• Home
  • Mail
  • News
  • Finance
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Search
  • Mobile
  • More
Yahoo
    • Skip to Navigation
    • Skip to Main Content
    • Skip to Related Content
    • Mail
    Breaking News:

    Most travelers from the U.S. will remain barred from the E.U. over coronavirus fears, officials say

    Tech employees are selling referrals online to job candidates for under $50 to help them get hired at Google, Facebook, and other industry giants

    insider@insider.com (Katie Canales)
    ,
    Business Insider•June 29, 2020
    Rooftop Slushie was reportedly named after a character in HBO's "Silicon Valley" TV show depicting a strikingly accurate portrayal of the tech industry.
    Rooftop Slushie was reportedly named after a character in HBO's "Silicon Valley" TV show depicting a strikingly accurate portrayal of the tech industry.

    Warner Bros/IMDb

    • A website is allowing prospective tech employees to anonymously purchase a job referral from existing tech workers for $20 to $50 apiece.

    • Rooftop Slushie, created by the makers of techie chat favorite Blind, has hosted 11,000 referral transactions since it was launched in 2019. Facebook and Google referrals are the most popular.

    • The "vendors" are established employees at companies like Amazon, Google, and Twitter who can become verified on the website and vet candidate submissions before accepting the deal.

    • The site's product manager told One Zero that the service helps improve a skilled candidate's chances of getting hired, but critics say paying for and accepting payment for a job referral is unethical.

    • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

    The hiring process in the tech world can be competitive, and getting your foot in the door to score an interview can be easier if someone's vouching for you.

    A website has commoditized such referrals, allowing eager prospective employees to purchase one for $20 to $50.

    Job candidates have purchased more than 11,000 job referrals through the online marketplace Rooftop Slushie since the website was launched in 2019, as writer Seth King reported in One Zero on Sunday.

    Rooftop Slushie was formed by the creators of Blind, the anonymous chat site favored by tech workers where they can freely air their grievances about the industry. 

    Here's how it works: Job candidates fill out a form, seen below, indicating the companies where they're hoping to apply. Then they list what they're willing to pay and upload their resume.

    Rooftop Slushie.
    Rooftop Slushie.

    Rooftop Slushie

    Tech workers can become verified on Rooftop Slushie as "vendors." They peruse the forms that candidates submit, taking into account their asking price and the quality of their resume, and then decide if they will accept or not. According to Gizmodo, employees from 83,000 companies — including Google, Amazon, and Facebook — are verified on the site. They are required to use their work email to be verified.

    As Daniel Kim, Rooftop Slushie's product manager, told One Zero, job referrals for positions at Facebook and Google are the hottest sellers.

    Kim told One Zero that its referral transactions help even the odds for skilled employees who perhaps make the cut for a role but lack desirable application features like job referrals. As the author notes, many of the high-earning tech workers that accept the payment of under $50 hardly need such supplemental income. 

    But critics told One Zero the transactional nature of Rooftop Slushie's service "smells like bribery" and is ethically questionable. For employees that opt to become vendors, they could also be violating a legal binding to stay loyal to their employers. 

    Tech companies typically have some sort of referral bonus system in place for employees. Amazon told One Zero that accepting payment for a job referral, however, is a violation of company policies and is looking into putting an end to the practice.

    "Silicon Valley."
    "Silicon Valley."

    Jaimie Trueblood/HBO

    The website also allows users to pay for tips on how to beef up their resumes and how to prepare for interviews, according to Gizmodo, but the referral transactions are the most popular feature on the site.

    According to One Zero, the website was named after a character in the HBO show "Silicon Valley," a series that has come to be known as a strikingly accurate portrayal of the tech ecosystem and its idiosyncrasies. The character Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti has a penchant for sipping Big Gulps on rooftops while "resting and vesting."

    As Business Insider's Melia Russell reported in 2016, the "Big Head" character embodies the Silicon Valley founder whose company has been acquired and is left to wait out a contract while their equity vests.

