Ask HN: Who's getting their job applications rejected? • Hacker News Board

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

#141

Post by layer8 » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 2:55 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #83

jplrssn wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying this is the case for you, but often when companies have recurring problems with retention it's because of some underlying issue: culture, perceived lack of professional development opportunities, low pay, etc. These issues might affect even new hires joining with the best of intentions.

I mean it is extremely likely it is a problem with the company. We don't know how many "a rash of folks" is but sounds like at least 3 or 4 and at that point it's not just bad luck. Most people don't want to work somewhere for a year and leave, they do it because something better comes along.

Changing jobs often was a common advice though to ramp up your salary.

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

#142

Post by bufferoverflow » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 2:55 PM UTC

sotix wrote: post #138

I was laid off in January and have been regularly applying every week as a requirement for unemployment. So far zero responses, which is hard because it sounds like more experienced devs are on the market and will land jobs before me. I did see my former employer was looking for someone in India or Eastern Europe to fill a dev position requiring my exact stack. I do wonder if taking whatever pay cut down to the lower…

I am very senior, and am getting ghosted too. Not even a reply.

Considering AI advances, I think I will be fully unemployable in 4-5 years. I am making plans for exiting IT and maybe starting my own company or buying land and growing food.

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

#143

Post by kstrauser » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 2:56 PM UTC

Only a dozen? I applied to 37 jobs when I was hunting, and had a note on each one tracking who I’d talked to and what the next step was, plus to-do tasks to follow up with each on certain dates.

It was psychically exhausting.

But then I went from have 0 good news to having 3 jobs racing each other to make offers. Go figure.

This is a challenging time to be an applicant. Hang in there! Also, completely ignore LinkedIn as a source for jobs to apply to. It’s worthless. Each opening I looked at had captions like “be sure not to pass on this opportunity so amazing that 437 people have already applied to it! Subscribe to LinkedIn Platinum or whatever to boost your chances!” It’s basically an RPG with pay-to-win loot drops. Don’t get into their feedback loop. It’ll drive you nuts.

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

#144

Post by layer8 » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 2:57 PM UTC

kayodelycaon wrote: post #122

pcthrowaway wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point, pay whatever you think just below market is and let candidates know they get a 10-15% raise at 6 months and 12 months, and 5-10% at 18 months and 24 months. Show them a comp schedule for their targeted salary, and give them a decent signing bonus with a repayment policy if they quit in the first year. Solves the problem of hires wanting to jump ship even if they started 10-20% below their target salary…

I would never trust a company to give me a raise like that. Management would just deny it when they want to save money on payroll. I’ve had so many people promise things and have someone else them prevent them from following through. I’ve had a department head reporting to the CEO try to keep me but HR wanted me gone. HR knew how to play politics and I was gone.

Ask to get it in writing. Then you’ll see how serious they are.

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

#145

Post by ghaff » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 2:58 PM UTC

throw1234651234 wrote: post #115

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any idea / feeling, on if this is temporary? I just have hard time understanding how 1 year ago, everyone was hiring SE and now nobody is. Shouldn't this be indicative of some huge economic meltdown? But economy isn't melting down. Can skills mismatch suddenly be so dramatically different? AI is great but it can't have this much impact already. Could over-hiring during Covid really have this much impact? It just feel…

We were in a complete bubble the last couple of years. If you didn't work before the bubble, your perception of reality is entirely skewed. The mania was due to two things - tech companies outperforming everything else on the SP500 and easy credit for start ups. The response was over-hiring, a huge number of bootcamp grads, and everyone who could pivoting to an IT degree. Worries about the economy (record debt, etc)…

Too many dumb ideas were overfunded (or funded at all). A lot of the bigger tech companies got into an overhiring and overpaying competition. And, as you say, companies are just being cautious for the future.

