Dear Mr. Lovelace:
I enjoyed your article "Competing With A Dot-Com." I hear so many experiences of people joining Internet startups that it's starting to make me jealous, especially since the company I work for is struggling.

In ignorance, I have a simple question about Internet startup recruiting procedures. Do Internet startups typically initiate contact with other companies' employees, or do people themselves initiate contact with the Internet startups?

Assuming the former, how do Internet startups find out about these potential employees? And how can I get on this list? Assuming the latter, how do people find out about these opportunities so they can contact Internet startups?

I'd appreciate your comments. Thanks, again, for an interesting article.

The Dot-Com Envy Guy

Dear Dot-Com Envy Guy:
Given the recent travails of the Internet startups, I don't know how much you should envy the brave souls who left their companies to grasp the brass ring of Internet success. It has been tough on people now that the stock market has fixated on the idea that profitability is an important part of a business, even if it is a dot-com.

In any case, most initial hires to a new dot-com are done via referrals. Someone knows someone who knows of a person who has the skills. If the new venture has big plans and enough capital, it frequently hires an in-house recruiter while the furniture is still being ordered so that it can ramp up its staff quickly as it gets under way. From that point on, the hiring is little different than anywhere else, with the possible exception that the Internet resume boards play more of a role than in a large, established company.

If you want to be considered for one of the pioneer hires of a new firm, let your friends know your interest, post on the Internet resume boards, and follow the trade press for the new companies that are getting under way and get in contact with their principals. Keep in mind, though, that your present employer will no doubt hear about your efforts and may be less than pleased. If this visibility is of concern to you, do the above actions with as much discretion as possible.

Good luck.

Dear Herbert:
I enjoy reading your InformationWeek column. It is always refreshing to gain the insight of professionals with valuable experience. I especially enjoyed your honest assessment of dot-com companies in "Competing With A Dot-Com."

Perhaps you can share your thoughts on taking the advice of others. I work for a professional services firm and rotate on assignments, reporting to various managers. I am very fortunate to truly enjoy my work and have a good rapport with the managers in my group. I often seek general career suggestions from them about which skills are important to develop, the type of engagements I should seek, and general priorities for my own development.

Through my hard work and luck I have developed a solid track record for successfully completing engagements, addressing issues quickly, and being a team-oriented individual. As a result, I am sought after for various projects.

When I seek advice from certain managers regarding which skills or software package to focus on, the answers are often couched as career advice but are actually designed to address their immediate staffing needs. How do I identify which advice is in my best interest vs. the "advice" I receive which serves the advisers own goals?

Thanks, Eyal

Dear Eyal:
It's great that you work in firm where you get along so well and can look upon your managers as mentors. I know a lot of people who would trade with you. The situation that you describe, being concerned about knowing which advice to take and which to reject, is not uncommon.

I think that you should ultimately fall back on the fact that, as with any advice that we receive, it is up to us to decide whether to follow it. Advice comes in three flavors, two of which you mention: impartial advice and the self-serving kind. In addition, there is a third: well-meaning, but just plain wrong. Compounding the problem, sometimes self-serving advice can be very good for us. It's called a win-win situation.

As with any advice that we receive, it's our life, so we have to evaluate it and determine what's best for us. So use your own judgment. So far, it appears that it has served you well.

Of course, the above is just my advice.

Hello, Mr. Lovelace:
I read your article about Bruce in "Competing With A Dot-Com," with interest. As a global manager of technology and production systems for human resources (30-plus countries, 26,000-plus employees), I am constantly curious about how real the talent crunch is.

For the last year and a half, I had zero turnover on my team. In fact, I floated my own resume with headhunters and a few IT-hiring Web sites. So far, a fat zero of responses has come back.

Am I and my team a statistical abnormality? Or is it the fact that we are based in Asia and Europe that makes the job-market situation we face totally different than the one in the U.S.?

Please enlighten me, if you would not mind spending a few minutes.

Thanks,
Raymond

Dear Raymond:

As with the value of real estate, the scarcity of IT talent is very much a factor of location, location, and location. There is a hotter market for information technology people in San Jose, Calif., for example, than there is in some less technology-intensive areas of the United States.

I am not familiar with the demand in Singapore, where you live, so I cannot comment on it, but given that the recovery from the economic slowdown in Asia of the last few years is still under way, I am not surprised by your experiences. Likewise, the market for IT people in Europe, while heating up, does not appear to be as intensive as that in America. Of course, the recent downturns in the Internet sector probably will dampen the demand somewhat, at least in the short run.

Dear Secret CIO:
I was considering a career in IT, but I would like to get some professional feedback from someone who has been around and who can give me some solid advice.

Back in 1995, I was arrested and convicted on a drug charge. This ended up being a felony that is on my record. I have only been arrested that one time and did not have to go to jail at all. This happened in a city with strict drug laws and my lawyer was not the greatest.

I was wondering if you have any first-hand experience with companies who hire IT personnel and what percentage of them do background checks. I was hoping to get some feedback from someone who might have some helpful insight into this situation. I always wonder what to put down when I come to that question. If I check, "Yes" I always feel that it puts me at a great disadvantage especially if I am interviewing with a big company. My gut feeling says go for it, do a good job, and things will work out.

I know this is not one of your typical questions, but I would really appreciate any opinion you might have on the subject.

Thank you very much for your time.

Ron

Dear Ron:
Thanks for writing with your question. It is an important one.

I've hired IT people for more years than I care to admit, so I can give you some personal opinion based on my own way of doing things. I think you'll find my attitude isn't very different from that of most hiring managers.

If an applicant told me that he or she had a drug arrest, but that he was clean and intended to stay that way, I would not let his prior conviction stop me from hiring him, assuming I had no reason to doubt his word. On the other hand, if he lied on the application and it later came to light, I would fire him immediately. How could I believe anything he said in the future?

I urge you to tell the truth on the application and be the first one to bring the subject up in an interview. Explain that you made a mistake, tell the hiring manager or personnel interviewer what you've done to make sure that you won't go near drugs again, and then go on to explain what technical skills you have to do the job. If you are dealing with competent people, they will not hold the past against you if they believe you've learned from it.

Good luck. Write and let me know how things turn out for you.

Dear Herb:
After reading your article, "The Law Of Corporate Failure," I found myself thinking, based on my previous experience with corporate executives, that perhaps the VP had another motive for the questions he asked and the research he wanted.

Could it be that he wants all this information so he can put thumbs down on the idea, discourage the presenter, and then in a couple of months present this idea to the executive board as his brilliant idea? Of course, it will be brilliantly researched and all questions will be answered. The board will praise him for his foresight and give him carte blanche to accomplish the goal. This VP will then return to the originator of the idea and put him on the project. Naturally, when it is completed the sun will never set on this VP and he will be the new corporate hero.

Sorry for sounding so cynical, but this has happened to me and others during my career. Needless to say, it was a joy recently to see certain persons finally meet up with their fate. They finally got themselves into a position where they could not cover up what they had been doing and the dirt started to come up to the surface. What goes around comes around.

Regards, Vicki

Dear Vicki:
Certainly the reason could be that the executive is trying to steal credit for himself. I've seen it happen, but most of the time the result is the one you describe. At some point, this type of game-playing becomes known and the person doing it gets trashed, to great applause.

I think what is more insidious is the cause of the situation I described. When you have a company where the punishment for making a mistake is much worse than the reward for success, the survivors are overly cautious and avoid making decisions. The status quo becomes sacred and all progress slowly grinds to a halt.

The really sad thing is that so many executives bemoan this type of environment, but if you were to ask their employees, you'd find that is exactly the one they have in their companies.