How to Hire Young People: Showers & Kitchens
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If you are a college or university in the U.S. of A, you most likely have realized by now the importance of building great dining commons (where students get food) and great athletic facilities (where students go to exercise and hang out). And if you’re a startup in Boston, I hope you’ve realized by now two important things you should absolutely look for when looking at new offices: showers and kitchens.
I think that finding top talent is insanely important. Luckily, I really enjoy it. It gets me going. And I’ll tell you what helps me close deals: showers and kitchens.
Salary, equity, commissions, health insurance, dental, and 401k are all great.
And I’ll tell you what seals deals for young people: SHOWERS and KITCHENS.
Allow a motivated employee the ability to bike or run to work, or leave in the middle of the day to exercise, and shower at the office, and you just scored a BIG WIN.
Allow a motivated employee the ability to cook his/her breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the office, and you just scored double time baby. It creates convenience. It creates frugality. It just makes sense.
Encourage your employees to stay at the office longer by removing the common need to eat and bath at home. At the end of the day it will always come down to their choice. But, having the choice is a major step in the right direction.
Learn a lesson from colleges across the country, and take advice from me on this one. Showers and kitchens: the team builder’s best closer.
My name is Ryan Durkin. I write so that I will never forget where I came from and what I stand for. I hope that this will motivate young people to realize their potential and become more productive than they ever imagined. That would make me truly happy.
Ryan,
Great post. But as a young person myself, I have to disagree. Here’s what signs the deal for me 1) trust, let me do my job, I’ll ask you if I need help. I don’t need old people on my back all the time 2) Paid by output. Everyone says this but culture never supports it. If I get everything and more done by 12pm everyday, I want to leave then. This hugely overlaps with trust. 3) Flexibility. This overlaps with trust and output.
In my opinion top talent will go to places where they can kick ass and takes names. To me that means, having trust, focusing on output and flexibility. What I’ve found is that most companies are uncomfortable with asking ‘why’ enough to figure out how people’s actions are either increasing revenue or decreasing costs.
What do you think? Just my thoughts, I really liked your post and what it was getting at so I thought I’d chime in. We’ve dealt with it at HeatSpring – http//blog.heatspring.com and Cammpus http://www.cammpus.com
Chris
Great comment my man. I love it.
Above all, I agree that trust is the foundation to wanting to work anywhere. Being paid by output sounds awesome as well. I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on this topic in particular. With a team now of 20 employees including developers, designers, sales execs, product guys, and marketing gangsters, I’m constantly trying to think of how to reward people for increased quality output (productivity). I believe Showers and Kitchens may fit best into your definition of #3: Flexibility.
Top talent will always go to places where they can dominate. 100% fully agree with you. Whether that means rising with a startup in growth mode, or a fledgling startup in need of a turnaround.
At the end of the day, I am a massive believer in the power of the individual. It is my goal to be able to provide my team with all of the necessary tools and direction to help them achieve their goals, and I leave much of the rest up to them. The winners are typically those who earn the teams trust and are most productive. And there are also losers in the world who simply eat and take showers all day.
Love your post brotha. What are you up to with Cammpus?
Durkin
Nice post, Ryan. I loved the simplicity of it and how showers and kitchens are important at an office space.
I think what inspires people to work at a startup is the chance to be surrounded by like-minded, passionate, and intelligent people.
If the founders and early employees are passionate enough to eat dinner at the office and even sleep over because they can shower the next day, that shows like-minded potential employees that the company is an exciting place to work.
Andy. Your middle initial must stand for GANGSTERRR. Thanks for the post homey. I pray to god we can continue to get passionate intelligent people. If we can’t, we fucked up FO SHO.
[...] The article is really best summed up in the quote in the article by Craig Driscoll, “companies that hope to grow need to do more than complain about how tight the talent market is.” I find it fitting that coincidentally, Ryan Durkin, COO of CampusLive (and mentee of Mr. Driscoll as a Highland Capital portfolio company) writes about attracting talent today: http://www.ryandurkin.com/blog/2011/10/how-to-hire-dudes-showers-kitchens/ [...]
Couldn’t agree more my man. And so that everyone knows… Craig Driscoll is THE guy in Boston with regards to knowing talent and this market. He lives it every day. Awesome, awesome guy and good friend.
Great post – We have both
Someday I hope to have a kitchen in a shower. Perfect place to crush a hotpocket: the showerrr.