Its not a big surprise that start ups dont do the things you say because you're not their target demographic.
If the servers are catching fire and you only have 2-3 people then replying to inane emails may not be important to them.
For instance you say you send people emails to ask if its still open even though the job description has the date on it. You are looking for them to reply to you but they're probably thinking that your comprehension is bad. You're really talking about start ups that have a full time HR person and I would hazard a guess that by that stage (ie 10-20ish employees) that the company isn't really in start up mode anymore.
If you want to get a job in a start up then i would recommend:
- Contact the Founders personally. This is generally really easy to find out in a start up.
- Ask your friends if they know any founders and ask for an intro.
- Find a start up that you may actually be passionate about and apply there.
- Take the job offers you have and found your own start up later down the track.
Start ups are not for everyone, it seems quite glamorous but it takes certain personalities to be involved as a founder and/or staff member. That's not a positive or negative either way but figure out what works for you. I notice quite a bit of tension on HN these days that is internal tension that comes out anti/pro start-ups and venture capital.
The purpose of this post is to help some employers understand that some people expect a minimum of courtesy. I truly understand that I may not be what a company is looking for. However, it takes literally 5 seconds to tell me that.
Pretty sure most server fires are dealt with by Amazon and the likes (intentional ignorance, yes I understand startup founders are busy. So am I). If their team is not important to them, then that's probably not a place where I (or a lot of other people) would want to work. I'm specifically not talking about HR recruiters, but founders/co-founders/engineers that do hiring. I don't find anything more frustrating than having 10 emails back and forth, and then suddenly silence. I'm sorry, but I think this is utter lack of respect.
As for contacting the founders personally, that's why I ceased sending e-mails to generic jobs@foo.bar. Sure, sometimes that works, but I've found much better success by e-mailing people directly.
Asking my friends if they know any startups isn't really the point (besides, that wouldn't open up a large enough network). I'm talking more about HN posters specifically, because it's much easier to find an interesting startup, one that matches my skills and interests, from the larger selection base on HN. I'm wasn't looking for just any startup just because it's a startup. I was more trying to find one that matches my interests. I won't get into the passion argument again. At least, that's my philosophy regarding job search.
Its not a big surprise that start ups dont do the things you say because you're not their target demographic.
If the servers are catching fire and you only have 2-3 people then replying to inane emails may not be important to them. For instance you say you send people emails to ask if its still open even though the job description has the date on it. You are looking for them to reply to you but they're probably thinking that your comprehension is bad. You're really talking about start ups that have a full time HR person and I would hazard a guess that by that stage (ie 10-20ish employees) that the company isn't really in start up mode anymore.
If you want to get a job in a start up then i would recommend: - Contact the Founders personally. This is generally really easy to find out in a start up. - Ask your friends if they know any founders and ask for an intro. - Find a start up that you may actually be passionate about and apply there. - Take the job offers you have and found your own start up later down the track.
Start ups are not for everyone, it seems quite glamorous but it takes certain personalities to be involved as a founder and/or staff member. That's not a positive or negative either way but figure out what works for you. I notice quite a bit of tension on HN these days that is internal tension that comes out anti/pro start-ups and venture capital.