Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#21

Post by taietel » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:29 PM UTC

midgetjones wrote: post #5

taietel wrote: post #2

Hi guys, I built this after spending over 2 months applying to 100+ jobs on all the job boards and managing everything through a spreadsheet as a senior in college. I want to make the job seeking process easier for everyone so I built JobGen, a way to auto-apply to hundreds of jobs in 2 minutes. It's built with Rails on Heroku, and on the backend uses image recognition and DOM parsing to identify fields to submit you…

Well done on building this, it's an interesting idea. Where did the numbers come from on the homepage? I only ask because your personal account of 100+ jobs, at 5 mins per application, doesn't seem like the best approach to me. When I was jobseeking, I'd research every job description & company thoroughly first, and if it seemed like somewhere I'd want to work then I'd spend probably 20 minutes or so writing a cover…

Thanks! The numbers are from a beta test I did with around 200 users. I came up with this idea as a college student, when my classmates and I would apply to dozens and even hundreds of jobs to get any opportunity available.

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#22

Post by taietel » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:30 PM UTC

vertigolimbo wrote: post #3

taietel wrote: post #2

Hi guys, I built this after spending over 2 months applying to 100+ jobs on all the job boards and managing everything through a spreadsheet as a senior in college. I want to make the job seeking process easier for everyone so I built JobGen, a way to auto-apply to hundreds of jobs in 2 minutes. It's built with Rails on Heroku, and on the backend uses image recognition and DOM parsing to identify fields to submit you…

First of all, make the website look more professional. I.e. Do Not Capitalise Every Single Word. Secondly, fix spelling mistakes ("Its a numbers game").

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll definitely fix those issues :)

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#23

Post by taietel » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:31 PM UTC

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #7

taietel wrote: post #2

Hi guys, I built this after spending over 2 months applying to 100+ jobs on all the job boards and managing everything through a spreadsheet as a senior in college. I want to make the job seeking process easier for everyone so I built JobGen, a way to auto-apply to hundreds of jobs in 2 minutes. It's built with Rails on Heroku, and on the backend uses image recognition and DOM parsing to identify fields to submit you…

I'm at work so I can't check it out right now. Does it show you the job descriptions of all the jobs you have applied to?

Yep! You can read through all the descriptions, and check/uncheck the ones you would like to apply to.

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#24

Post by taietel » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:36 PM UTC

quaunaut wrote: post #4

On the one hand, this is super cool and I know some people/fields this would be great. On the other, I worry that without knowing exactly who and how these are getting sent out, that I'll seriously consider one of these companies soon after using this, and then be in the unfortunate position of having one low-quality application, and a followup high quality one. Do I have the ability to select who things are going to…

Thanks for the feedback! Yes you can view the descriptions of each company and check/uncheck the ones you would like to apply to :)

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#25

Post by 6stringmerc » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:37 PM UTC

taietel wrote: post #2

Hi guys, I built this after spending over 2 months applying to 100+ jobs on all the job boards and managing everything through a spreadsheet as a senior in college. I want to make the job seeking process easier for everyone so I built JobGen, a way to auto-apply to hundreds of jobs in 2 minutes. It's built with Rails on Heroku, and on the backend uses image recognition and DOM parsing to identify fields to submit you…

Congrats on taking the time and effort to build something both functional (fills a need) and can work as an example of your work (demonstration) at the same time!

As a fellow job seeker frustrated by the "Look at all these great tools for Employers to make Candidates jump through hoops" slant in SaaS, your contribution is quite welcome. I'll admit I have a Candidate Assist SaaS type program in mind as well, definitely different from yours in approach and execution, so feel very good about encouraging your success. Maybe even the scales a little!

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#26

Post by taietel » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:38 PM UTC

Sharma wrote: post #10

Good idea. One important feature that can make it great idea is to match open positions based on the resume's text and the job title and description text(NLP). Then present a screen with the list of the companies with job information algorithm matched with check-boxes. So that user can decide where to apply.

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it! That's definitely on the roadmap, right now users can still select which companies they would like to apply to before sending out their applications.

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#27

Post by taietel » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:41 PM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #6

I actually really disagree that it's a numbers game. Yes, it is a numbers game if all you do is send a generic application. But it's not at all a numbers game if you only apply to companies where you have some human connection. For privileged people, that means a relative, family friend, or friend. For others, who have no useful connections, it's possible to make these connections by cold-messaging people on LinkedIn…

Thanks for the feedback. I built this as a senior in college, when my classmates and I didn't really have any useful connections to people in the industry. I did try cold-emailing and cold LinkedIn messaging people, but received few to no replies. It's definitely something that can be integrated into this webapp though, adding support for emailing/reaching out directly to hiring managers.

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#28

Post by ianai » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:44 PM UTC

kcorbitt wrote: post #14

smt88 wrote: post #6

I actually really disagree that it's a numbers game. Yes, it is a numbers game if all you do is send a generic application. But it's not at all a numbers game if you only apply to companies where you have some human connection. For privileged people, that means a relative, family friend, or friend. For others, who have no useful connections, it's possible to make these connections by cold-messaging people on LinkedIn…

> For others, who have no useful connections, it's possible to make these connections by cold-messaging people on LinkedIn, especially alumni from your school. This. If the job you're applying to pays >= 50k/year, you owe it to yourself to take 30 minutes or so before you apply and find a way to differentiate yourself and make a connection. Ideally you reach out to someone on the inside that you have a shared experie…

Unless those jobs don't pay >50k/yr. straight out of college most are going for low run entry jobs.

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#29

Post by palakchokshi » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:45 PM UTC

cwt137 wrote: post #16

My department just finished a cycle of hiring developers. We could tell which applicants mass applied to jobs and used a generic cover letter. They are probably was just playing the numbers game. Since they didn't care enough to at minimum change or add one or two sentences to make the cover letter unique to our job posting, they didn't get far in our hiring process.

This goes both ways.

I get emails, LinkedIn messages from recruiters and I could tell which recruiters mass emailed to candidates and used a generic template. They are probably just playing the numbers game. Since they didn't care enough to at a minimum change or add one or two sentences to make the email unique to my skill set, they didn't get far in their recruiting efforts.

Re: Show HN: A Webapp to Auto Apply for Jobs

#30

Post by 6stringmerc » Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 4:45 PM UTC

cpfohl wrote: post #12

IshKebab wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, but also it is true that the mechanical process of actually filling in an application is very tedious. If that bit can be eliminated then it is definitely worth it. That said, I think you can apply to jobs with a single click on LinkedIn (and I assume StackOverflow?) so that has kind of been solved. Ish.

I've never gotten a job with a resume I didn't taylor for the job in question. Thoughtful tweaking is overwhelmingly the longest part of applying for any job. I've never found the 10 minutes (or so) of filling out the internet forms difficult.

On the first point, I've spent a lot of time tayloring for jobs in question and never got more than a form letter of rejection, if any, even though it was a short note of alignment with abilities.

And, you're flat out wrong about the 'longest part' of applying for a job if you have to go through each company's individual "Job Applicant System" and fill out basic info over and over and over because the auto-fill systems are garbage 80% of the time. Redundant data entry is overwhelmingly the worst part, and Employers/HR people love to pretend that's not the case.