I am starting a side business and also interviewing at FB next week. I told the recruiter I intend to have this business on the side and gave a high level description of its nature. The recruiter told me that the FB conflict of interest team will only evaluate the COI after I've joined the company. I live on the east coast and would have to relocate to the bay area. This seems bizarre, am I really supposed to join the company and relocate just to find out they won't approve my side business? What have others done in this situation? TC: 200k
Keep it a secret. Focus on passing the interview.
Too late?
Just ignore their concerns. It’s your company, not theirs. They don’t own you
If your business has any interactions with Fb, like promotions, ads, etc. they will find out. Unless you are running Facebook2 on the side 😀. I wouldn’t hide anything from Fb. If they decide to dig in they will find everything and it ain’t gonna be pretty if you hid anything. After all it’s been proven that Fb knows you better than you do.
It’s really not worth mentioning your side business. As others have said, get the FB offer first. Don’t put the cart before the horse. At that point, just keep it a secret. How is a side business any different from a personal hobby that happens to maybe make you some money? Just follow your own conscience on this one. If your side business is affecting your day job performance, pick one and give up the other. Otherwise, it should be apparent whether there is a COI or not. If your side business is candle making or wood crafts, for example, there’s clearly no COI. If your side business isn’t worth losing a FB job for, then it might not be worth pursuing in the first place, and you should just give that up if it came down to it. For most people, it might make sense to just focus on advancing at FB — you will likely get more monetary rewards doing that.
If you expect to have enough time and energy to devote to making a side business successful, FB may not be for you.
How many hours a week do you work?
Why would you mention this during the interview process?
My side business isn't in cash, they can easily Google my name and see that I'm doing it.
See if you pass the interview first, you can worry about this after.
Assuming I pass and want to accept, then what?
Once you get an offer, you’ll have some leverage and people actually will care to listen to you and address your needs. No one at FB is going to waste their time following up on your hypothetical question before you’ve even passed the interview. Most companies have a disclosure form you sign of your ongoing projects before you join that you want excluded from the agreement you sign.