Well, if it’s the jobs at little companies that we want, what’s wrong with the current system?

In my experience, little companies are rarely so organized that they know just what slot to fill, what to call that slot and who to hire for that slot. In all the fast-growing companies I’ve encountered, a new job is just that… new. More often than not, companies bump into someone cool and find a job for them. Or, even more likely, they see someone really cool at ANOTHER company, wish they had that person and invent a job that they hope someone like that will fill.

Implicit in this reasoning is this: it’s the  Purple Cow that will fill this job beautifully. Not some automaton who will follow orders, but someone remarkable who will ask great questions and make magical things happen.

So, if you were going to invent a system where remarkable, hard-to-classify people got hooked up with fast-growing organizations that could put those skills to work, would it look anything like the classified section of the New York Times?

I don’t think so.