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Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected?

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Re: Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected?

#61

Post by paxys »

mojomark wrote: post #16

I have not from the perspective of seeking emplyment, but from the smaller mid-size employer side (200 employees, robotics) we have had to reject a number of candidates. Normally this is based on a resume review (so as not to waste people's time), but sometimes it does come out in interviews. My main challenge, and I'm not saying this is the case for you - I'm just offering the perspective on the other side, has been…

No candidate is interviewing for a job already having made up their mind about whether they are going to stay for 6 months or 10 years. If you are trying to somehow filter on that you are just wasting your own time.

People stay or quit based on factors during the job. Is the salary good? Is the company growing? Are their career goals being met? Is the management competent? Are they feeling burnt out? Focus on all of these and retention will automatically go up.

Re: Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected?

#62

Post by dandy23 »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #21

You have to wonder if remote work is starting to bite developers. 10 year ago I started a business that had hundreds of engineers in London and New York. I am now starting a new one and this time I am hiring talent from all over the world now that it is more acceptable for us and our clients. Surely this must be a factor in people in expensive western markets?

This is something I have been wondering about a lot. How can companies pay so much for engineers i Silicon Valley when you get the same level of engineers in Europe for 1/3 the price. And provable 1/6 of you look more to the east or asia.

Sure, there might be some kind of network knowledge going on in Silicon Valley, but now with work from home, that's pretty much fading away.

Re: Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected?

#63

Post by PheonixPharts »

I'm guessing your career started during the asset bubble (that we're arguably still in)?

Historically speaking, just because you "solved the problems" doesn't mean you "get the job".

When I first started working (not originally in tech, but plenty of tech places did this too) this is how (professional, skilled) jobs were filled:

- Position posted with a deadline for submissions (usually 2 weeks to a month out, sometimes more).

- Organization waits until all applications are received.

- Resumes/Cover letters are reviewed.

- Calls to screen candidates.

- 1/2 day to full day onsite scheduled (depending on level of role).

- 1 candidate gets selected from the pool who made it to the final round. It was also not uncommon that the organization would decide that none of the candidates had the qualifications they were looking for and they would simply, wait and start the process over in 3 months.

It was much closer to buying a house in a hot sellers market than tech hires in the last decade.

This world of continuous hiring where the goal is to maintain a headcount rather than fill a role is fairly exclusive to the recent tech boom where growth was what mattered most. It's historically normal to get to the final onsite and still lose the offer because competition beat you out.

Re: Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected?

#65

Post by dr-detroit »

greatpostman wrote: post #7

This is going to put fuel on the fire. I run a startup, we hired two devs out of Eastern Europe at 60k each that are absolutely phenomenal. We’d love to hire American but can’t afford it. I know many other companies doing the same (nyc based seed/preseed startups). With ai, high interest rates, and covid accelerating remote hiring, I don’t see this recovering.

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected?

#67

Post by twojobsoneboss »

tootie wrote: post #53
howmayiannoyyou wrote: post #28

About 5 recessions in my life's rear view mirror and looks as if we're in one now. For those of you new to this, and if we're in-fact in a recession: - Almost any job is preferred over no job at this time. - Some cities in the US are a bit less impacted by recession (eg. Omaha, Nebraska), or have labor shortages because the area offers zero glamour and zero Starbucks. - Technical skills are needed by USGOV, directly…

The current situation is absolutely nowhere near a recession. That being said, recessions are measured in very aggregate terms. In aggregate, the US and world economists are in a boom by any broad measures. But during a boom, some sectors or regions can be doing much worse than everyone else. I'm honestly not even sure tech is in much of a downturn. We've just gotten used to extreme boom times and this is now just ki…

It’s definitely a recession for US based tech workers

Re: Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected?

#68

Post by fragebogen »

rco8786 wrote: post #39
benjaminwootton wrote: post #21

You have to wonder if remote work is starting to bite developers. 10 year ago I started a business that had hundreds of engineers in London and New York. I am now starting a new one and this time I am hiring talent from all over the world now that it is more acceptable for us and our clients. Surely this must be a factor in people in expensive western markets?

> Surely this must be a factor in people in expensive western markets? Yea, this was/is my main fear with remote work. It will "even out" the pay ranges across the globe...not perfectly (due to language, timezone, regulatory, and general cultural barriers), but the imbalance will be less severe as western salaries come down and int'l salaries rise from the new demand. I expect this to happen over the course of 5-10 y…

On the other hand, I read stories online where people claim that it's hard/impossible to get promoted as remote employees. I wonder if these constraints will loosen as well.

Re: Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected?

#69

Post by arcbyte »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #21

You have to wonder if remote work is starting to bite developers. 10 year ago I started a business that had hundreds of engineers in London and New York. I am now starting a new one and this time I am hiring talent from all over the world now that it is more acceptable for us and our clients. Surely this must be a factor in people in expensive western markets?

I think it is more to do with the massive rise in code academies and bootcamps over the past decade.

There are just a lot of barely skilled people in the industry with minimal passion. Hiring processes haven't caught up yet to filter for quality in this environment.

Re: Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected?

#70

Post by pc86 »

One thing I think a lot of folks (even senior, seasoned people) incorrectly assume is that if they don't get a job offer it means they weren't good enough for that job when it's very rarely the case. I've helped interview for several of my jobs, and been in charge of technical interviewing at one, and by the time you're doing a 2nd or 3rd interview we already know you're "good enough," now it's just trying to decide between however many people are left. At that stage it is as much luck and law of large numbers (12 is not large when you get hundreds of apps for any single position) as anything else. It sounds brutal, and it is, but you're looking for any reason to eliminate someone so you can get closer to an offer. As a company you're also competing with other companies who might be moving faster or able to give slightly better offers.
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