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You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

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Re: You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

#31

Post by adetrest »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #12
sethammons wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from personal experience, can you point to any data on this, and maybe go into some more detail? When I think of personality tests, I think of quack science. "Do you get angry a lot?", "Is it easy for you to get angry?", "Would you say it is difficult to make you angry?, and four other similar questions in a 200 question quiz. They ask the same thing multiple ways to try to know if you are an person categorizab…

By the 5th time you see the question, you're fuming so you shout, "YES! I ANGER EASILY!!!!" Ahem... Sorry. I worked at a place that was bought out and the new team immediately made everyone take a battery of these style tests. A few days later they did a mass firing based on the results. I survived long enough to find work elsewhere.

Firing based on test results sounds illegal. Same reason why employers can't give iq tests to candidates anymore IIRC.

Re: You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

#32

Post by midasz »

pacuna wrote: post #23

Could be, but what if the requirements you're missing are supposedly essential for the job? Some jobs say you need to know X programming language. What if you're a good programmer but haven't worked with that particular language? Should you bother to apply?

I did, and it worked out fine for me. However the languages are a bit similar. I went from C# to Java. I was upfront with it, and showed my eagerness to learn and develop.

They did only give me a 1-year contract, and a stipulation to get some Oracle cert but did support me throughout. Now that I've shown them that I can adapt (be productive/billable, and got the certs done) they offered me a permanent contract (indefinite period of time).

So yes, bother to apply. But put the work in to show them you can adapt.

Re: You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

#33

Post by dexen »

gaius wrote: post #30
dexen wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too soon. This forum is on an intersection of progressives , who by default champion womens' causes, and entrepreneurs , who favor expanding labor pool to lower workforce costs. HN will needs to see a lot more papers & articles on this subject to start turning around on the issue. Find more documents, post them, and hunker down for a few more years. Generation Z will get this sorted out once it starts joining the wor…

Generation Z will get this sorted out once it starts joining the workplaces. Are they noticeably less ageist than any previous generation?

That one I don't know. They seem tolerate me just fine so far, for what it's worth. Call them "realists" perhaps? While gaming, they are well aware I have much worse reaction times and working memory than them, but I can make it up with relevant experience to certain extent.

You raise a very good point, and I will take care to spread the message of "respect your elders". Obviously behaving respectably is a prerequisite. I think the Gen Z-ers feel a less hung out to dry by the adults than the Millenials, so there ought to be less resentment and less distrust.

On the other hand, the holders of higher education degrees may end up looked down with a degree of sneer in a decade or two, due to the current title bubble.

Re: You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

#34

Post by bitwize »

In my experience, unless you meet all of the requirements in the req, and substantially exceed a few of them, you will probably be passed over for a candidate with "more experience in technology X".

Not that I apply for jobs to get jobs, not to get interviews. Getting called in to interview means next to nothing.

Re: You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

#35

Post by midasz »

sovietmudkipz wrote: post #7
austincheney wrote: post #5

You can eliminate all kinds of selective bias and incompetence by first filtering candidates based upon a battery of personality tests. You don't have to know anything about the candidates until this pass through the initial filter.

What is this proposed personality filter letting through and what is it filtering out?

IN: INT* OUT: anything not NT.

I used to really like the MBTI-type stuff, but honestly think it's kinda nonsense now. You need a diverse team to be the best imho.

Re: You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

#36

Post by itronitron »

sureaboutthis wrote: post #27
scarejunba wrote: post #4

Perhaps companies over-list requirements because everyone knows requirements are not ANDed together. There is a scoring scheme that combines all of these, and the quality of the requirement. And let’s be honest having spent “5 years of Python” at a Google is a different story from having spent “5 years of Python” at an Infosys. To be honest, I’ve never seen a job description that exactly lays out what you’re going to…

I love the "looking for experts in X" followed by "with one to two years experience". And then I see my neighbor who is an expert in X, can code rings around anybody, but can't find a job after his company shut down. His only fault is he's 60.

I think there is an assumption that if a candidate doesn't have experience in 'Y' but they have ten years of 'X' (which is similar to, or a precursor of Y) then the candidate is somehow biased against Y or unwilling to work with it.

Two decades of OpenGL experience?, sorry we are looking for someone with Vulkan experience. Two years of OpenGL experience? when can you come in?

Re: You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

#37

Post by lettergram »

scarejunba wrote: post #4

Perhaps companies over-list requirements because everyone knows requirements are not ANDed together. There is a scoring scheme that combines all of these, and the quality of the requirement. And let’s be honest having spent “5 years of Python” at a Google is a different story from having spent “5 years of Python” at an Infosys. To be honest, I’ve never seen a job description that exactly lays out what you’re going to…

We actually tried to be fairly explicit in what you will be doing for our team:

https://www.themuse.com/jobs/capitalone/machine-learning-sof...

We even set the requirements to match what we felt could do the job. The roll has actually been fairly difficult to fill though. Recruiting decks I have seen actually suggest creating more requirements and being vague in an attempt to lure more applicants. After this experience, they are probably correct. Lure them in then explain more after they meet the team (i.e. get them excited)

Re: You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

#39

Post by GhostVII »

It's interesting how women seem to get interviews when matching fewer of the job requirements than men. Might be worth looking into whether this is due to gender discrimination in recruiting, or if women just apply to jobs that are a better fit, regardless of job requirements.

Re: You Only Need 50% of Job “Requirements”

#40

Post by wil421 »

mszcz wrote: post #19

https://dilbert.com/strip/2008-03-01 I'm not a fan of HR in general and it's frustrating that they are often the clueless gatekeepers.

Sometimes it isn’t even an HR person. A computer will scan your resume and if you don’t match enough keywords a person won’t even read it.
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