Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What info do you wish every job posting included?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 85 posts

Re: Ask HN: What info do you wish every job posting included?

#71

Post by lwhalen »

Salary range - "What's the least you're willing to pay a barely-concious droid who squeaks by with the bare minimum of effort to not get fired, versus the top-end for the 'does it all and then some' purple-squirrel candidate who ascends your corporate achievement ladder with a Greek chorus of rainbows and unicorn-giggles?"

Fully remote? Yes or no would suffice. I just might _be_ that aforementioned purple secret squirrel for your role, but my 50 square-mile chunk of rock might be nowhere near your 50 square mile chunk of rock. Would this discrepancy be resolvable by a convenient global communications network and low-latency link to same, or are you mired in last century's "manager must be able to see your butt in a chair at all times" model of employment?

Re: Ask HN: What info do you wish every job posting included?

#72

Post by ISL »

goatherders wrote: post #64
ISL wrote: post #25

Clear description of the project and customers. Accurate description of the team, philosophy, tooling, and culture. Reliable salary range. Links to employment contract and any NDA that might be required. If the company is private, a link to a fiscal summary equivalent to the SEC's 10-K. If any of the statements above are intentionally misleading, the job candidate is due compensatory damages.

>>> ISL 18 minutes ago [-] "If the company is private, a link to a fiscal summary equivalent to the SEC's 10-K." Good luck with that.

Posed question asked: "If you had it your way, what info would every job posting include?", not "What can you realistically expect an employer to share?"

In practice, though, assessing the financial future of an employer before committing your most essential resource, time, is important.

Re: Ask HN: What info do you wish every job posting included?

#73

Post by ryandrake »

handbanana wrote: post #51
mindcrime wrote: post #14

Salary range, description of office environment (and/or actual pictures), remote work policy, expected hours, dress code, tech stack details, some details on what the project actually is , and a quick "Joel test" like summary of the current development practices. Also, a note indicating whether or not managers refer to people as "resources". Also, the name of the actual development methodology (if any) that is in use…

This but missing one of the most important for me: PTO in days. If it's unlimited, that's vague and could mean 10-50 days, but it's better than not knowing

At least I want to know if they distinguish between Vacation and Sick leave. I’ve seen a lot of the recent trend of lumping it all into “PTO” so if you get 2 weeks of PTO a year and you get sick for a week, you only have one week left for actual vacation.

Re: Ask HN: What info do you wish every job posting included?

#74

Post by mindcrime »

handbanana wrote: post #52
misja111 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 for salary range. It's bizar that some companies require you to first go through the entire interview process and only do the salary negotation at the end. At which point you might find out that there never was a possibility for a match and you both have wasted your time.

If you don't know the salary up front and they won't divulge that info, then why bother interviewing? How often would it be a pleasant surprise?

The times I've been in these situations, it's usually involved a recruiter, and I've had verbal confirmation from the recruiter to the effect of "I gave them your number and they are OK with it". Now it's possible the recruiter misstated things somewhere along the way, so who knows? But that's what made these things all the more surprising when they've come up: the fact that I was told specifically "I gave them your number and it's within their range" or "they're OK with it" or some similar verbiage.

Had I been applying direct (no recruiter involved) I probably would not have gone through that much process without demanding more details. Knowing what I know now, I definitely wouldn't.

Re: Ask HN: What info do you wish every job posting included?

#77

Post by handbanana »

mindcrime wrote: post #74
handbanana wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't know the salary up front and they won't divulge that info, then why bother interviewing? How often would it be a pleasant surprise?

The times I've been in these situations, it's usually involved a recruiter, and I've had verbal confirmation from the recruiter to the effect of "I gave them your number and they are OK with it". Now it's possible the recruiter misstated things somewhere along the way, so who knows? But that's what made these things all the more surprising when they've come up: the fact that I was told specifically "I gave them your…

You can always try to find the salary range online, too (sometimes). Glassdoor, paysa, + indeed and other sites sometimes try to provide a guestimate range. Take each with a grain of salt of course. I'm very direct with recruiters typically, as I don't like having my time wasted (as it has in the past).

Re: Ask HN: What info do you wish every job posting included?

#78

Post by majewsky »

jcadam wrote: post #55

- Does this job posting represent a real, urgent need or are you just fishing? - Team Size - Can I choose my own tools, or are you going to force Eclipse on me (deal-breaker)? - Office environment. Open (no thanks)? Cubes (Meh)? Private offices (nice)? - Salary range - Average number of hours per week. Don't say 40 if it's really 60. - Employee development. Do you send people to conferences (this is rare nowadays, an…

> Does this job posting represent a real, urgent need or are you just fishing?

Why does a "real need" have to be urgent? In my team, all important needs are covered, but we still add new people when budget is available because there's always more stuff in the backlog. Six people can usually do more than five, and 21 people can usually do more than 20. (Although 20 people do not necessarily do more than 5 because [insert comment about middle management culture] but that's not my point.)

Also:

> - Health care benefits information (This is so variable that I always ask for this information before accepting an offer).

This bullet point sounds absurd to my European ears.

Re: Ask HN: What info do you wish every job posting included?

#79

Post by majewsky »

i_dont_know_ wrote: post #68

A link to the whole HR manual. Some places have insanely condescending HR policies (requiring doctor's notes to 'count as sick', or strict hours for a job that could be done remotely, strict dress codes, weird rules about lunch etc). Usually HR policies are treated as a second thought and presented to you after you've accepted employment, but these details will impact you and your quality-of-work. For instance, place…

> places that require doctor's notes will have people come in to work while sick more frequently

Huh? When I'm sick, I automatically go to the doctor, so I always have a doctor's note.

Re: Ask HN: What info do you wish every job posting included?

#80

Post by jcadam »

majewsky wrote: post #78
jcadam wrote: post #55

- Does this job posting represent a real, urgent need or are you just fishing? - Team Size - Can I choose my own tools, or are you going to force Eclipse on me (deal-breaker)? - Office environment. Open (no thanks)? Cubes (Meh)? Private offices (nice)? - Salary range - Average number of hours per week. Don't say 40 if it's really 60. - Employee development. Do you send people to conferences (this is rare nowadays, an…

> Does this job posting represent a real, urgent need or are you just fishing? Why does a "real need" have to be urgent? In my team, all important needs are covered, but we still add new people when budget is available because there's always more stuff in the backlog. Six people can usually do more than five, and 21 people can usually do more than 20. (Although 20 people do not necessarily do more than 5 because [ins…

> Why does a "real need" have to be urgent?

Because continuously reposting the same position for months/years and interviewing hundreds of candidates just in case a god of computer science happens to apply to your company wastes candidates' time and makes us hate you ("He would be prefect except for that thing he does with his eyebrows while he talks, so let's pass and wait for a better candidate.")

> This bullet point sounds absurd to my European ears.

I'd rather my employer just hand me a (large) wad of (tax-free) cash and say "Go buy yourself some health insurance", but that's not what happens. My current employer's prescription drug plan (Express scripts), for example, is the worst thing in the universe. I'd much rather be able to shop around.

Post reply on HN