Reckless Hiring
Hiring someone full-time isn’t just a business decision, it’s a moral one.
When you offer someone a full-time role, you’re asking them to take a leap. Often, that means walking away from stability: a job they’ve held for years, a team they know, a rhythm they’ve built. That leap has to be met with something solid. And too often, it isn’t.
I’ve seen this firsthand.
At Stocktwits, there were times when the excitement of a new idea or role took over. The president would get hyped about a new position that he came up with overnight, pitch it like it was a game-changer, and start recruiting with energy and speed. The pitch was always compelling, “We need this. You’re the perfect person. You’ll have room to build something incredible.”
But decisions were rushed. Candidates were judged on status and where they worked or who they knew. The foundation was shaky from the start.
What followed was predictable: the hire would come onboard, full of excitement after just being promised the world (not in terms of pay, but in terms of growth), having just left a safe, solid job. But the role hadn’t been fully thought through. Expectations were vague. There wasn’t a plan. And a few months in, they’d get let go with the President giving the cold shoulder (often on the call for the hiring, but rarely for the firing).
It’s brutal.
All because the hiring was done reactively instead of responsibly. Promises were made too fast. Roles were created without structure. And people paid the price.
This isn’t just a problem at my former employer, Stocktwits. It happens elsewhere all too often. Founders, execs, managers get excited, they make big promises about where the company is going and the growth of the role, and then they don’t deliver. And someone who took a risk based off those promises ends up jobless, confused, and burned by the process.
If you're hiring, take it seriously. Don’t rush. Don’t oversell. Make sure the role is real, needed, and well-structured. Because when you bring someone on full-time, you owe them more than a paycheck, you owe them clarity, honesty, and the commitment to set them up to win.
Otherwise? You’re just playing with people’s lives. And that’s not leadership. It’s recklessness.
This is a quick way to lose the trust and respect of your team—and a long-term recipe for company dysfunction.
A good question to ask before hiring full-time: Will this role still matter in five years, and do I want this person in it?
To be clear: This doesn’t apply to freelancers, part-timers, or contractors. Those relationships are different.
Employee churn is one thing to truly look out for before stepping into a new company.
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