Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#1

Post by 71a54xd » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 7:38 PM UTC

I've been working on a startup with a friend for about the past year and unfortunately after having to eject one of our co-founders we're starting to run low on funds and might need to wrap if we can't raise something in the next few weeks.

This has been a great experience and I feel like I've grown and finally got a chance to apply my experience working at a number of startups (especially since I joined after being laid off by a crypto startup around 8 months ago).

However since I've been backstopping and attempting to interview I'm starting to wonder if I've black balled myself by moving around a bit and not having a solid career at one company for more than three years?

Basically I had around a year at Amazon followed by 2.4 years at a strong growth stage startup where I owned a few of my own projects. After that I jumped for a huge pay raise but unfortunately the role I jumped to wasn't advertised accurately and turned out to be a toxic environment. After that I took a solid opportunity to work as a technical product manager for a year at a quickly growing crypto project with real utility (I know.. I know..) and largely had a great experience until they ran out of money.

I've managed all of four interviews that have gone all the way to the final round - only for me to be passed over. After probably a few hundred applications (mostly SWE but some product) I've only received first interviews from maybe ten?

I have to wonder if I sound stupid to these people or if my resume has black balled me as a hiring risk?

What scares me the most is I largely don't know how to fix this. Yes, I'm willing to own the fact that I may have fucked my reputation within the first five years of being an SWE. I'm at a point where if I cant even get a basic SWE role I might just work at a Fedex store to pay rent - starting to lose sight of the point of wasting more time with this.

Curious if anyone here has advice for someone who's had to sort of reboot their reputation to attract better jobs slightly later into their career?

Thanks, hope everyone is well.

Re: Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#2

Post by PaulHoule » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 7:47 PM UTC

Hiring has slowed down. Quite a few people are reporting job hunts with statistics similar to yours who don’t have a particular reasons to think they blew up their career.

Re: Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#3

Post by 71a54xd » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 8:02 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

Hiring has slowed down. Quite a few people are reporting job hunts with statistics similar to yours who don’t have a particular reasons to think they blew up their career.

Thanks - I've had other friends who seem to have fared better and I'm basically terrified of having more than a few months of being unemployed on my resume.

Re: Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#4

Post by x86x87 » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 8:28 PM UTC

It's mostly the market. Even people that "did all the right things" as far as "career" goes are having an exceptionally hard time getting hired.

If there is one thing I would suggest is polishing your interviewing skills and technicak skills. After that keep building to stay sharp. The market is not going to recover in a few weeks so having a plan for what you're going to do before now and when yu land a new gig.

Re: Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#5

Post by speedgoose » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 9:01 PM UTC

I don’t know in which part of the world you live, but have you tried to use your professional network ? You may have an old coworker who liked you and could hire you or recommend you.

Re: Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#6

Post by speedgoose » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 9:04 PM UTC

71a54xd wrote: post #3

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

Hiring has slowed down. Quite a few people are reporting job hunts with statistics similar to yours who don’t have a particular reasons to think they blew up their career.

Thanks - I've had other friends who seem to have fared better and I'm basically terrified of having more than a few months of being unemployed on my resume.

If you really don’t want to have a gap on your CV, one easy fix could be to leave out the months and only write the years.

Re: Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#7

Post by sharemywin » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 9:06 PM UTC

If it was your resume you wouldn't be getting interviews.

Re: Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#8

Post by giraffe_lady » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 9:15 PM UTC

Joining the chorus of "it's just like that now."

Unhireable is literally not getting any interviews. I have a friend with no degree, self taught and changed jobs four times in five years. Got laid off in march and hasn't had a single interview since then. That's what that looks like.

Re: Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#9

Post by therealdock » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 9:24 PM UTC

Hey! I'm in the same boat.

I was linked to this post because I just posted something similar (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38168753).

If you end up having to scrap the other startup, want to help me solve this crisis? I know I'm not alone here. I've heard it from others.

To be frank, these new startups claiming to be solving the engineer hiring problem and all these recruitment agencies aren't designed to solve the problem for you or I... They're designed to get as many hires as possible at our expense. They're quantity, not quality.

Maybe we can come up with something together. :-)

Re: Ask HN: Am I unhireable?

#10

Post by Reubend » Mon, Nov 06, 2023, 9:28 PM UTC

Nothing you've said so far sounds unhireable to me, but nothing sticks out as impressive or unique either. In a tough job market, I'd expect there to be plenty of great candidates out there, and this might not make the cut of being any better than them.