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Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

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Re: Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

#221

Post by [deleted] »

clarry wrote: post #207
TheMog wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it works both ways. You might send out 20 resumes. As a hiring manager - especially when using a "no filter" approach like posting on here (keep in mind that IME people posting jobs on Hacker News are more likely doing "guerilla hiring" and circumvent their HR departments) - I easily get 100+ resumes, and I don't have days to spend trawling through them. I think it was rands of randsinrepose who mentioned befor…

What if I don't love writing web apps in RoR and just want a friggin job? I shouldn't send you a resume at all? Would it be appropriate for me to just lie about it? What if the all the people who tell how they love writing web apps in RoR are just bullshitting you in the hopes that you really believe it? What if they're mostly just very excited newbies who haven't yet had the time to figure out that maybe it's not so…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

#222

Post by estreeper »

clarry wrote: post #207
TheMog wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it works both ways. You might send out 20 resumes. As a hiring manager - especially when using a "no filter" approach like posting on here (keep in mind that IME people posting jobs on Hacker News are more likely doing "guerilla hiring" and circumvent their HR departments) - I easily get 100+ resumes, and I don't have days to spend trawling through them. I think it was rands of randsinrepose who mentioned befor…

What if I don't love writing web apps in RoR and just want a friggin job? I shouldn't send you a resume at all? Would it be appropriate for me to just lie about it? What if the all the people who tell how they love writing web apps in RoR are just bullshitting you in the hopes that you really believe it? What if they're mostly just very excited newbies who haven't yet had the time to figure out that maybe it's not so…

> What if I don't love writing web apps in RoR and just want a friggin job? I shouldn't send you a resume at all?

Probably not. If someone is doing something they don't like, they tend to stop doing it so well as time goes on. While it may work out for a while, people usually need to care at some level about what they're doing to do a good job. Not everyone, sure, but I wouldn't take the chance.

There is also a lot more to working than just doing a job. Working around people who don't care about their work is demoralizing.

Re: Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

#223

Post by Pica_soO »

loteck wrote: post #100
freework wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to see it from th job hunter's perspective. It is very common to send out 20 resume's and maybe get a single response or two. It is very time consuming to write a custom multi-paragraph cover letter with every application. Eventually all job hunters learn that you get the same response rate when you write one sentence cover letters as you do when you put a lot of effort into them. Why spend so much effort wh…

Eventually all job hunters learn that you get the same response rate when you write one sentence cover letters as you do when you put a lot of effort into them. Weird way to look at it. I would think a company that would accept a one sentence cover letter would also accept a longer cover letter, but that the inverse wouldn't be true. As such, wouldn't a classic job seeker always sell to the longer-letter requirement,…

Maybe its the perspective that a insisting on long formal and inefficient processes wouldn't make for a good employer.

Re: Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

#224

Post by vonmoltke »

svec wrote: post #96

Other side of the table: we've hired at least 2 people from the "Who's Hiring" posts at here at iRobot.

Out of curiosity, for what specialties? I appreciate your help in getting my resume in front of humans up there, but I'm still kinda upset I couldn't get anyone to even talk to me.

Also, y'all better be nice to my first-cousin-one-removed-in-law.

Re: Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

#226

Post by Aloha »

Pica_soO wrote: post #218
danesparza wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It is very common to send out 20 resume's and maybe get a single response or two. It is very time consuming to write a custom multi-paragraph cover letter with every application." If you're a programmer and you're approaching problems this way, I most likely don't want to hire you. Strike a balance between automation and giving a personal touch where it's necessary.

Automated personal touch, mmh.. i can do procedural Rts units, i can do that. Dear Sir and Madam, i always greatly admired the spaghettis growing in your yard. The idea of adding to was asthma taking and diamond. Now finding myself, in need and desire to accomplish, a similar feet, ladder jump several feet deep up, i hereby apply for your post which i will embrace with great pressure on passion fruit and tail end. Re…

I use a fill-in-the-blank cover letter for this purpose.

Re: Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

#227

Post by amingilani »

ohyoutravel wrote: post #81
joekrill wrote: post #6

I was actually very surprised at the amount of folks that simply didn't respond _at all_ -- meaning not even an _acknowledgement_. The folks that I did hear back from were great, though. Nothing ever actually worked out in my case, though.

Even worse is when their application process is "different" and they ask that you write code addressing some specific problem to submit with your resume. I'm not talking something simple, but a well thought out problem that requires a few hundred lines. I get that they're trying to be different and evaluate candidates on metrics other than just resume, but to send that kind of thing in (which takes a week of effort o…

I was recently stupid enough to have had taken a task involving Spring Boot. I literally had to learn Java in a week make a web application using it in a week.

The recruiter knew my inexperience with the technology but have it as "a challenge to observe my performance in an unfamiliar setting."

It made that rejection much worse. Particularly when I had my code judged for a framework I'd only used for a week.

Re: Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

#228

Post by rfrey »

trifarious wrote: post #68
mobiuscog wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems to happen everywhere these days - I've sent out several applications recently (non-HN) and had absolutely nothing back, not even an acknowledgement. It says a lot for the professionalism of a company when they can't even auto-respond a receipt, although a personal rejection would always be nice - if you can't be bothered to say you're not interested, why should I be bothered to apply ?

Founder here. I used to reply to every applicant individually because I couldn't believe someone wanted to work for my startup. But then that got to be burdensome so I set up a reply template, but even then people would reply to the template and continue the conversation. Then my co-founder pointed out that spending lots of time replying to everyone wasn't a good use of my time. Point is it's nothing personal. If you…

That's appallingly self centered. Nothing personal.

Re: Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

#229

Post by dwc »

freework wrote: post #89
TheMog wrote: post #80

A post from "the other side of the table" :). The previous company I worked at, I hired two people through who's hiring posts. We pretty much tried it out for about six months as we didn't have much luck through the more traditional channels our division's HR department used. So yes, there are real positions being filled through these posts. That said, just because it's on Hacker News and this is an informal place do…

You have to see it from th job hunter's perspective. It is very common to send out 20 resume's and maybe get a single response or two. It is very time consuming to write a custom multi-paragraph cover letter with every application. Eventually all job hunters learn that you get the same response rate when you write one sentence cover letters as you do when you put a lot of effort into them. Why spend so much effort wh…

Yeah, that sounds a lot like my early days. Cold applying is horrible. Since then I let friends know that I'm looking, check out interesting places to see if anyone I know works there, etc. My last job hunt involved applying to a single place, with an internal recommendation. Same for the previous job. Etc. The last time I applied cold was in the 90s.

I realize that getting to this point takes time, and usually involves working in the same town for a good while. But when you can do it it's a nice way to get your resume on someone's desk for real consideration rather than, say, getting culled by a recruiter because you don't have the exact incantation they were told to look for.

Re: Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

#230

Post by thaumasiotes »

jaz46 wrote: post #109
VeXocide wrote: post #19

Two years ago when the "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired?" thread appeared for the first time I wasn't quite happy where I was at, and posted my details. I was located in the Netherlands at the time and literally one of hundreds posting, thus I didn't have too high a hopes, but why not. A few local companies reached out, and I interviewed with one or two, but for whatever reason neither ended up working out. At that poi…

I'm the guy from RethinkDB who found and hired Jeroen! I will say it's pretty rare, but when searching for a very particular skill set "Who wants to be hired" can totally work for finding new to mid-level devs.

Why are you looking for "a very particular skill set" in "new-level" devs?
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