    Read the original article on Business Insider

    • Trump shares video of man chanting, 'White power' in protest clash
      Yahoo News

      Trump shares video of man chanting, 'White power' in protest clash

      President Trump promoted a video Sunday that featured clashing protesters, one of whom chants, "White power." "Thank you to the great people of The Villages," Trump wrote on Twitter while sharing the video. “He should not have retweeted and he should just take it down… It is indefensible,” GOP Sen. Tim Scott reacts to the video President Trump shared of a man driving a golf cart with Trump campaign posters, chanting "white power."

    • China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization
      Associated Press

      China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization

      The Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country's Han majority to have more children. While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known, according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor. The campaign over the past four years in the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of “demographic genocide."

      520
    • School teacher who self-quarantined at Connecticut home for three weeks vanishes after going for a walk in early May
      NBC News

      School teacher who self-quarantined at Connecticut home for three weeks vanishes after going for a walk in early May

      Nearly eight weeks have passed since a beloved Connecticut school teacher disappeared in the early morning hours of his 50th birthday on May 7, 2020, and family members are worried sick. Gil Cunha, 50, was last seen just after midnight on May 7, at his parents' home in the area of West Shore in West Haven, Connecticut, according to a press release issued by the West Haven Police Department. Gil's cousin, Lori Kenney, told Dateline that Gil's father saw him watching TV between the hours of 12 a.m. and 2 a.m. Later that morning, Gil's mother woke up to find that Gil was gone.

      568
    • Huntsman at risk of shocking defeat in Utah
      Politico

      Huntsman at risk of shocking defeat in Utah

      When former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman launched a bid for his old job last November, his entry to the race elicited one immediate question: Why? Now, on the eve of the state's Republican primary, many GOP voters are asking that very question. Huntsman, despite once owning 90 percent approval ratings as governor and a surname that's legendary in Utah, is struggling to fend off Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox for the GOP nomination.

      239
    • National parks – even Mount Rushmore – show that there's more than one kind of patriotism
      The Conversation

      National parks – even Mount Rushmore – show that there's more than one kind of patriotism

      National Park Service sites like Mount Rushmore are public lands, meant to be appreciated by everyone, but they raise crucial questions about history, unity and love of country, especially during this election year. For me, and I suspect for many tourists, national memorials and monuments elicit conflicting feelings. There's pride in our nation's achievements, but also guilt, regret or anger over the costs of progress and the injustices that still exist.

      282
    • Syed Ali Geelani: Kashmir leader quits Hurriyat Conference
      BBC

      Syed Ali Geelani: Kashmir leader quits Hurriyat Conference

      Syed Ali Geelani has quit as the political head of prominent separatist groups in Indian-administered Kashmir. In his resignation letter, the 91-year-old has accused some Hurriyat Conference leaders of "revolting against his leadership". Mr Geelani has spearheaded political protests against Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region since 1989.

      101
    • Mississippi Becomes Last State to Remove Confederate Emblem from Flag
      National Review

      Mississippi Becomes Last State to Remove Confederate Emblem from Flag

      The Mississippi state legislature voted on Sunday to remove the emblem of the Confederacy from the state flag. State residents had previously been resistant to changing the flag, however polling from the state's Chamber of Commerce indicated that 55 percent of residents now supported removing the Confederate symbol. “In the nearly 20 years we have held the position of changing the state flag, we have never seen voters so much in favor of change,” Scott Waller, president of the Mississippi Economic Council, said on Thursday.

      118
    • Study This Submarine: Could It Sink a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier?
      The National Interest

      Study This Submarine: Could It Sink a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier?

      A semi-official news agency in Iran has circulated an old propaganda video depicting an Iranian navy submarine sinking a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier battle group. "Forty years," a caption declares, referring to the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. "Our Iran has the technology to manufacture very advanced Ghadir-class submarines," the captions continue.

      29
    • Russia denies being behind a mysterious radiation leak making its way across Scandinavia
      Business Insider

      Russia denies being behind a mysterious radiation leak making its way across Scandinavia

      The countries did not accuse Russia directly, but the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (NIPHE) said on Friday that an analysis of the data showed that the radiation comes "from the direction of Western Russia." The pattern "indicates damage to a fuel element in a nuclear power plant," the NIPHE said. Google Maps In response, a spokesperson for Rosenergoatom Concern, a branch of the centralized Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom, denied that there had been a leak.

