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Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

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Re: Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

#671

Post by Varqu »

dorfsmay wrote: post #516
rsynnott wrote: post #282

It's not a good job market, but it doesn't seem normal to spend six months applying and only get _one_ interview. It might be worth asking friends or former colleagues, ideally people who actually are involved in recruiting (hiring managers etc) to take a look at your resume and LinkedIn profile and see if there's anything glaringly wrong with them. Is your resume in a weird format, or is it structurally weird/overde…

Have you looked for a job recently? I don't know about you personally, but people in my social circles and employed think the job market is the same as it was from 2015 to 2020. They have no data point and assume their 2+ year old experience of looking for work is relevant today. The market is bad. I was getting calls from recruiters in 2020. I looked and found work (contracts) twice in 2022, the first time was not e…

Yes, the market is pretty bad right now, and Indeed's data shows it quite well: https://www.hiringlab.org/data (go to Sectors and choose Software Development)

We are currently at -64% from the 2022 peak job market and even -20% compared to pre-covid number of job openings.

Re: Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

#672

Post by CoastalCoder »

RhysU wrote: post #478
CoastalCoder wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As someone in a middling HFT shop Hey, since we're on the topic of HFT developers... How do people break into that area? I've done a lot of performance-optimization work, so I thought I might be a good candidate for some of those roles. But for all the job postings I've seen in the past ~4 months, they want significant prior experience developing low-latency systems. Is this just a temporary thing, where the pool o…

It's like a middle school dance. If you ask enough people, someone will dance.

Well that helps explain my time in middle school.

Re: Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

#673

Post by Tostino »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #605
dorfsmay wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you looked for a job recently? I don't know about you personally, but people in my social circles and employed think the job market is the same as it was from 2015 to 2020. They have no data point and assume their 2+ year old experience of looking for work is relevant today. The market is bad. I was getting calls from recruiters in 2020. I looked and found work (contracts) twice in 2022, the first time was not e…

It's strange because economically, tech is roaring back and the job market is tight as ever. Are employers hedging against this perpetually 6 month away recession? Is there a shift from growth mindset to value mindset?

There was also a concerted effort from major tech employers to depress wages to control costs. They don't need to directly talk to each other to plan it, they state it in their earnings calls.

Re: Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

#674

Post by phpnode »

sethaurus wrote: post #631
edrxty wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never reveal ADHD to employers or fellow employees. It will always be used against you.

I've been very disclosive about my diagnosis, and many people I work with have in turn revealed their own diagnoses to me. I'd like to hear more about your experience with this ⸻ how is this info getting used against people?

All weaknesses or differences can be used against you. When you’re interviewing for a job you are presenting an idealised version of yourself that makes the decision to hire you easy from the interviewer’s perspective. That’s not the time to bring up flaws.

In general though this idea that people should talk openly about their mental health problems is good for society and terrible for the individuals concerned. People will absolutely change their opinion of you and treat you differently, and they will never disclose why.

Re: Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

#675

Post by Balgair »

I'm outside of FAANGs and the valley and in biotech and formerly DoD.

For us, it's always been 'this bad'. Applying for thousands of jobs isn't too terrible, depending on the economy of course. Covid was a rare bright spot for biotech applications, unfortunately.

My advice is to ditch the applications entirely and go straight to networking. Yes, not exactly the most revolutionary advice here. But, if you;re in that kind of competition/environment, you've no choice but to work your network.

If you've already done that and found no luck, find people at the companies/departments you want to work for and figure out what hobbies/side-projects they do. Then try to make friends and try to get a job through that connection. Yes, it's a lot longer and more fraught process, but it can lead to results. Church or other community based methods are also possible, though it takes longer to build up the network that way.

Outside of that, recruiters/headhunters have been something approaching a way to get a position. Try looking for them online too.

Really though, work your network and don't be shy about it. Let your friends know you are looking for work, don't be embarrassed.

Re: Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

#676

Post by Tostino »

omniglottal wrote: post #655
Tostino wrote: post #638

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't know their situation or work history, why reply with something so negative?

A veteran is someone who has served in the armed forces. It's like saying "I have 10 years tenure" when they're not a tenured professor, but just mean "have worked in the industry/position for 10 years".

The term is used colloquially so often that I didn't even associate it with military service in this context in the least.

Re: Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

#677

Post by jacobsimon »

rootusrootus wrote: post #667
noodle wrote: post #602

As someone on the other side, with open positions we're hiring for: There are probably fewer job openings than there were, but I don't think my company or anyone in my network have changed HOW they're hiring, but we have definitely noticed a huge uptick in volume of applications. Earlier in the year, we were getting almost nothing. Now we're getting hundreds of resumes a week for each open position, and the bulk of e…

> bulk of each one of those resumes do not come close to even being in conversation range of the posted JD I've wondered about that. Sometimes I see jobs that sounds super interesting, but I only match maybe 50% of the unique bits of experience they want. Then I see 200 applicants and think ... how many people are just applying for the hell of it, because the job sounds cool, even though they have none of the right e…

recommend tailoring your resume to each job and highlighting the experiences/projects that are most relevant for that role :)

also applying to newly posted positions and using referrals when you can

Re: Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

#678

Post by Dirak »

ransom1538 wrote: post #636
noodle wrote: post #602

As someone on the other side, with open positions we're hiring for: There are probably fewer job openings than there were, but I don't think my company or anyone in my network have changed HOW they're hiring, but we have definitely noticed a huge uptick in volume of applications. Earlier in the year, we were getting almost nothing. Now we're getting hundreds of resumes a week for each open position, and the bulk of e…

I remember a report from facebook hiring, when they broke down how each person applied. It was something weird like %0.01 were hired by "walk in". Some person literally walked into FB headquarters and left with a job. I will say, if you walk into an office, you will NOT get ignored.

This type of hiring is most likely reserved for Yann LeCun caliber talent. If you walk in to FB HQ without an appointment, 1) they wouldn’t let you in, and 2) you’d probably just make it awkward for the security guard

Re: Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?

#680

Post by wing-_-nuts »

ransom1538 wrote: post #636
noodle wrote: post #602

As someone on the other side, with open positions we're hiring for: There are probably fewer job openings than there were, but I don't think my company or anyone in my network have changed HOW they're hiring, but we have definitely noticed a huge uptick in volume of applications. Earlier in the year, we were getting almost nothing. Now we're getting hundreds of resumes a week for each open position, and the bulk of e…

I remember a report from facebook hiring, when they broke down how each person applied. It was something weird like %0.01 were hired by "walk in". Some person literally walked into FB headquarters and left with a job. I will say, if you walk into an office, you will NOT get ignored.

I know this sounds 'old fashioned' but you really want to work for a particular company, walking in has had a surprising success rate for me over the years. Some are absolute sticks in the mud about requiring the candidate to apply online, but in many, you can at least chat with someone in hr or a hiring manager about the sorts of positions they have available and what skills they need. This all but guarantees your resume will be looked at by an actual human.
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