>> Give everyone a long probation period, and allowing them to seek feedback frequently as to how they can influence the decision to hire them on a more permanent basis so that the final decision will not be a surprise binary event.
Hypothetically, let's assume every company follows this method and around 30% of the employees who went through long probation period didn't make it through. Wouldn't that leave the employees in an even worse situation than getting rejected immediately, since they resigned their current job and now everyone in his professional circle knows that he or she didn't make it through company X's probation period? In addition to that, the employer will also accrue a lot more negative publicity from the employees who didn't make it through.
This will not be as big a problem as you assume because the "everyone in his professional circle who knows that he or she didn't make it through company X's probation period" would also have gotten their fair chance to try their hand at being a Google or Apple employee, to aim as high as possible, and would have faced the same rate of rejection.
It is only a problem if failing probation is a huge black mark. If there are a large number of people for whom the company-employee fit didn't occur, the word "probation" would lose it's sting. Maybe we can call it an "apprenticeship" period? Or other innocuous term without previous negative connotation.
> In addition to that, the employer will also accrue a lot more negative publicity from the employees who didn't make it through.
The same could be said of ex-employees, too.
In general, the problem is the neurosis of giving too much importance to "failure" or "probation". It is ironic that this is the case even in a startup discussion board :-)
Facebook for me is just an address book of all my contacts. I never share anything personal there due to the number of privacy settings I need to hop through to make sure I shared with the right people.
Path is just a curated set of close friends with whom I feel free to share anything. Also when it came out Path mobile app is far better than Facebook.
>> Larger companies get away with inefficient recruiting because they can.
I would disagree. I interviewed with MS, Google & Amazon multiple times. MS & Amazon are definitely much more organized and very prompt in following up with decision.
" I know people who ask "how can I run more?" and I ask "well, do you enjoy running?" and usually they say they don't. I don't tell them they need to buy different shoes or gadgets to try to coerce them into doing it, I suggest they look at other kinds of activities that will fulfill them and try to incorporate that into their life. "
Interesting! But isn't our natural tendency to be lazy, why would anyone prefer to stress themselves rather than sit infront of TV? Shouldn't we just continue running, irrespective of whether we enjoy it or not in the beginning, until we start enjoying it?
The human condition also necessitates expression, realization, aspiration, etc. In many cases, sitting on a couch will bring the most instantaneous pleasure, but it is ultimately empty and ephemeral. Things that are difficult, though instantaneously distressing, are more likely to be fulfilling in the long term.
>> Don't use a 'moving mouse'. Apple magic trackpad is great. Trackballs are great as well.
I have used Apple Magic trackpad for almost an year and I started having severe discomfort when I my middle and ring finger are stretched. I was not resting my palm properly and that probably contributed to the issue. I switched to an evoluent mouse (http://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-VerticalMouse-Regular-Right-V...) and it got better very fast (in couple of weeks).
Is the reasoning behind avoidance of the 'moving mouse' simply because you move your wrist a lot when mousing? I find that with the dpi cranked way up on my mouse it takes considerably less motion to click on things than with a trackpad. Moving my mouse all the way across a 1080p screen is essentially a finger twitch. I've tried the vertical mice before too, but they definitely take some getting used to.
Hypothetically, let's assume every company follows this method and around 30% of the employees who went through long probation period didn't make it through. Wouldn't that leave the employees in an even worse situation than getting rejected immediately, since they resigned their current job and now everyone in his professional circle knows that he or she didn't make it through company X's probation period? In addition to that, the employer will also accrue a lot more negative publicity from the employees who didn't make it through.