Hiring? Think of your team, not you…

I’m hiring. Come and work for me. I’m great. I’m so great that I’m actually hiring someone. Hey Ma, look at me, I’ve made it…

I’m going to keep this short and simple. It’s something that’s been playing on my mind. So here it is. Too many times I open LinkedIn to see people hiring for their team. Which is fine. It’s a great place to find talent. Product Evangelists, Design Prophets, Chief Technical Genii looking for people to make their team better. The problem I have is when I see ‘Come and work for me’, ‘I’m hiring’, ‘Want to work for me?’. Are you serious? No, I don’t want to work for you. I want to work for a team. A team that has a solid structure and sees all aspects of the team as equal.

Approaching such a matter with the thought that people would actually want to come and work for you specifically makes me think you have a very high standard of yourself, too high. Unless you have the draw of a Steve Jobs, which I seriously doubt, you’re giving the impression of unwarranted ego before anyone even applies. It comes across like you’ll be clicking your fingers ordering me to go and get you a coffee.

The I/My approach gives the impression of someone working for you, not with you. Maybe next time you’re looking for talent, ask people to join our team, because we are hiring and we’d love you to become an important member. Please try to be mindful that they’re interested in more than you. It’s a very subtle change to the approach, but please use ‘WE’ instead of ‘I’, because if you don’t, we suspect you’re going to scare many clever, talented people away.

End of Rant