruiter for my consulting firm taught me to treat each candidate with empathy and respect (unless they give you a reason not to do so). Unfortunately, by mishandling the process these startups lose not only a potential future employee, but also a potential user and partner in the instance that you have a leading role elsewhere.
I've had clients that wouldn't even take delivery of work I had done for them that they had paid for. But that's not just startups, that's everyone these days.
Case in point: It wasn't until I began interviewing for business development roles with startups that a dialogue around high-level employment was simply ended with no follow-up.
I had spoken with one particular five-person shop (with a TechStars pedigree and a new wave of Series A under their belt) for a month or so. I had met the entire team and had an incredibly good rapport with the CEO/Co-Founder. We were down to the point of salary negotiations...
...and then, radio silence. That was eight weeks ago. I even sent two short emails every ten days just to see if there was any other insights or thoughts I could provide to help firm up their decision. The emails were ignored; I even bumped INTO the founder one day, and said founder promised to "follow-up this week". That was three weeks ago.
My time as a recruiter for my consulting firm taught me to treat each candidate with empathy and respect (unless they give you a reason not to do so). Unfortunately, by mishandling the process these startups lose not only a potential future employee, but also a potential user and partner in the instance that you have a leading role elsewhere.