[flagged]
Just curious, why do you say that - given that many job board cost money to post on.
Companies post fake jobs to scare their existing employees, discourage them from asking for raises, etc.
They see ROI from the cost.
Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
31–40 of 142 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#32I 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…
These are two separate categories.
Firstly, there are the monthly "Who is hiring" posts. There, basically anyone can post their company and their positions. They don't need to be YC companies.
And secondly, there are the promoted "Company ABC hiring a Software Engineer (YC '23)" (or similar). There, commenting is not allowed, and the listing will stay on HN for a set amount of time.
I believe the question in this post talks about the latter.
But it's certainly interesting to see in this thread, that basically both of these groups of companies don't reach out to candidates...
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#33[flagged]
Yes and then they complain about hiring regulations.
"Do you want to be regulated?
Cause this is how you get regulated."
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#34@burgerrito posted a link to a similar submission three months ago where one commenter said for one job they got over 1000 applications.
It’s almost impossible to stand out and rise above the noise these days if you are just randomly submitting your application to a job board.
When I mentioned this before, someone asked me should they reach out to the company directly. That doesn’t help either unless you have a special set of skills or experience that would make you stand out.
Neither “I am a full stack developer” or “I worked for a FAANG” set you apart.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#35The 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.
This is likely what's going on. Public pools are often the very last stop on the search for candidates. The precedence is almost always
1) internal hires (obviously not as possible at a start-up)
2) referrals
3) direct engagement from a recruiter
4) talent pools curated by online services like LinkedIn or Indeed
5) forum pools, like those here in HN
6) applications from the Careers page
Almost all my jobs have come from referrals or directly from recruiters. I've gotten calls back from four-and-beyond, but have never made it through the process, despite being overqualified in those cases. On the flipside, I've been underqualified for jobs I got via referral. The power of having someone inside can't be overstated.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#36I think we need to turn hiring on its head. I think candidates should post their resumes in a centralized place instead of applying for each company. I'm running https://customizedresumes.com/ as my side project and it shows how applicants can now basically spam job applications. It's only going to get worse for hiring managers.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#37I 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.
It makes total sense for a startup to be highly selective. But being overly selective at the CV/application stage is dumb. If they really do have some really highly specialized requirement that should be on the advert. If they don't then being having a high rejection rate at the CV screen stage is going to be easy - it's easy to reject people, but you're overwhelmingly likely to screen out the few candidates that are actually a good fit. So sure, expect a low success rate but a low reply rate is an indicator the company isn't serious about hiring.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#38It is a complicated scene right now. Bots are taking over on both ends, both in creating and interpreting resumes. Companies can have ulterior motives for posting job ads in many directions, including just scraping data. My latest job search made me want to create a startup that addresses this, by vetting both posters and users. The largest hurdle is that adding money to the scenario opens a whole new can of worms fo…
It's crazy, now candidates apply to everything they see with crap, fake, or AI generated resumes, and companies filter most of the candidates out with APS automation, AI, even if you carefully considered a position and spent time on their application....
Candidates generate a lot of crap, companies filter out a lot of crap and more.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#39It 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).
I believe HN is a high quality forum that enforces high quality standards, there is no reason this shouldn't be a thing. Companies that advertise here should be held accountable.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#40Related: Ask HN: Who is pretending to be hiring? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41714672 >
It is related, but tells the same anecdotes, including people complaining (e.g., hurt ego about not getting shortlisted after completing an internship 2+ years earlier).