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Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

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Re: Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

#171
The biggest thing I look for in the later interviews is the candidates ability to tell a story. Achievements, awards, schooling, and all that stuff aren't very reliable (look at how many cars win "car of the year"). If a candidate can go into detail about a particular event, that means they worked closely enough to it to actually care enough to remember the details. If they can explain the concepts I don't understand, that means they have a deep understanding.

Other than that, there are some aspects of Indian culture that are daunting to a potential employer. "How many people do you manage" is a common question to get during arranged marriages. The American equivalent would be "how much money do you make". It's a lot easier to pay someone more than give them more people to manage. You really need to show that you've bought into the American versions of self-worth, work ethic, and personal responsibility (that last one may seem weird, but it's often the case in India that if someone forgets to do something, you are the idiot for not reminding them).

P.S. Your stats honestly aren't that bad. People used to wallpaper their rooms/corridors with rejection letters before things went digital. Getting more perspectives never hurts though.

Re: Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too bad you've posted from the throwaway, otherwise I'd give you an UPvote :) Curiously, if I had to come up with stereotypical descriptions, I'd say I'd come with something similar. :)

> Curiously, if I had to come up with stereotypical descriptions, I'd say I'd come with something similar. :) That's the whole point of stereotypes, isn't it? ;)

The interesting thing is that we're divided by an ocean, and still have same stereotypes ;)

Re: Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

#174

Pretty much all of these other posters appear to agree that it's some form of "here's what's wrong with you", when in fact, none of us can know if that's the case. But let's look at the numbers. Pretend every onsite interview had a random 10% chance of resulting in an offer. 10% offends certain people's sensibilities, but in this crazy bubble, I'd say for some businesses, it's on the high side. Management is a politi…

I'm in a much more technical role, so it might be different, I agree that 50 application is low, but 7 onsites with no result seems high. My experience is that by the time a company brings you on site, you're in the 3 candidate, or even the only one and this is the last check.

Re: Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

#175

What are you willing to sacrifice? I can give you an answer, but you won't like it. As an Indian man you'll be discriminated against. Period. Lots of empirical proof for that, not just job wise but in lots of other cases (dating, etc). While folks here will give you lots of tips on the professional side, here are a few actionable things you can do to minimize racial bias: - Change your name to an americanized version…

Amen. There are very strong racial stereotypes. They also vary by who holds them. I'm a 40+ yo Russian system programmer, moved to States when I was 25, worked in a bunch of places from smaller startups to Fortune-500 shops. Here are my stereotypes: * Russians are frustrated know-it-alls with strong NIH syndrom wanting to redo everything from scratch. The language barrier often makes it hard for them to clearly expre…

Nice, as an Australian I concur.

I live in Paraguay, could anyone shed light on what stereotypical views/biases I would experience in a job interview as an Aussie living in Paraguay?

Re: Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

#176
The one thing that strikes me is "I hate my current job". If you can afford it, have you given thoughts to take a different type of job at a lower level (project manager, or something more technical), something where you are less emotionally invested?

I'm wondering if you come across as hating your current job so much that you are ready to take anything that will get you off you current job

Re: Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

#177
post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amen. There are very strong racial stereotypes. They also vary by who holds them. I'm a 40+ yo Russian system programmer, moved to States when I was 25, worked in a bunch of places from smaller startups to Fortune-500 shops. Here are my stereotypes: * Russians are frustrated know-it-alls with strong NIH syndrom wanting to redo everything from scratch. The language barrier often makes it hard for them to clearly expre…

That's interesting. Are you aware of any stereotype about/against italians?

In Canada the stereotypes I heard about Italians weren't the nicest ones but I see their reasons

But the perception is usually neutral it seems

Re: Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

#178
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could counterpoint his/her entire comment, but I'll just briefly say that citing the success of certain ethnicities (backgrounds of the CEOs of Microsoft and Google) is like implying racism/sexism is over because Obama was President and a woman almost became President.

CEO is just publicly visible example, but at every level in Microsoft there're Indian, VP, managers, product managers, principal developers, regular developers. I think you can just browse/search Microsoft product managers thru linkedin to verify that. I'd be very surprised to see any bias towards any nationality at MS, given >50% of employees are foreign.

I don't doubt that Microsoft might actively try to counter implicit racism which is evident in their demographics, but I do believe there are stats that show there are clear disparities between number of Asians in professional jobs and number of Asians who end up getting promoted from their positions to C-level positions.

Re: Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

#179
I have a question for people here too. Lets say the company is a startup with 50 or lesser people and has most of the employees under age of 30 (and western).

How prominent is the question that "Will s/he be able to fit into our culture?" ... when it comes to hiring above 30 people out of India, with an Indian accent? (..haha)

I may have thrown too many boxes there... disclaimer: I have been applying to many such companies and I am above 30 Indian guy (with an accent) and many times the company has most developers under 30.

Re: Ask HN: 50 job applications, 15 interviews, 7 onsites, and no offer – what next?

#180
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> This is terrible advice. As soon as you start the job, the people who interviewed you will wonder why your accent is totally different That's not quite how accent reduction works. I think the goal is to be clear and understandable in the interview. The accent would have no weight on his professional capabilities.

That's not entirely correct. I've experienced several cases of inadequate language skills leading to misunderstandings that took months to clear up and that had real consequences. On a day to day basis, bad language skills also introduces friction and frustration. Learning whatever language you use for work properly and being able to make yourself understood is immensely important. I work for a company that has a pre…

I am stealing your last line for my personal use.

Clear communication is the most important skill for almost any business person, but certainly for developers.

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