This is not indicative of the type of employer-employee relationship I would wish for, from either side of the table. You're presuming an awful lot to spend someone's social capital, without consent, for the express purpose of soliciting negative comments about them.
Suppose a candidate did a reverse background check on Hubspot by cold-calling an investor or customer, quietly, to solicit dirt on the company prior to evaluating a job offer? That strikes me as either a) too socially unaware to function as a professional or alternatively b) borderline sociopathic.
This is pretty standard practice in the valley, particularly if you are being hired in anything more than an entry level position.
Nobody is going to be paid $140K+/year, and be trusted with access to the source code tree, intellectual property, and possible exposure to customers on the basis of 3-5 45 minute interviews and a few (supplied by the candidate) reference checks.
You are going to be hired if (A) we already know you or (B) someone we know can vouch for you that you've done good work for other companies.
Trying to hire on any other basis is just playing a crap shoot.
It's what I like to tell my employees - "None of you are working for this company. You are all working for the _next_ company - and every decision and action you take here, will reflect on whether your next employer will want to hire you."
There's a huge difference between a personal voucher and a opinion randomly solicited off LinkedIn. The latter might nix some candidates, but is probably not very useful in determining the best ones.
Patrick: Good to connect again, though I wish it were happier circumstances. :)
Disclosure: Brian Halligan (the author of the article) is my co-founder and friend at HubSpot.
It's late here in Boston, and it doesn't look like he's going to get a chance to respond tonight, but I wanted to address a couple of the points you've made (and that have been echoed by others in the HN community).
1. This particular tactic of his is usually near the very end of the process. He doesn't start by doing reference checks. He still goes through standard interviews, and in most cases, has them meet several members of the team.
2. Brian is super-sensitive about not putting potential employees in an uncomfortable position by disclosing that they are seeking employment. That would be a jerk move, and he's not a jerk. And it's also bad business.
3. His express purpose is not to solicit negative comments (though it comes off that way in the article). He's trying to get a more complete picture of the truth. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The focus is on what this persons "super powers" are. Most of the discussion is positive (For someone to have made it that far in the process, in just about all cases, there's going to be more strengths than weaknesses). But, he does deliberately open the door for negative comments.
4. We actually encourage anyone that is looking to join the HubSpot team to do deep due diligence on us. We think it's not only fair, but good for both parties. They can talk to any employee (or ex-employee), any customer, any investor, any partner. We aim to be as transparent as possible in this process and have found that the kinds of people that we like to recruit value that particular aspect of the company culture.
One thing I will say for sure: Brian is one of the most ethical people I know. He's going to be disappointed when he reads this thread that folks though him to be shady.
There is no way for me to prove that Brian's one of the good-guys. But, there's a way for you to do it (turn the tables, if you will). Do some blind reference checks. That would make for an interesting follow-up post.
Thanks for reading. Sorry it was so long -- it's been a long day, and I didn't have a chance to make it shorter.
Regards,
Dharmesh
p.s. I don't usually write HN comments in letter form, but it felt right in this particular case as I think of Patrick as a friend.
Suppose a candidate did a reverse background check on Hubspot by cold-calling an investor or customer, quietly, to solicit dirt on the company prior to evaluating a job offer? That strikes me as either a) too socially unaware to function as a professional or alternatively b) borderline sociopathic.