      385
    • 'Dirty' depiction of Kim's wife outraged NKorea: Russian envoy
      AFP

      'Dirty' depiction of Kim's wife outraged NKorea: Russian envoy

      North Korea's fury over anti-Pyongyang leaflets launched from the South is driven by "dirty, insulting" depictions of leader Kim Jong Un's spouse, Russia's top envoy in the reclusive country has said. In recent weeks Pyongyang has issued a series of vitriolic condemnations over anti-North leaflets which defectors based in the South send across the militarised border -- usually attached to balloons or floated in bottles. The campaigns have long been a point of contention between the two Koreas, but this time, Pyongyang upped the pressure, blowing up a liaison office and threatening military measures.

      470
    • 'It makes it very difficult to fire them': police union contracts protect bad officers, critics warn
      The Guardian

      'It makes it very difficult to fire them': police union contracts protect bad officers, critics warn

      It makes it very difficult to fire or discipline officers who engage in misconduct. The protections' impact on officer accountability is documented in a growing body of empirical studies and analyses. Nearly 90% of contracts at 178 midsize-to-large departments have at least one “problematic provision” that “could thwart legitimate disciplinary actions against officers engaged in misconduct,” Loyola policing scholar Stephen Rushin wrote in a 2017 study of contracts and police bills of rights.

      44
    • 'Enough': 1 killed in shooting in Seattle's protest zone
      Associated Press

      'Enough': 1 killed in shooting in Seattle's protest zone

      A 16-year-old boy was killed and and a younger teenager was wounded early Monday in Seattle's “occupied” protest zone — the second deadly shooting in the area that local officials have vowed to change after business complaints and criticism from President Donald Trump. The violence that came just over a week after another shooting in the zone left one person dead and another wounded was “dangerous and unacceptable" police Chief Carmen Best said. Demonstrators have occupied several blocks around the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct and a park for about two weeks after police abandoned the precinct following standoffs and clashes with protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality.

      1,268
    • CBS Dallas - KTVT

      'What Are You Gonna Do?' Dallas Man Fires Guns, Runs Over Police Officer, Injures K-9

      Garland police arrested a 29-year-old man who they say fired his guns into the air before running over a police officer on Sunday night. Katie Johnston reports.

      2,718
    • Supreme Court clears way for federal executions to resume
      USA TODAY

      Supreme Court clears way for federal executions to resume

      WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for the Trump administration to resume federal executions for the first time in 17 years. The justices denied a challenge from four convicted murderers who argued that federal executions must adhere to the specific protocols used by the states where each man was sentenced, including the method of execution. Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have heard the challenge.

      320
    • A Closer Look at William Wegman’s Picture-Perfect Postcard Art
      Architectural Digest

      A Closer Look at William Wegman’s Picture-Perfect Postcard Art

      Weimaraners helped make the photographer and artist famous, but for his most recent work, it's three-by-fives that inspire him Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

      22
    • CanSino's COVID-19 vaccine candidate approved for military use in China
      Reuters

      CanSino's COVID-19 vaccine candidate approved for military use in China

      China's military has received the greenlight to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino Biologics after clinical trials proved it was safe and showed some efficacy, the company said on Monday. The Ad5-nCoV is one of China's eight vaccine candidates approved for human trials at home and abroad for the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. The shot also won approval for human testing in Canada.

      99
    • Coming Soon: Russian Bombers (Now Armed with Hypersonic Missiles?)
      The National Interest

      Coming Soon: Russian Bombers (Now Armed with Hypersonic Missiles?)

      Here's What You Need To Remember: The Russian Air Force has recently conducted testing of a new hypersonic aircraft missile for a modified version of the Tu-22M3M aircraft. The Russian Air Force has recently conducted testing of a new hypersonic aircraft missile for a modified version of the Tu-22M3M aircraft. According to Russian state media, the work on the new missile began several years ago and its testing was completed simultaneously with the work on the upgraded bomber.

      55
    • The Coronavirus Plus the Flu Could Equal a Devastating Fall and Winter, CDC Director Says
      Time

      The Coronavirus Plus the Flu Could Equal a Devastating Fall and Winter, CDC Director Says

      Summer has just begun, but health officials are already warning Americans that the fall and winter months ahead will likely be challenging. Once flu season begins, the U.S. will have to worry about not one, but two contagious viruses. “The real risk is that we're going to have two circulating respiratory pathogens at the same time,” said Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during a TIME 100 Talks discussion with senior health writer Alice Park.

