It would be cool if the monthly Who's Hiring threads asked companies to optionally disclose useful information like "How long have you had this job open?" or "When was the last time your [company | team] hired someone, and how long did the process take from first posting to the employee's first day on the job?" Better yet, a response SLO for getting back to candidates (this will never happen).
Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
21–30 of 142 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#22[dead]
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#23Hiring deepseek
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#24The reality is that the vast majority of startup hires are referrals. For hiring managers, having someone you trust tell you that they've worked with a candidate and vouch for them is invaluable, especially when the company is at a stage that you don't have good performance oversight. The cost of a bad hire is immense.
My advice: never do a cold application. Find ways to hustle to get a warm intro.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#25When I was ready to move on, to a new opportunity, I spent most of my effort in the HN thread and work for a startup (owned by YC.) And while most applications resulted in no response, that is on par with any other platform. That said, I did hear back from multiple companies! I made it to late stage interview with 3 companies but stopped once I took an offer from one of them. And this was all in the span of 1 month.
As a data point, yes, some companies do hire here. Maybe not all. But I had a great experience through YC.
I think in general, the hiring market is a mess (on both sides) and HN suffers from similar issues.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#26Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#27I would like to assume that I am a good candidate I usually get calls back from even LinkedIn posts or even indeed, but after well applying to more than two hundred offerings on the who is hiring posts in this place, and only having had been called twice. I can assure you that the ones here usually are not hiring and at best just want a rooster of possible replacements for their current employees. Most notable offend…
Some companies are just very selective, i.e: they're hiring the right people not the best candidate. Most of us get jobs because companies need to fill a role and we're the best candidate of a bad bunch... most of us (whether we have 22 years and a fancy title or not) would not get a job at a company that hires carefully because we're probably not a good fit for their very niche view of what a good hire is.
I agree and there's nothing that disincentivizes companies from "over-soliciting applications". Having 100000 applicants vs 100 has no downside other than:
1) you need to literally post your application URL more places.
2) you might not get through skimming or auto-screening / OCR-ing all the resumes/apps.
From an incentives POV, the job application space does not properly incentivize saving the mental energy and time of either recruiters or applicants.
Automation and reduced friction has made the situation a kind of arm's race and mess.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#28[flagged]
That's my experience too. Absolutely no response from jobs where I am seemingly a perfect candidate.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#29[flagged]
Just curious, why do you say that - given that many job board cost money to post on.
Almost all the postings are fake and used for data collection.
Why would they spend their seed or series A cash on people who they have never worked with or they do not know?
For them it is easier for them to hire with in their own network in YC rather than gamble on candidates that they have never worked with before.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#30In my career I've split time between startups, fintech, and consulting. Last year I've had a few interviews with VC funded startups that went to second and third rounds, where I would be told outright that developers who worked at larger companies weren't as "Velocity Focused" as what they were looking for.
I think there's some active memes in the startup community about not hiring people from finance specifically.