Hey HN,<p>I'm building a new team of 20 software engineers in downtown Dallas. I have recently been meeting a lot of great candidates that are happy with their current roles. I understand that, however, what if the opportunity you present is better? How can you convince them of taking the leap? Have you been in this position, what made you take the leap?
Look, you can talk about a lot of "blah, blah, blah" on this, and some of it matters to some people, some of the time. But the simple, straight-forward, naked truth is this: offer more money. Yes, some things other than money matter, but to <i>most</i> people, <i>most</i> of the time, the way to pull them away from where they are is to increase their compensation. This really isn't rocket science.
I have no evidence that the opportunity you claim is better is actually better. Especially in the ways that matter most to me, many of which can’t be determined until you’ve been at a new job a few weeks. And then there are the obligations I feel to my teammates (if not to the company), which I don’t take lightly.<p>And hopping jobs all the time doesn’t look great on a resume. If I’ve been somewhere 11 months and don’t hate it, taking that slightly better opportunity is probably a poor choice.<p>Dream job might be another thing, but I highly doubt your open position is anyone’s dream job. Nothing personal. Just that the odds for any given startup are extremely slim.<p>Now, offer a private office or a 10 minute commute on foot or 10 weeks PTO annually or to increase my salary by 50%, and I’ll at least hear you out.