Jobs
My dad called yesterday. He’s looking for someone who understands marketing and the web to quintuple sales on his company’s web site. I couldn’t think of anyone who would do that. The closest analogue in the tech world is an ‘evangelist.’ I have no idea how you hire for that job, especially if you yourself don’t spend time on the web.
I ended up telling him that anyone who had the business and the technology skills he wants has already started a company. By ‘business and technology skills’, I mean someone who’s articulate, can code, and has a sense of what people want.
It’s odd to not know whom to hire. I can think of jobs that already exist and wonder how you get them. Just the other night Caroline asked me if I’d ever thought of joining a political campaign. I told her I pay a fair amount of attention to politics but suspect that it’s mostly dumb. I also said that if I could do nothing but make speeches all day, I’d be a happy man. I love talking in front of crowds. At least, I love talking in front of crowds when I get to write what I’ll say. When you know where you’re going, it’s easier to take detours. Anyhow, neither of us knows how you become a speechwriter or a speaker.
I can think of specific people and wonder what it would take to get them to leave whatever they’re doing. I’ve made one brief run at starting a company. Unfortunately, most everyone smart I know works at Google. Between this summer and next summer all the options should vest. Until then, it’s a real problem.
I’ve never heard a job description and thought, “I don’t know how you’d hire for that.” My dad’s looking for passion. That’s the one thing you can’t interview for. You can fake enthusiasm. You can’t fake a portfolio, but just because you’ve done good work in the past doesn’t mean that you’ll like what you have to do in a new job.