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Is the Job Market Dying?

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Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#41

Post by emh68 »

zer00eyz wrote: post #8

No, it is not. For those of you who are new here (aka didn't live through the 2000 bubble) welcome to a shitty job market. 1. Your best bet to get a job is your network. If you were a clock puncher, if you didn't go above and beyond, if you aren't the person who is gonna make the co-worker who vouches for you look good... you are not gonna get much help in your network. 2. The next best bet is to either a) start your…

Nope, it's different this time.

1. My entire network is struggling, even the ones who have jobs are worried. Despite being universally acclaimed and vouched for by my past coworkers, it seems to have no impact. Companies don't trust their own employees references right now.

2. Maybe this is changing, but it seems like entrepreneurship is at an all-time low. Nobody has ideas, everyone just wants to go to sleep at a comfy 9-to-5. Maybe bootstrapping a company is so outside of people's comfort zone that they can't even fathom it.

Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#42

Post by ryandrake »

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #13
myth_drannon wrote: post #7

She brings an example of a person who after sending 75 applications considers changing fields. On Reddit people are sending more than 1000 applications to get a job.

I recently stumbled upon a freelance gig from someone looking to hire someone to submit applications for software engineering positions on their behalf. They were willing to pay a few dollars per application and would provide all of the content for the submitter.

Where did you find it? This sounds like a tempting service! I’d love to have an “agent” who would deal with all the drudgery of finding me a job and screening companies (and even interviewing on my behalf if that was even possible), and would probably be willing to pay multiple tens of thousands of dollars for this service next time I job hop.

It would have to be more than a typical hired recruiter who just periodically sends me a few job listings and said “whaddayathink?” It would have to be: “Here’s my comp. Get me to a job offer paying comp+$50k and I’ll pay you $25k.”

Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#43

Post by sys_64738 »

throwaway74432 wrote: post #22
bluedino wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about "Dont send us a resume! We aren't a traditional company. Make a crazy video showing us your personality and why you'd be the best person for the job. Costumes are a bonus."

It doesn't end at hiring. At one place I worked, the CEO got new hires in a room and "spontaneously" asked them to tell an embarrassing story about themselves one by one, to break the ice. People were very uncomfortable but did it. Nobody was having fun, it was pretty cringe. Then it was the CEO's turn (she went last), and she told the most flattering "embarrassing" you could imagine, which was basically just a huge…

I’ve been in such a situation but I don’t do group stupid so got up and left.

Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#44

Post by cyberlurker »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #4

My sense is, there is less movement. It's like musical chairs. When more people are changing more often those that have been waiting on the side lines have a greater chance of jumping in and getting a seat. Now that the tempo has slowed down, more people are left standing longer. Some big name layoffs aside, the market feels to be roughly the same size. What's missing is the churn.

To add to this, the churn creates inefficiencies within companies since new employees need to onboard and can take as long as two years to truly understand what the heck is going on within the org.

If you have less churn, you have better efficiency and perhaps can get more done with fewer engineers.

Also interviewing and onboarding people takes a lot of time and effort from other employees, if it is being done right.

I don’t know to what degree this is happening but people staying in roles longer definitely helps. Even better if they are happy in those roles and not held hostage by a tougher job market.

Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#45

Post by riku_iki »

Is there a route for high skilled engineer for going through this mess?

Say, I am happy and confident to do all your leetcode/homework assignments + 8h interviews, but I want to be also top candidate as result.

Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#46

Post by datavirtue »

throwaway74432 wrote: post #22
bluedino wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about "Dont send us a resume! We aren't a traditional company. Make a crazy video showing us your personality and why you'd be the best person for the job. Costumes are a bonus."

It doesn't end at hiring. At one place I worked, the CEO got new hires in a room and "spontaneously" asked them to tell an embarrassing story about themselves one by one, to break the ice. People were very uncomfortable but did it. Nobody was having fun, it was pretty cringe. Then it was the CEO's turn (she went last), and she told the most flattering "embarrassing" you could imagine, which was basically just a huge…

[flagged]

Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#47

Post by bluGill »

10xDev wrote: post #34
paxys wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get rejected by the first 5-10 companies you apply to then you need to take a step back and figure out what you are doing wrong, because spamming the same resume to 1000 more companies isn't going to change anything. 5 strong leads is infinitely better than 1000 weak ones.

Definitely not true in my experience. I have witnessed very little consistency, it seems most applications are simply automatically filtered using many variables that no one is going to figure out. But you could argue that applications are automatically filtered because of the spam, but at the same time if you don't spam depending on your position you are a lost cause. It is terrible system that feeds on itself.

Right, but you should figure out what those variables are.

Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#48

Post by hsuduebc2 »

Scubabear68 wrote: post #37
zer00eyz wrote: post #8

No, it is not. For those of you who are new here (aka didn't live through the 2000 bubble) welcome to a shitty job market. 1. Your best bet to get a job is your network. If you were a clock puncher, if you didn't go above and beyond, if you aren't the person who is gonna make the co-worker who vouches for you look good... you are not gonna get much help in your network. 2. The next best bet is to either a) start your…

After getting laid off after the .com bust, I did a variation on 3), accepted a contract job with a terrible company. It got me by until the market improved and got a much better job. The trick in a bad market is to understand that mostly the cool perks are gone, and for a time you need to lower your expectations. I think that is going to be very difficult in this cycle.

Out of curiosity. How long till things turned to be better in these days?

Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#49

Post by AtlasBarfed »

west0n wrote: post #31

I know that some companies are developing AI-based interview products. In a video conference, the AI asks questions and then evaluates the candidate's answers, giving a score. This can save a lot of time for the interviewer. Such a world is quite scary.

Record everything folks, can't wait for the lawsuits about this when AI asks a totally stupid question.

Re: Is the Job Market Dying?

#50

Post by Scubabear68 »

hsuduebc2 wrote: post #48
Scubabear68 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After getting laid off after the .com bust, I did a variation on 3), accepted a contract job with a terrible company. It got me by until the market improved and got a much better job. The trick in a bad market is to understand that mostly the cool perks are gone, and for a time you need to lower your expectations. I think that is going to be very difficult in this cycle.

Out of curiosity. How long till things turned to be better in these days?

I held on to the crap job for 1 year 11 months. In 2004 I quit and found a Wall Street gig that was much better.
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