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Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

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Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#321

Post by bluGill »

shaftway wrote: post #171
metadaemon wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, there's definitely something broken with the cold application process. I'd estimate my success rate of getting an interview from a cold application is something like 1-5%. I almost always resort to referrals or getting lucky networking with recruiters.

I think it's a lot of luck and being one of the first people to apply. Once the flood comes in then people start filtering on metrics that don't really matter. "Oh, you only have 10 years of Java? This candidate over here has 11." I also think there's a weird game going on with remote roles. On my new team everyone is "remote", but of the 10 people 3 are in the bay area and the other 7 are in 6 different cities, but…

I've hired a bunch of people (well my boss, but I'm on the interview panel so I have a real say though I'm not hiring). We generally agree that living near an office is an advantage. We have hired people from all over, but those closer to an office are more valuable just because sometimes we need someone to go physically look at a failing test setup.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#322

Post by sangnoir »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #309
sgwizdak wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One note from personal experience -- it'll likely take about 12 weeks or so for a laid off dev to come back up to speed with interview prep to feel confident to start the interview grind again. One thing that can likely help is being upfront with the evaluation process.

If they can afford to wait three months (!) to start looking for work because of "feelings" they they deserved to be laid off.

Not everyone lives from hand to mouth and need a job ASAP. Additionally, most people I know in (US) big tech do not take adequate time off from work - it appears the unspoken rule is to take substantive breaks between jobs, rather than annually like they do in Europe.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#323

Post by mywittyname »

latchkey wrote: post #173
bombcar wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flipping can work but it can be much harder to be reasonably profitable without insane appreciation. Your best bet is fixers - houses with obvious major issues that everyone is scared of but you know you can fix reasonably cheaply. This can mean buying a $500k house with major foundation damage for $100k because everyone is scared - but you know a whole foundation replacement will only run you $200k. https://johntree…

Good link, thanks. The problem I see is that you need to find the fixer gem, but location matters. Certainly, you can buy a fixer in the middle of Ohio, but who wants to live there? There is just too much surrounding inventory with low desirability. The thing that works in my eyes is to buy in areas that are extremely desirable, even pay a bit more for it, but very low inventory. That's where the insane appreciation…

> Certainly, you can buy a fixer in the middle of Ohio, but who wants to live there?

Millions of people. It's the seventh largest state in the USA, is home to three major cities and many large multinational companies.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#324

Post by bluGill »

nfw2 wrote: post #211
metadaemon wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, there's definitely something broken with the cold application process. I'd estimate my success rate of getting an interview from a cold application is something like 1-5%. I almost always resort to referrals or getting lucky networking with recruiters.

It's ironic because you would think companies would want engineers who actually are eager to work there. When connecting to companies through recruiters, you're expected to still come up with some semi-BS about why you're so excited to work there. But you need to go through the motions because the places you are actually excited to work won't even interview you.

Most companies are boring. Why is anyone excited about a company that makes sewage systems, but it must be done. Or accounting software, or any of the millions of other jobs. Even if you are building exciting games, most of the work is boring (if you get to play that game it is spending hours running in walls on the starting level), likewise tracking down a bug is just as tedious in a game as any other software.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#325

Post by jokethrowaway »

bombcar wrote: post #248
jaclaz wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well your own link states how fixers are not really a good idea, but you want "disasters" and trasform them in "fixers". And it is not like you can find such disasters easily, nor that you can easily be able to make them into fixers, without years of previous experience. The whole approach, "everyone is scared but you know ..." is based on the assumption that you know more than anyone else (possibly including many pe…

Yeah, that's the whole problem with "make money in real estate" - either it requires (somewhat specialized) knowledge and risk-taking, or you're just gambling on insane appreciation and leveraging that. Anything that "anyone can do" is going to explode at some point.

insane appreciation is not that crazy given how our governments keep devaluating our money

keep assets instead of cash and you'll be a genius

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#326

Post by mywittyname »

koboll wrote: post #235
shmatt wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect the remote aspect is the biggest thing slowing you down. I go in once a month, which is practically a remote job, but those who moved during the pandemic and wouldn't fly in and take a hotel on their expense once a month had to leave There are 1000 different flavors of mixed home-office working right now, but not that much fully remote

How exactly do you go about explaining something like "I live in another state but I'd be happy to fly in for 1-3 days a month" on a resume (Asking for a friend)

"I can come to the office on a regular basis"

Then negotiate the definition of "regular" with your comp.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#327

Post by bluGill »

sumtechguy wrote: post #246
nfw2 wrote: post #179

I was laid off in June. This coincided with my mom being diagnosed with cancer, and because I had a fair amount of saving, I took some time to support family and work on some personal projects. I started looking again at the start of this year, and it's been rough, at least compared to my last job search where I had multiple offers in under two weeks. I've submitted ~50 applications so far, most with a non-generic co…

I had that same exp about 5 years ago. I have heard tailoring your resume for each one helps. The funny one was one that came back 2 years after I had another job and rejected me. I had to go dig up my notes and see what I had applied for! My internal network was the same as yours with lots of 'nothing here'. Most of my luck has been like you, with 3rd party recruiters. Unless I reach out to them directly. Then they…

Tailoring your resume is most important when you are trying to get a job different. If you have been doing webapps for 10 years I'm going to reject you for my embedded position - but if you want to switch roles a little tailoring can make me see you want something new and I'll take a chance.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#329

Post by latchkey »

mywittyname wrote: post #323
latchkey wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good link, thanks. The problem I see is that you need to find the fixer gem, but location matters. Certainly, you can buy a fixer in the middle of Ohio, but who wants to live there? There is just too much surrounding inventory with low desirability. The thing that works in my eyes is to buy in areas that are extremely desirable, even pay a bit more for it, but very low inventory. That's where the insane appreciation…

> Certainly, you can buy a fixer in the middle of Ohio, but who wants to live there? Millions of people. It's the seventh largest state in the USA, is home to three major cities and many large multinational companies.

And? You're taking something personally and proving my point with that statement.

The millions of people who live there, already live there. That doesn't increase demand. It is a large state, so there is plenty of space to build. Density is centered around three locations and the largeness of the state means that people can expand out to the suburbs.

What you want is somewhere with a high density, inability to add more property and desirable for vacations (like a beach with views). San Francisco was kind of a good example of this for a very long time, until it wasn't. There are other cities on coastlines that fit this model though.

Buy a condo that has dual use (STR), refurb it, flip it.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#330

Post by 2b3a51 »

kypro wrote: post #127
PretzelPirate wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the US and would love to hear about the UK expefiencd. What's it like when being laid off in the UK? Do you get guaranteed severance and some breathing room from the stress of rent or mortgage payments? Do you worry about access to high quality Healthcare? Overall, do you think being in the UK makes you less worried that a layoff will leave you broke and homeless?

I'm a contractor so no severance, although I believe severance in the UK works fairly similarly to the US (I just wouldn't know). On mortgages, I'm very worried because in the UK all mortgages are ARMs and our repayments have gone up a ton. But in addition to this so have our energy bills, and expenses generally. > Do you worry about access to high quality Healthcare? I don't have private healthcare. Unless you're ve…

"most people in the UK disagree with me on this"

Your experience is your experience, all I can say is mine is different and almost certainly less relevant to this thread.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/help-if-on-a-low-...

The single parent on 30k presumably is either disabled or has a disabled child?

Good luck with it

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