Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#131

Post by MivLives » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

vasco wrote: post #96

mabbo wrote: post #45

When I went looking for a fully remote position last year, I was worried that exactly this might happen. Then I heard that Shopify had literally shut down and sold their offices. It's not actually possible for the company to go back to the office because they don't exist. So that's where I work now.

+1 On this. Find somewhere that was remote before pandemic or that shifted fully. I've worked fully remotely for the same company for almost 6 years now. Having worked in an office before, one belief I've formed over the years is that working at a place that doesn't have remote at the core and that has staff that's remote and staff that isn't, would create a two-tier system and I'd be very afraid of trying it. In fac…

The company I'm working for is struggling with this. They firmly believe in no remote. They won't entertain it for juniors, and generally to get approval you need to be pretty vital. But at the same time they've also opened up multiple offices (that are all in different geos, timezones). What the end result is that in my section of the company I'm effectively remote working from the off as my team has a remote contractor, and the other teams in my area are all dispersed between home and the new other offices. It's frustrating being told to go into work and getting no benefit from it besides a change of scenery. I'm not sure I'm cut out for full remote at least in my current housing situation/skill level.

I suspect other companies are in a similar situation, and it's part of the growing pains of getting larger. But fuck is it hard to be happy with it.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#132

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

jrd259 wrote: post #17

My Amazon team (based out of Toronto) is hiring remotely. I know the hiring manager won't change their mind because I am the manager.

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#133

Post by ravenstine » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 3:59 PM UTC

Yes, this happened to me with my last position.

Overall, they weren't one of the worst third party recruiters I've dealt with (though I shouldn't have dealt with them at all), but they told me in the first few calls that the position was "fully remote". This was only half-true. It turned out that the employer wanted me to come in 1 to 2 times a week. That was during late-pandemic, so who knows whether that would have been changed to not being remote.

Maybe it was miscommunication, but there's no way I can know that. An honest or competent recruiter would have sorted out those facts.

IMO, do whatever you can to bypass recruiters. Networking, doing presentations, and even just finding the emails of those who are really in charge of hiring, have a much greater payoff with modest effort than dealing with recruiters, particularly of the third-party kind. I believe this is particularly true for junior developers. If you are junior developers, expect most recruiters who reach out to you to be scum of the earth who will drop you like a hot potato if a single employer doesn't end up hiring you. They will tell you that you have "all the skills" and are "perfect" for a position and then they'll ghost you just as fast. Don't take it personally. Those people suck.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#134

Post by sydbarrett74 » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 3:59 PM UTC

Prediction: offices are going to become a status symbol for an enterprise to prove it's substantial enough to afford one. It will be mostly style, negligible substance. Perhaps a receptionist/office manager, a couple of private offices in the back for those who desire them, and a conference room. That's all that'll be needed.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#135

Post by hello_moto » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 3:59 PM UTC

cheeze wrote: post #63

aaomidi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but you're also amazon

And?

Can confirmed the others that pointed out ex-Amazonians aren't pleasure to work with/for.

Will avoid 10/10.

I believe they were molded to survive the Amazon culture, unfortunately.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#136

Post by cyberlurker » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 3:59 PM UTC

I make my employers put it in the contract before I sign. But I’m not unsympathetic to people being abused by big companies and recruiters. This is some bullshit.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#137

Post by ShakataGaNai » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:00 PM UTC

Ask the people you're talking to where the teammates are, the expectations of return to office. Ask them in the very first call. Either they'll be offended because they probably have nefarious plans (dodged a huge time waste), or they'll happily explain how their team is spread across 4 timezones and could never return to the office since there isn't one.

Sadly "remote" is just a buzzword to a lot of people. But on the flip side a lot of companies are truly serious about it.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#138

Post by trollied » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:00 PM UTC

The recruitment industry needs to be massively disrupted to stop this bullshit, but unfortunately there's too much money involved so it's unlikely to happen. Stack Overflow had a good effort, but have recently bowed out.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#139

Post by Arainach » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:00 PM UTC

whimsicalism wrote: post #58

nineplay wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still holding on to a slight hope that the recruiter will find a hiring manager willing to override the committee and all of my time and effort will not have been wasted. They said they'd keep looking but they were probably just trying to get me off the phone. I'll put it this way. One FAANG I wouldn't work at under any circumstances. One FAANG has been very clear that they want employees on site. One FAANG has a…

> One FAANG I wouldn't work at under any circumstances. Uh Amazon? I hope it's Amazon, not Facebook. > One FAANG has been very clear that they want employees on site. Both Netflix and Apple. > One FAANG has a recruiting proc where you are hired once you pass the interviews, you can figure out your team later. Google? > One FAANG doesn't really fit in the FAANG acronym. Amazon? Apple? Facebook because they've changed…

>One FAANG has a recruiting proc where you are hired once you pass the interviews, you can figure out your team later.

I suppose Google fits here, but Facebook is even stronger in that you generally have to accept the offer not knowing what you're going to work on and team match after boot camp.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#140

Post by eschneider » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:00 PM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #45

When I went looking for a fully remote position last year, I was worried that exactly this might happen. Then I heard that Shopify had literally shut down and sold their offices. It's not actually possible for the company to go back to the office because they don't exist. So that's where I work now.

Same story here. I was interviewing through much of 2021 and got a _fantastic_ offer from a local startup but I ended up passing because I just didn't believe their remote work promises. Ended up taking a position at a fully remote company and I'm very happy with it.