Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment • Hacker News Board

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#111

Post by yummyfajitas » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 1:00 PM UTC

jsnell wrote: post #103

btilly wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a simple example of how to automate this for developers. Everyone who applies is sent a link. That link contains a problem description, and a stub program. You're supposed to write the program and send it back. When you send it back, they compile your program and run a standard set of unit tests on it. If it passes the unit tests, then a human looks at it. Generally the code will be "good enough" to bring the…

The problem is that the people you'd most like to hire probably have little interest in taking a programming test. So you're just filtering them out and left with the dregs. For this to work you need one of the following: * Problems that are so interesting that people would hack on them just for the fun of it, even if they have no interest in the job. * A company that's high profile enough (and in a good way) that th…

Normally if I'm sending off a resume, I know it's probably going to be automatically filtered:

    if not resumeText.lowercase().find("postgresql"):
        reject()

(Too bad I only bothered to put "postgres" on there.)

If there is an automated code test, I know exactly how the filtering is going to work. I write code, it passes unit tests, no auto-reject.

Sounds like a win for me. Of course, unlike many applicants, I can actually write code that works.

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#112

Post by yummyfajitas » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 1:04 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #100

chubs wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You saying that he simply put too high a payrate on his fake ad and that's why the glut of responses?

He is getting many responses because he is offering approximately $4,000 (delivered half in taxable cash and half in untaxable benefits) in return for a thing whose market price is closer to $1,500 (delivered all in taxable cash). He should be offered the product he wishes to buy at any quantity which he wishes to purchase. (The product is "The full-time labor of any literate person legally capable of work in Midtown…

Chipotle pays $10/hour in NYC. $12-13 for a secretary is not that high.

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#113

Post by yummyfajitas » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 1:06 PM UTC

robryan wrote: post #99

chubs wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You saying that he simply put too high a payrate on his fake ad and that's why the glut of responses?

Interesting that this high rate of payment is much lower than the Australia minimum wage in USD. I guess the purchasing power in America might be a little higher but still sounds like a pretty sad state of affairs.

Australia is 65% more expensive than the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity#OECD_c...

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#114

Post by stevejabs » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 1:22 PM UTC

danmaz74 wrote: post #29

stevejabs wrote: post #16

From personal experience, don't apply to any positions that don't reveal the company name in the post. You'll rarely get anywhere, and when you do it will likely not even pan out to being who you want to work for or the job that was described. What I normally do is this: Find a job that you find unique or intriguing. If it has a company name attached I immediately jump to LinkedIn to find who I may be working for and…

Out of curiosity, how many times did you do that? And how many jobs did you find?

This method has worked for me 3 times now. I turned down one of the opportunities. Not necessarily the best sample size, but the method shows very clearly that you intend to work for that company or at least that you are extremely interested in going the extra mile.

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#115

Post by danmaz74 » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 1:30 PM UTC

stevejabs wrote: post #114

danmaz74 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, how many times did you do that? And how many jobs did you find?

This method has worked for me 3 times now. I turned down one of the opportunities. Not necessarily the best sample size, but the method shows very clearly that you intend to work for that company or at least that you are extremely interested in going the extra mile.

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. I was curious because you have to change jobs very often to have enough exprience.

By the way, it worked 3 times out of 3 attempts?

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#116

Post by patdennis » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 2:55 PM UTC

dennisgorelik wrote: post #85

patdennis wrote: post #4

We’re familiar with the art of the job search: day after day, scanning the classifieds, Monster, Indeed, Craigslist, etc. for open positions; forever touching up résumés to appeal to specific job requirements; writing endless cover letters that never seem to sound quite right; applying to dozens, maybe hundreds of jobs per week; staring vacuously at the familiar monitor glow at 3 a.m. This sounds horrible. I've never…

What's your niche?

I specialize in opposition research. [1] I investigate and analyze political vulnerabilities.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_research

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#117

Post by digitalengineer » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 3:11 PM UTC

yummyfajitas wrote: post #110

tokenadult wrote: post #56

An interesting experiment (for a company that actually has a job and is not leading people on) would be to distinguish a job posting that says "Hiring for this position will be based in large part on a work-sample test during a half day at our office" versus "Previous experience . . . preferred, but will train the right candidate." We can tell that the United States economy is in recession (as is the case in many oth…

We can tell that the United States economy is in recession The recession ended years ago. May 2009, if I remember right.

Somebody must of forgot to tell the people: - Pending Sales of U.S. Homes Unexpectedly Fell 1.4% in June - Foreclosure Filings Increase in 60% of Large U.S. Cities - Household Income Still Bottom-Bouncing - June Home Sales Fall-Off, Quarterly Growth Slows/Contracts - New U.S. home sales decline 8.4% in June - One-Third Of Colleges, Universities In ‘Real Financial Trouble’

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#118

Post by slurgfest » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 3:32 PM UTC

yummyfajitas wrote: post #110

tokenadult wrote: post #56

An interesting experiment (for a company that actually has a job and is not leading people on) would be to distinguish a job posting that says "Hiring for this position will be based in large part on a work-sample test during a half day at our office" versus "Previous experience . . . preferred, but will train the right candidate." We can tell that the United States economy is in recession (as is the case in many oth…

We can tell that the United States economy is in recession The recession ended years ago. May 2009, if I remember right.

Tell that to the unemployment rate.

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#119

Post by eli_gottlieb » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 4:01 PM UTC

suresk wrote: post #67

ilaksh wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who said to do away with currency? I didn't see him say that.

Removing currency isn't the problem - removing the traditional dominant method of acquiring it is.

Precisely the issue. Money is not the problem. Basing an entire economy on wage-labor is the problem.

Re: Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment

#120

Post by eli_gottlieb » Fri, Jul 27, 2012, 4:02 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #88

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Editing and journalism are still very necessary, but somehow the actual streams of monetary income for them have almost entirely dried up. The result is that we get very little independent (of state funding) journalism, and what we do get from any sources is very badly edited. But somehow there's no need being expressed on the market for journalists or editors? Sounds like a market failure to me.

It is a market failure if people want to sell editing and people want to buy editing and no transactions take place. If no one wants to buy editing, no sales of editing is a market success. For example, it informs people wondering if they should learn editing or nursing that nursing is the socially and personally optimal choice. One could argue gl that government subsidies for editing misinform participants about wha…

Good point. It's not a market failure, it's a market idiocy. People don't want to buy editing or journalism, they just want regular newspapers and well-edited books to somehow appear for them without having to pay anyone.