Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 274 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#21

Post by wunderland »

gautamdivgi wrote: post #11
moosedev wrote: post #6

Not just you. I would guess, optimistically, I’m averaging a 5% conversion rate of applications to recruiter chats/“stage 0 interviews”. That is, ~95% of applications yield silence or a generic email rejection without any human contact. ~15 YOE, FAANG experience, usually only applying to roles I feel I’m at least a halfway good fit for (i.e. not a complete scattergun approach). I’m (financially) fine for now, which i…

If you are a US citizen try defense companies. Edit: I should have explained my reasoning. They have a much smaller eligible applicant pool - US citizens who are eligible for security clearance. Because of this they’re continuously looking for good talent.

Damn this is the most depressing comment in this whole comments section

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#22

Post by SassyGrapefruit »

I don't know man. I am employed but I still get 64 recruiting emails a day. Seems like business as usual. FWIW I have never had luck with applications. The last time I was unemployed I sent out 10 or 15 and heard nothing. I reached out to a recruiter and was drowning in interviews within a week.

As for the other side, I do hiring on my team. We posted a Senior SRE on linkedin and got 30 applicants within a week. That was not our experience 2 months ago(more like 5). Maybe something has changed. I don't know I don't pay too much attention.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#23

Post by alberth »

> Have normally found a new job within a few weeks, but this time it has been 4 months.

That’s because during COVID, tech had unprecedented hiring rates.

Google, Facebook, etc literally 2x their employee count in just a couple of years. And these are companies already at massive scale with 10s thousands of employees.

How easy it was to find a job over the last few years was not normal.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#24

Post by dhosek »

moosedev wrote: post #6

Not just you. I would guess, optimistically, I’m averaging a 5% conversion rate of applications to recruiter chats/“stage 0 interviews”. That is, ~95% of applications yield silence or a generic email rejection without any human contact. ~15 YOE, FAANG experience, usually only applying to roles I feel I’m at least a halfway good fit for (i.e. not a complete scattergun approach). I’m (financially) fine for now, which i…

Yeah, I’m about to hit 6 months of looking with a few final round interviews but no hire. It’s very discouraging. Especially when I see headlines talking about how the overall job market is hot.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#26

Post by qntmfred »

echelon wrote: post #4

I know this probably isn't helping, but have you ever thought about building a startup? This lull might be a good chance to launch something or find a scrappy team to join. Hardly advice if your situation demands something more stable. I just wanted to speak to the possibility.

Seems like a great time to take this route. I've been looking for something new the last 2 months and haven't found any great fits yet. 2 weeks ago I signed up for https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching and got 30+ messages so far.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#27

Post by goodpoint »

oh_sigh wrote: post #9

150 resumes sounds like you're just shotgunning them out there willy nilly. Maybe take a more nuanced approach and work your network a little bit. Your network could even just be people you've worked with in the past who respect you and enjoyed working with you, doesn't need to be people you actively keep up with.

"willy nilly"??

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#28

Post by cvhashim04 »

Plasmoid wrote: post #15

I was looking at some internal metrics for applications. We were seeing ~1000 applications per week for SWE roles and around 500/week for senior SWE. I'm not sure how many are genuine compared to scatter-shot applications but it means that a lot of recruiters have to dig through huge piles of resumes and odds are good that you're just being missed in the volume. There are much fewer resumes for specialized/higher lev…

Likely most of those applicants are hardly qualified or applying as Jrs.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#30

Post by gautamdivgi »

wunderland wrote: post #21
gautamdivgi wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are a US citizen try defense companies. Edit: I should have explained my reasoning. They have a much smaller eligible applicant pool - US citizens who are eligible for security clearance. Because of this they’re continuously looking for good talent.

Damn this is the most depressing comment in this whole comments section

Why - if I may ask? What’s wrong with pointing out potential employers?
Post reply on HN