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When the job search becomes impossible

jeffwofford.com

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Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#271

Post by about3fitty »

jofer wrote: post #148

As someone who's recently been hiring (sorry folks, position was filled just a few days ago), it's wild to me how distorted things have become. We had 1200 applications for an extremely niche role. A huge amount were clearly faked resumes that far too closely matched the job description to be realistic. Another huge portion were just unqualified. The irony is that there actually _are_ a ton of exceptionally qualified…

I wonder if we are back to “who you know” because of a couple of factors:

1. The risk of a bad hire is great, and this de-risks that

2. It facilitates more natural and spontaneous conversations, which for better or worse short-circuits a well crafted and pre-planned anti-bias interview process which can be too rigid for both parties to explore detail

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#272

Post by carlosjobim »

alsetmusic wrote: post #191
titanomachy wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "most people in the real world" have at least a few rungs between their current situation and true homelessness. Many people have some sort of family or other community that they could lean on, even in America where family ties are weaker than any other place I know. I have a couple friends who haven't had steady work in years, and they still eke out a pretty reasonable existence living with friends and famil…

> I think "most people in the real world" have at least a few rungs between their current situation and true homelessness. This is one of the most out-of-touch HN comments I've seen in a while. Most people are not nearly as privileged as the community on these forums. Not even all the people posting here are fully removed from the risk of being out on their ass. Some have moved from other parts of their home country…

> I can't believe how tone deaf it is to suggest that most people have multiple rungs upon which to fall back.

There are rungs which are available to the population at large, so all of us have those privileges. For example the armed forces are recruiting. They will put a roof over your head and food in your belly, as well as give you medical coverage.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#273

Post by carlosjobim »

throwaway173738 wrote: post #259
smegma2 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The median household net worth in the US is $193,000. The rate of home ownership is 65%. I don’t think the median American is at risk of becoming homeless during normal unemployment. Maybe you mean that the article isn’t as relevant for a global audience which is fine, but I would think that the median American lives in “the real world”. https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/table... https://www.nahb…

Good luck accessing any of your home equity if you don’t have a job. I guess you could just sell your house of many years and move your family into an apartment.

Yes, obviously that's what you have to do. And also thank God that you have that asset to sell to give you emergency cash.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#274

Post by crummy »

myahio wrote: post #224
ezekiel68 wrote: post #213

I've lived through the recessions of 1990-91 (in my 20s, not tech), the Dotcom bust and the Great Financial Crisis. I can tell you that it's always been this way when its' a "buyer's market" and the employers can afford to be picky. I can also tell you that this is not some game-changing phenomenon[0]. The jobs will return when it is once again a "seller's market" -- which it surely will be. This applies to non-tech…

What could potentially put an end to the current hiring "winter"? We have an increasing amount of immigrants coming over in hopes of getting a white-collar job, in combination with the tech sector shrinking, as well as companies as a whole being much more careful when hiring. There would need to be some explosion in the amount of tech jobs, in order for everyone to be able to get one. However, I just cannot see what…

Presumably the end of such a winter would involve the tech sector growing.

According to wikipedia[0] there doesn't seem to be any significant uptick in H1Bs. Is that what you were referring to by "immigrants coming over in hopes of getting a white-collar job"?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa#H-1B_visa_tables_and...

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#275

Post by neilv »

sfink wrote: post #245
bell-cot wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amusing Idea: Advertise three vaguely-similar positions, only one of them real. Specify impossible-for-honest-humans requirements for the fake two. Then discard all applicants for the real position who also claimed to be qualified for a fake one.

Strict honesty here has always been a losing proposition. The "requirements" section of a job posting has almost never been accurate. It's more of an image they're painting. An honest applicant is one who reads the whole description to understand as best they can what the company is looking for, and sort of holistically matches their own expertise against that picture. If the job posting lists requirements A-F and yo…

I've seen a number of job posts that have a note near the end, encouraging people to apply even if they don't meet all the requirements.

There's also the job posts that distinguish between hard requirements and nice-to-haves, using various language (e.g., "bonus if you...").

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#276

Post by mixmastamyk »

drivebyhooting wrote: post #85
tcrow wrote: post #63

Sometimes you just need to look locally. Chances are there are positions available close enough to your home that its worth the following effort. I have personally walked into places I was interested in working at and asked for an engineering manager. About 50% of the time, a manager comes out to meet me. I show interest, they show interest (generally, and even if they are not hiring). This has lead to much improved…

Is this in America? I can’t imagine walking anywhere, nor being able to get past security, if indeed there is even a human manning the gates.

Reminds me of Netflix in Hollywood. Can't get inside the gate outside without a notarized electronic certificate prepared beforehand. There is no front door, only a security post at the parking garage entrance.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#277

Post by Scoundreller »

hansvm wrote: post #203
jofer wrote: post #148

As someone who's recently been hiring (sorry folks, position was filled just a few days ago), it's wild to me how distorted things have become. We had 1200 applications for an extremely niche role. A huge amount were clearly faked resumes that far too closely matched the job description to be realistic. Another huge portion were just unqualified. The irony is that there actually _are_ a ton of exceptionally qualified…

I must be missing something. 1200 real applications are hard to sort through. 1200 mostly fake applications are much easier. Hiring is a high-leverage activity, and it's absolutely worth spending a couple hours going through those by hand.

> 1200 real applications are hard to sort through.

Probably not much yield in going through more than a few hundred.

Shuffle them around, start skimming through and throw out the rest once you realize you’re just seeing more of the same.

Pat yourself on the back and mutter “you need to be skilled and lucky to work here”

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#278

Post by yyx »

kstrauser wrote: post #204
friendly_deer wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you share a little more? Because this is outside the norm I’m hearing and I’d like to know more.

I'm not a PM, but I PMed it very aggressively. I made a Notes.app personal wiki tracking every company I spoke to, with a timeline in reverse chronological order of every contact I'd had with them, like: Foo Corp Recruiter: [Jane Smith] * 2025-09-15 On-site prep call with [Joe Brown] * 2025-09-13 Coding screen with [Pat Doe] I kept a "pipeline" note with companies in each stage, like: # Leads * [Adam Albert] at [Bar…

Obsidian app with it's latest "bases" feature (or Dataview plugin) would work nicely for this.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#280

Post by renewiltord »

8note wrote: post #206
renewiltord wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting out more won’t help in this case because I will be walking around SOMA. The fact of the matter is that the stat is made up by a payday loan company and has no bearing on reality. People like to share it because they are LLM like and just repeat things without looking at the data. “Hallucinations” are the common way that humans experience the world. World models born of pure fiction. Also wtf I know journeyman…

whats making the confidence that you are correct, and other people are bots, vs you being the bot? up until recently, you didnt know the definition of homelessness that is used in the data. how are you making claims about the data? which data? what does it say? since you know journeymen, you might want to ask them to meet their apprentices. That way, you could visit the apprentices homes that theyve bought, and can d…

I made no claims about homelessness. Only about the paycheck to paycheck thing. Did you use Llama 3.2 1B to make this comment? Next time use a bigger model. Gemma 3n 4B is sort of the limit before it starts talking nonsense about “claims about the [homelessness] data”. Complete non sequitur.
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