      32
    • Trump in ‘fragile’ mood and may drop out of 2020 race if poll numbers don’t improve, GOP insiders tell Fox News
      The Independent

      Trump in ‘fragile’ mood and may drop out of 2020 race if poll numbers don’t improve, GOP insiders tell Fox News

      Donald Trump may drop out of the 2020 presidential race if he believes he has no chance of winning, a Republican Party operative reportedly told Fox News. The claim comes in a report in the president's favourite news outlet that cites a number of GOP insiders who are concerned about Mr Trump's re-election prospects amid abysmal polling numbers. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, currently holds an average lead of nine points over the incumbent, according to a tracker of 2020 polls by RealClearPolitics.

      23.4k
    • Racist comments of North Carolina cops support need for swift passage of Floyd Act
      USA TODAY Opinion

      Racist comments of North Carolina cops support need for swift passage of Floyd Act

      If partisans in Congress need further evidence about why they should forgo partisan divisions and pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, they need look no further than Wilmington, North Carolina. There, just last week, three Wilmington police officers were fired after a dashcam video inadvertently recorded conversations in which the officers discussed their enthusiasm to kill Black people: “We are just gonna go out and start slaughtering them fu----- ni-----. I can't wait.

      147

    What to Read Next

    • Facebook agrees to audit its hate speech controls

      Reuters
    • Common, Questlove, Lila Downs, More to Perform at Celebrate Brooklyn Virtual Event

      Variety
    • Ford joins social media advertising boycott to protest hate speech

      Autoblog
    • Johnny Mandel Dies: ‘MASH’ Theme Composer & Oscar Winner Was 94

      Deadline
    • Microsoft Reportedly Cuts Facebook/Instagram Advertising

      Motley Fool
    • Trump's 'white power' retweet set off 'five-alarm fire' in White House

      NBC News
    • Aya Healthcare's Qualivis Acquires the Staffing Division of Associated Purchasing Services - a Joint Venture of the Kansas and Missouri Hospital Associations

      PR Newswire
    • Chris Cuomo tells Fla. Gov. DeSantis to shush after he railed against the media for coronavirus coverage

      Yahoo Entertainment
    • Cheese, Pepperoni And Hate: Little Caesars Workers Fired Over Swastika Pizza

      HuffPost
    • As COVID spikes again in some states, bars are shuttered and faces covered

      Yahoo News
    • New swine flu found in China is capable of triggering a pandemic

      Yahoo News Video
    • EPAM Named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Cloud Business Analytics Services 2020

      PR Newswire
    • New swine flu found in China has pandemic potential

      AFP
    • Hampton Inn employee fired for calling cops on Black guests at the pool; Hilton apologizes

      USA TODAY
    • TikTokers are using the secret code 'I had pasta tonight' and it has nothing to do with dinner

      In The Know
    • White House says 'dissenting opinions' on intelligence that Russia paid bounties to kill American troops

      Yahoo News
    • Belgian king expresses 'regrets' for colonial past in DR Congo

      Yahoo News Video
    • Amazon Web Services launches a dedicated aerospace and satellite business

      TechCrunch
    • NWSL alters national anthem policy after mass demonstrations, will let players stay in locker room

      Yahoo Sports
    • 'Golden State Killer' suspect pleads guilty to 13 murders, admits dozens of rapes

      Reuters
    • 'Crip Camp' directors on mockery of Trump's water drinking, ramp walking: 'You don't criticize somebody over what they're capable of doing physically'

      Yahoo Movies
    • What is voter fraud? Yahoo News explains

      Yahoo News
    • Seoul questioning activists suspected of distributing anti-Pyongyang leaflets

      Yahoo News Video
    • Revation Systems Announces LinkLive 9.1 Unified Communications Software Platform for Healthcare and Banking

      Business Wire
    • Yahoo News Network
    • Help
    • Privacy (Updated)
    • Do not sell my info
    • Suggestions
    • About our Ads
    • Terms (Updated)
    • Sitemap