Ask HN: Do you get good applications from “Who is hiring?”?

Yes, some. I've gotten at least one good hire (and referral bonus) from one of my HN hiring posts.

I think your recruiting pains in finding senior/enterprise positions can probably be explained by the following:

1) out of the 325 million US citizens, maybe 10,000 people at most meet your qualifications

2) most of them are already employed

3) most of them probably don't read that thread if they even post here at all

4) it might be wiser to hire them as a consultant and have them train a proficient and loyal dev to implement their recommendations

As a senior software engineer who has successfully contributed to startups that were subsequently acquired, and with over 9 years of experience across a variety of technologies, "Who's hiring" is probably not the first place I would go to look for job if I needed a change of scenery.

I love it for keeping an eye on the market, to see where trends are going, and for looking at what's local. If something REALLY interested me, I might establish a dialog, but the chances of something being interesting and local (or willing to hire remote at the salary requirements of the metro area I live in) are very slim.

The first place I would look for a job is my professional network: people I have enjoyed working with in the past. If you can't lure top talent with talk of tech, maybe also spend some time describing the team and what the work environment is like? Senior devs know that you don't work with the tech stack, you work with people, and the stack is just another tool in the toolbelt for solving problems.

I was not wrong.

I looked at your comments to find your position posted at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15149582. I'm not your target group, but still...

Here's the introductory sentence: "Service Partner ONE is the technology partner for modern office management in Europe." OK, sounds fine. I don't know what office management is, but there are a few more sentences coming up that will surely explain. Next: "Our platform supports customers across all industries in all processes outside of their core business, pursuing the digital revolution of office management." This looks impressive, but all it says is "Our platform runs on computers and people in offices use it." Next: "By connecting customers with the right service providers and streamlining their interactions we improve the working situation in every office we operate in." So, um, people in offices use your stuff to connect, which I guess means communicate. Maybe you are talking about email? "Someone called us the WeWork without walls." OK, but I don't know what WeWork is, and "without walls" sounds weird.

In summary, it sounds muddled and boring. Sorry if this comes across as harsh, but it's simply not as gripping as many other Who is hiring posts.

Your other post at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17663077, specifically the part "We analyze this data and utilize advanced statistical methods to take our client’s guest communication and marketing efforts to a new level." sounds like you're a spam company. Nobody wants hotels to "market" to them.

Edit: Oh, forgot to say that you didn't post salary ranges. Post salary ranges please. Even if you don't believe that it's a good idea (although it is), it would make you stick out a bit. Also, it might even be required by German law? It is in Austria, though sadly not enforced.