บท 96: Chapter 96: Recruitment
Regardless of the fury within Magnavox's management, Nolan Bushnell's irritation, or Don Valentine's anger, Ethan Jones could imagine these reactions.
After all, releasing the information was meant to provoke a reaction. In this situation, if he didn't imagine the enemy's indignant response to the news and picture their angry antics, what would be the point of releasing the information?
He wouldn't waste public resources!
Since he occupied public resources, he intended to enjoy himself! And after the imaginative exercise—
"Hehehe~"
Ethan Jones sighed with relief, feeling instantly refreshed.
After the satisfaction, Ethan didn't forget his primary task. Now that the company was established, it was time to set up the necessary framework. Even though he had lived two lives, he had never truly managed a company. So, with Atari as his reference, he replicated their company structure, initially establishing four departments: Administration, Finance, Production, and Sales.
First to be assembled was the Administration.
Recruitment for administrative roles was neither too difficult nor too easy. While the job didn't require highly specialized knowledge most of the time, its diverse tasks made it seem complicated in practice.
Therefore, Ethan wanted to recruit employees with good communication skills and a high tolerance for diverse tasks.
If it were a regular recruitment process, just this department alone would take up a considerable amount of Ethan's time. Before the internet era, recruiting was quite cumbersome. Either one had to advertise in newspapers and magazines or communicate with local human resources service companies. This communication mode, confined to time and space, frustrated people in the new era.
Too inefficient!
Fortunately, Ethan was in the Stanford Industrial Park.
With the support of the Stanford Entrepreneurship Office, he could directly present his requirements to the professors, and after a preliminary screening, he would receive a list of job seekers.
After a quick selection, he had the professors notify them for an interview.
The next morning at 9:00 am, seven job seekers appeared in the lobby of Destiny's first floor.
After interviewing each one of them, Ethan selected two.
The first one was Damian Dean, a recent graduate from Stanford's School of Engineering. A tall and slim young man, Ethan chose him because, during the interview, he openly expressed his love for the game "Snake Game."
His rich vocabulary and sincere tone impressed Ethan greatly.
Of course, what impressed Ethan even more was Damian's straightforward statement:
"Oh, Ethan! I've spent at least five hundred bucks on 'Snake Game'!"
"I've played it at least two thousand times!"
"Even though I haven't cleared it yet, I'll continue because I believe I have the ability!"
Yeah! Ethan believed that such an enthusiastic game fan would surely handle administrative tasks well!
If anyone here expressed dissatisfaction with games, this guy could kick them out without Ethan saying a word!
The second one was Eulise Noble, an undergraduate from Stanford's School of Humanities. She was a blonde with blue eyes.
What made Ethan remember her was her major in philosophy.
Curious about her choice, when Ethan asked her why she chose philosophy, she said:
"Because my parents, my family, are devout Protestants. They raised me to devoutly bask in the holy light. At the same time, the school taught us that we are a free country, and everyone has free will. When I accepted both of these thoughts, I became confused. If we are a free country, and everyone has free will, why did my parents guide me in what to believe? And if we are not a free country, and parents, friends, and teachers can freely instill various ideas in us, why do school teachers tell us that people are free?"
"I don't understand this, but I want to understand it."
"So, when applying for university, I chose the philosophy department."
"Because I want to know if our thoughts are pure? Do we really have free will?"
Ethan was stunned by her words!
Then he mentally gave her a thumbs up.
To realize in 1970s America that freedom might not be entirely free was truly impressive.
And such a critical thinker would surely be suitable for an administrative position.
Thoughtful indeed!
Since the decision was made, Ethan took out contracts and signed them with the two.
Weekly salary of two hundred, annual salary of nine thousand six.
Although it seemed higher than the median income of over five thousand, if you calculated it, it was just the industry average.
With the signing of the contracts, Ethan handed them a pre-prepared list of tasks. The contents included but were not limited to designing the company signboard, purchasing daily and office supplies for the company, and registering social security for the company's employees.
Speaking of social security, Ethan felt a bit annoyed because in social security contributions, the company paid 6.2%, and the employees paid 4.2%. It seemed low, but the contribution was based on the employee's salary, with no minimum contribution base.
So, most employees could only accept the actual contribution amount...
Ugh!
It's all about money!
After delegating the miscellaneous tasks in the company to the newly recruited administrative clerks, Ethan turned his attention to the Finance Department.
To be honest, initially, Ethan wanted to directly recruit finance staff at Stanford because he thought it would be convenient. However, when he mentioned this idea to Evelyn, she directly said that Thomas had already found an accountant for them—
"Thomas has already found us an accountant. He's the son of our family's agricultural and trade company's accountant."
"In his thirties, with eight years of experience, he used to work for a production-type electronics company in Mountain View."
"Thomas said this person can be trusted because his father has been doing accounts for our family for almost thirty years."
"There hasn't been a single issue, and he passed the temporary IRS audit before."
Since Thomas had already found a candidate for him, Ethan didn't hesitate.
He dialed the number and invited him for a meeting.
He was a slightly chubby middle-aged man named Alan Massey, with a corn belly like most Americans.
When Ethan asked him how he planned to handle things after taking over a startup company, this guy sincerely said—
"Boss, even though we are a game company, fundamentally, we are an industrial manufacturing company because we will be involved in arcade production. So, I'll start by establishing a production ledger for the company from the perspective of an industrial manufacturing enterprise. This will involve cost accounting."
"Currently, I can handle it alone, but I believe in the future, we will need to recruit because I have confidence in your games."
After a brief chat and a good connection, Ethan took out a contract and signed it with him.
Since his last job's weekly salary was already three hundred and twenty dollars, Ethan gave him a raise, bumping it up to four hundred.
Therefore, his annual income would be nineteen thousand two.
It looked expensive, but...
The finance position would be even more expensive in the future.
This was America, and this position faced the IRS.
After finalizing the Administration and Finance, Ethan pressed the pause button on the recruitment matters for the company.
Because there was no hurry for the production and sales stages.
Firstly, for production, Ethan had already noticed during the Atari visit that Nolan Bushnell used hippies for making electronic arcade games and circuit boards. When this socially acknowledged generation of dropouts could handle these tasks, Ethan felt reassured.
And sales...
That was even simpler!
He was the
best salesman himself!
When the inventor of "Snake Game" released a new game...
Just that name alone would attract countless buyers!
As the saying goes, fame comes before fortune!
Once the fame arrives, buyers will naturally come knocking!
As for delivery?
If possible, he would prefer customers to pick up the products themselves.
The Apple effect would save costs even more!
"So, now it's just about the products?"
After confirming that the company had been successfully established, Ethan settled into the office on the third floor as the Chairman, CEO, and President.
Sitting in the boss's chair, the comfortable feeling made him squint.
After enjoying a bit, he took out a sheet of paper from the drawer, ready to create a game.
However, as he pulled out the pen and wrote for a while, his right hand suddenly stopped.
Because in that moment, he realized that he seemed to have quite a lot of choices?
"Oh... this is a bit of a headache!"
Ethan took a sharp breath, adding a bit to the thin contribution to global warming.
And on the white paper in front of him, three projects were currently lying—
"Tetris (Northern Block)"
"Space Invaders"
"Pac-Man"
Note: At that time, Atari did hire a large number of hippies to produce electronic arcade games and circuit boards. Steve Jobs explained this, as at that time, the hippie movement was declining, and many hippies needed a job. However, they didn't have impressive technical skills, making their prices relatively cheap in the market. Well, in a sense, this is cost control by capitalists.
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