Job hopping using the buddy system

Imagine this scenario: You are sitting in your final technical interview the lead architect asks you about your experience using the MVC pattern noted on your resume. Before you can answer the coworker who developed that application with you says “I can answer this one, if that’s OK.” The interview goes great and in two weeks you get the call and receive an offer for both of you.

That’s one offer with given to a team of job applicants. You all accept together as one unit or agree to reject the offer and keep looking.

Sound crazy? Not according to The authors of “The 2020 Workplace” nor to several bloggers like damonoverboe.org and moddingideas.com (see prediction 6). “The 2020 Workplace” suggests that the future of IT may operate more “like Hollywood” with specialized teams who are hired, evaluated, rewarded, and even reprimanded as a group.

This book was required reading for the masters program I just completed in Dec of 11. This was the primary text for Dr Perreault’s class. It is interesting that Damon would promote such a similar concept.

There is some compelling evidence that the importance of “socializing” your work reputations is increasing. Have you noticed an uptick in coworkers who found out about the job openings through Facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter? Have you or has your boss or interviewing company been to your blog? Perhaps the same people who vouch for us on LinkedIn and Facebook should be in our interviews with us and if we are successful together why wouldn’t we want to keep working together?

What do you think? Is this a good idea? Will employers start hiring entire teams? Thank you for your input.

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posted on Sunday, February 05, 2012 11:51 PM

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# re: Job hopping with the buddy system 2/11/2012 10:50 AM Damon Overboe

Hey Tom,

Thanks for the follow-up post and book recommendation. I should have guessed that someone would have written a book about it! :-D

There is no doubt that posting a job opening in the newspaper or on job boards are losing effectiveness. It's not that people do not respond, it's that the business' ability to be effective comes down to culture, so we rely heavily on recommendations of our employees.

There is a pretty good article on FastCompany about this.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1810674/culture-eats-strategy-for-lunch

I think it all ties together. I also think that by taking the approach of hiring pairs, companies can get a jump on this and begin snatching up the dynamic duos or teams, so this will get trendy for a while as companies try to gain an edge over their competitors.

# re: Job hopping with the buddy system 2/21/2012 10:19 AM Ross Burgess

I tend to find that while hiring may not always be in pairs, there has always been a pretty strong referral system in technology that has a very similar result. For instance, a vast majority of the people at my current job either worked with each other at previous jobs, or went to college together, and a lot of us have crossed paths at more than one instance. You get to know who you trust, and then you try to bring them with you. The non-referral new-hire is becoming more of an exception than the norm.

# Times are changing 2/21/2012 11:34 PM Tom Pepe

Thanks for contributing! I really liked that Fast Company article Damon; it's on my list of things to blog about. It really hit a hot button with me.

Ross - I know what you mean about the existing referral system. Do you think that's where it ends though or is the referral system in IT evolving into something else? I'm on the fence on this one but if I were in a position to hire I would prefer this method: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch08_Kick_the_Tires.php

Getting Real suggests that actually writing code collaboratively (with the team) is the best way to field candidates. I agree but could that be practical? I have an idea.

What if the company or several companies host a charity coding event over a weekend where an application or website is created for a local beloved small company or non-for profit?

HR recruiting is expensive and there are no guarantees but using this method has multiple benefits and it could be a tax
write-off. Giving back to the community will increase goodwill for the company. It will give your programmers a chance to get exposure to technologies and techniques they can use on your projects. Not to mention employees can meet other capable, like-minded individuals they enjoy working with which can result in a recruiting opportunity for the company.

What do you think?

Thomas Pepe

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