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Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

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211–220 of 455 posts

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#212
Just in the past few days I got contacted by a British recruiter offering a job via LinkedIn which had a particularly generous package and conditions for the German market, so I jumped on the phone and had a chat with him about it. It was all good until the second phone call to clarify that the pay was 30K less than what was originally advertised and there were no stock option benefits.

I found it pretty deceiving, the old cloak and dagger sales technique.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At my last role, I got all the way to the "signing your hiring paperwork" to find out that vaccines were mandatory for all new hires. Seeing as that's 30% of the workforce or so who isn't, and this being a senior level position, and a year more after they were first available (meaning, anyone who wanted to get a vaccine - probably would have already)... you'd think they'd bring that up day one. I about flipped shit o…

People just assume anyone with a reasonable amount of common sense would be fine with it I imagine.

It seems bizarre to me you wouldn't put requirements up front, which seems to be what this thread is complaining about. Thank you for implying I am a moron

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#214

Amazon is doing this. I went through the process and the recruiter tried to manipulate me into "assigning a local office" otherwise it has to go through "an approval process". I told him put it through the approval then or I walk. He also tried car-salesman tactics of trying to get me to accept a lower total comp package. I stood firmly at the top of my range and after days of trying to convince me otherwise, they fi…

Being assigned an office doesn't mean that it's not remote. It entirely depends on the team. I worked for a team that wanted me in office for three days a week last year. My current team is entirely remote, but I'm still assigned to an office that I can go to anytime I want, which is totally optional.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#215

> [...] the job opening didn't say remote, the agreement they signed didn't say remote. I don't understand. Do people sign a contract that states something differently than they were being told verbally before? Imho what isn't in writing doesn't exist. Especially when it comes to "promises" from potential employers. For example I would not trust a promised raise in 12 months when nothing was done in writing. Even wit…

That's a pretty hard standard to hold. I've never had a company promise a particular desk to me in writing, but I trust that if they show me their nice office space and verbally tell me that's where I'll be sitting they won't put me on a folding table in the broom closet.

My contract specifically states that my primary work location is the company office.

If I had applied to a remote position and the contract did not specifically state it's primarily a remote location, I would demand the contract was changed to reflect this before signing.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#216
This sounds situational. I know someone personally that just landed a remote L5 position at Google. I have spoken with dev managers at Facebook who are hiring remote positions. I have spoken with dev managers at Amazon who are hiring remote positions.

My guess is that was the least offensive way the recruiter could come up with to tell you you didn't pass the "bar". And the hiring committee is, afaik, another "bar".

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#217

If you get to the point you get an offer, always make sure to get that in the contract. I was working remotely for a company that went through some re-org and ended up with a different manager who wasn't very excited about having remote team members. Unfortunately for him it was part of my contract so he couldn't force me to relocate.

Very few workers in the U.S. have actual employment contracts. If you work in the tech sector in the U.S. you almost certainly don't. Instead, your employment is "at-will"; i.e. terminable by either party, with or without cause or notice (unless you live and work in Montana). You may have received a written offer of employment when you were hired (outlining your title, salary, hiring bonuses, etc.), but that is not a…

> If you work in the tech sector in the U.S. you almost certainly don't.

I've been working in the tech sector in the US for a long time, and have had an employment contract at literally every company. I'm genuinely surprised to hear that people are working without one. That seems unwise.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#218

If you get to the point you get an offer, always make sure to get that in the contract. I was working remotely for a company that went through some re-org and ended up with a different manager who wasn't very excited about having remote team members. Unfortunately for him it was part of my contract so he couldn't force me to relocate.

Very few workers in the U.S. have actual employment contracts. If you work in the tech sector in the U.S. you almost certainly don't. Instead, your employment is "at-will"; i.e. terminable by either party, with or without cause or notice (unless you live and work in Montana). You may have received a written offer of employment when you were hired (outlining your title, salary, hiring bonuses, etc.), but that is not a…

Wow, this is crazy to me.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 contra…

Dude, you're an employee. If management doesn't respect you, look elsewhere. You're working in IT, it's not like you can't change work. You'll risk getting less money, but if you're happier who cares?

Small note: there are people who cannot change work in IT because it would affect their visa or immigration status.

Re: Tell HN: Recruiters are lying about remote positions

#220
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.

Focusing on remote-only, remote-first, remote-from-scratch companies is how I ended up at my current, and literally best company I've ever worked for, gig. Obviously the pool of such companies is smaller than in-person and they tend to have more competition for roles, but my unscientific guess is that pool is growing larger. Bonus points for those companies because they didn't have to "figure it out" or change upper…

I would love to go to a remote first company. How do you even find such a thing without just being super lucky?

I'm actually onboarding at a remote position right now where the people I work with are clearly used to everything happening in an office. It's Thursday, I started Monday, and I have spent a grand total of maybe 3 hours speaking to my teammates or direct manager.

I've been dumped with a ton of documentation and stuff to read, but I feel extremely isolated. No one on my team has reached out to welcome me or make themselves available for questions or anything.

If this is what some people are experiencing in the remote world I don't blame them for wanting to go back to the office. It certainly is not how I've experienced remote work in the past so far.

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