And it really goes beyond 2021-2023. The tech job market for the last decade or more has not been normal in the sense that tech jobs, especially on the US west coast (though also quantitative trading), have paid well out of line with pretty much every other STEM position which was not historically the case. When I was a product manager back in the day, I'm pretty sure the computer system hardware and software people were paid pretty comparably as I probably was as well.

I think there are questions about where adtech goes. If it has a major downturn, some companies are going to really feel it.

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

#146

Post by cmorgan31 » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 3:03 PM UTC

silverquiet wrote: post #130

starbugs wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They straight up told us that if a job can be done from home, then it can be done from India. Company leadership could be done from home during covid, right?

I mean, when the big one came, they were pretty brutal to a few of the C levels too. They got a brief mention on the call at least. I always assumed that the PE overlords take a dozen or so executives and lock them in a room with half a dozen knives and tell them to figure it out on their own, but it's possible I'm a bit overly cynical and have a vivid imagination.

They get lucrative agreements with big contracting houses to backfill those roles for cheaper than the onshore cost. PE overlords have us running on a fte/contractor ratio mandate. I can only assume it’s due to money and the ability to rapidly reduce headcount on demand.

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

#147

Post by usrusr » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 3:07 PM UTC

fragebogen wrote: post #68

rco8786 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Depends on how many non-remote are left. Certainly the locals won't be promoted if they haven't been hired in the first place, because the position was filed by a remote.

I guess we'll see less developers getting promoted in total, with more of the higher rank positions filled from lines that aren't as remote as development.

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

#148

Post by kstrauser » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 3:08 PM UTC

EligibleDecoy wrote: post #134

Are you willing to relocate to Central Virginia or to Salt Lake city Utah? We can't seem to find good backend SWE candidates, especially senior ones. My email is in my bio if you want to apply, also, I could give you some actionable feedback on your resume based on what I'm seeing a lot lately.

Do you accept full time remote candidates? Frankly, you’re not going to lure away Bay Area SWEs with VA or UT salaries, but you might well be able to hire someone in Tennessee.

I had TN specifically in my mind because I had a remote coworker from there at my SF startup. He was a great guy and super talented, and lived on a beautiful farm he had no intention of leaving. That’s the guy you want to be targeting. Hire my old neighbors from Missouri. That brilliant kid in Nebraska. Someone from Iowa, although I don’t know why you’d want to do that, go Huskers. Take advantage of all the things we scrambled to build out to make full time remote jobs completely feasible these last few years.

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

#149

Post by cmorgan31 » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 3:10 PM UTC

meowfly wrote: post #133

twojobsoneboss wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ding ding ding, this right here is a big part of it. Previously it was very rare for vc funded startups (which are the main source of decent tech jobs apart from big tech) to hire from abroad, but now it’s more the norm rather than the exception (just look at the HN postings, tons of latam) The remote work movement chickens have come home to roost

The model I'm noticing becoming more popular is a highly skilled US based team lead and exclusively Latam seniors and mids. The reason to have some US devs is that the Latam hires are technically contractors and they need US engineers to hedge against the risk a change in Argentina tax law forces employees to quit. Im sure it's very difficult to be a US based junior or mid right now.

I’m seeing the same trend. You get the benefit of the same general working hours. We tend to only have 2-3 in house engineers and an equal amount of contractors. Those contractors are unlikely to ever be more than a senior.

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

#150

Post by kstrauser » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 3:10 PM UTC

romanhn wrote: post #34

A dozen applications is not very much. Anecdotally, I've heard from a few folks that the funnel these days looks something like this: 100 applications -> 10 interviews -> 1 offer. Doesn't mean that you should be shotgunning your resume to every conceivable job (this happens a lot right now and hiring managers are overwhelmed), but it is a numbers game and you need to widen the top of the funnel.

I bumped into one of the people who interviewed me for my current job, said hi, and introduced myself to remind him who I am. We had a nice chat and he begged my forgiveness for not recognizing me at first: he’d personally interviewed 32 other people for the spot.