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Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

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Re: Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

#21

Post by TheMongoose »

ahi wrote: post #8
TheMongoose wrote: post #2

Unicorn hunting is probably some of it. I followed up on one that sent me a rejection letter after two interviews and just said "I see your job has been re-posted" Never heard back. =)

I see a lot of unicorn job postings here and elsewhere. Bunch of companies here in the midwest are looking for 5 years experience in AI pipeline engineering. Those people exist, sorta*, but they aren't taking $60/hr contract gigs from bureaucratic hellscape Acme Corp types. Likewise, I see a lot of startups led by technical hustler types (more power to them) who would never pass their own hiring expectations. Your CT…

Reminds me of this thread, and this answer in particular.

https://www.reddit.com/r/recruiting/comments/1kzvlau/comment...

Re: Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

#22

Post by thatguysaguy »

I both got a job through such a thread, and have now seen the other side of the applicant pipeline. The average applicant (in general, idk about HN in particular) is not very strong! Especially true when you consider the alternative of preserving runway and being patient.

Re: Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

#23

Post by mixmastamyk »

ozim wrote: post #18
mixmastamyk wrote: post #11

Tech industry hiring heavily believes in the "fixed mindset." Meaning that people are unable to grow. Combine with extreme risk avoidance, an explosion in the number of stacks, and no appetite for waiting a week for a dev to learn another thing. No hire.

I have seen enough devs being corporate drones and people who say they want to learn but do nothing to be tilting towards “fixed mindset”. I do have myself as a counter example but that’s small N and as usual always others are lazy ;)

Clock-punchers are similarly represented among other stacks. Sounds like an orthogonal concern.

Re: Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

#24

Post by shusaku »

thatguysaguy wrote: post #22

I both got a job through such a thread, and have now seen the other side of the applicant pipeline. The average applicant (in general, idk about HN in particular) is not very strong! Especially true when you consider the alternative of preserving runway and being patient.

I don’t understand the argument for being patient. If you think the new hire will lead to increased profits, there’s an opportunity cost every day you don’t have them on board. And sure, maybe you wait for the best person and they are more productive, but they might be out the door in a few years.

Re: Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

#25

Post by jdlshore »

shusaku wrote: post #24
thatguysaguy wrote: post #22

I both got a job through such a thread, and have now seen the other side of the applicant pipeline. The average applicant (in general, idk about HN in particular) is not very strong! Especially true when you consider the alternative of preserving runway and being patient.

I don’t understand the argument for being patient. If you think the new hire will lead to increased profits, there’s an opportunity cost every day you don’t have them on board. And sure, maybe you wait for the best person and they are more productive, but they might be out the door in a few years.

Quality is more important than quantity in engineering, so a mediocre hire can be a net negative. In so many ways:

- consuming time and attention from people who help them

- time spend checking and fixing their work

- additional maintenance costs from poorly thought out solutions

- time spent reproducing and fixing bugs

- lowering morale of better engineers

- creating whatever the opposite of “a culture of excellence” is

- consuming management time in performance management

- inability to interview or saying “yes” to even worse hires

Re: Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

#26

Post by lazyasciiart »

gigatree wrote: post #14
s1mplicissimus wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you perchance gesturing towards stock owned companies trying to improve their public looks by creating a look of growing via ghost job postings?

No, that couldn’t be it. Yes, the incentive exists for them to do that, but I’m sure their conscious wouldn’t let them lead people on and waste their time like that.

Maybe it's a subconscious motivation?

Re: Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

#27

Post by tayo42 »

ahi wrote: post #8
TheMongoose wrote: post #2

Unicorn hunting is probably some of it. I followed up on one that sent me a rejection letter after two interviews and just said "I see your job has been re-posted" Never heard back. =)

I see a lot of unicorn job postings here and elsewhere. Bunch of companies here in the midwest are looking for 5 years experience in AI pipeline engineering. Those people exist, sorta*, but they aren't taking $60/hr contract gigs from bureaucratic hellscape Acme Corp types. Likewise, I see a lot of startups led by technical hustler types (more power to them) who would never pass their own hiring expectations. Your CT…

Ignoring the contract for low pay part

How else are you supposed to hire people better then yourself?

Re: Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

#28

Post by thwaway »

Anecdotal data

As a hiring a manager, I posted a job offer in Who’s hiring, and doubt I’ll do it again anytime soon.

In my field of work, I am looking for skills other than software (maths, physics, engineering…). There were few qualified applicants coming from the thread. Most of them were nice. One candidate, whose background was unrelated to my field of work, got very offended when I told them it wasn’t the right fit.

This never happened when screening candidates that reached out other means (LinkedIn, Lever…)

Re: Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

#29

Post by rafavento »

thatguysaguy wrote: post #22

I both got a job through such a thread, and have now seen the other side of the applicant pipeline. The average applicant (in general, idk about HN in particular) is not very strong! Especially true when you consider the alternative of preserving runway and being patient.

Smells to me that if you can be patient then you’re not after a need. Companies than can hire, hire because they can and not because they need? Isn’t that what got us into this mess?
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