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Jobstart – Personalized, expert guidance to land your next software job

jobstart.co

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Re: Jobstart – Personalized, expert guidance to land your next software job

#121

Post by rawnlq »

ztratar wrote: post #113
rawnlq wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random question: One thing recruiters are useful for is that usually have a list of interview questions their past candidates got from each company. But usually this list is not as comprehensive as even just careercup or glassdoor. But every company I have worked at had an internal wiki of interview questions and guidelines for evaluation. The number of questions is usually very small and study-able. With just the kn…

This question is juicy. Assume you're asking him, so I'm gonna shy away here. ;)

How do you plan on helping candidates practice interview questions? Surely you have narrowed down the list of topics/questions somehow or else it won't be a very efficient use of time or of your service.

The juicy part is just how you plan on procuring those questions. Careercup/glassdoor? Getting previous engineers who had access to those interview question wikis to be coaches? Surely the most effective way is to just get access to the actual list interview questions/grading rubric (at the past 3 companies I worked at they were accessible to any fulltime employee). Of course you shouldn't answer me if that's what you're actually doing since it's probably illegal. But if you have that kind of data I would use your company and recommend it to all my friends.

Re: Jobstart – Personalized, expert guidance to land your next software job

#122

Post by rawnlq »

fecak wrote: post #116
rawnlq wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random question: One thing recruiters are useful for is that usually have a list of interview questions their past candidates got from each company. But usually this list is not as comprehensive as even just careercup or glassdoor. But every company I have worked at had an internal wiki of interview questions and guidelines for evaluation. The number of questions is usually very small and study-able. With just the kn…

I've been in agency recruiting for almost 20 years, and I've never told a candidate what question to expect. I might say there is a whiteboard exercise, or years ago mentioned if a client asked Fermi problems, but never a specific question. The biggest problem with contingency recruiting is when the recruiter feels that the size of the fee > the value of a recruiter's reputation. This issue caused me enough angst tha…

Well it's definitely cheating, not going to argue that.

But it doesn't hurt anyone other than other people vying for the same spot (but they are not paying you, so fuck em).

Your candidates get to take out variance by passing interviews they can clearly pass if they "by chance" prepare for it ahead of time.

And the company will just see you as someone who refers a lot of high quality candidates in terms of interview skills. And it's not like pure deadbeats can pass even with studying all the questions ahead of time. The work being done at tech companies is nowhere near as hard/interesting as the interview questions themselves so they will do just fine on the job.

I might be just a tad jaded. :P

Re: Jobstart – Personalized, expert guidance to land your next software job

#123

Post by sebastianconcpt »

ztratar wrote: post #114
stellographer wrote: post #112

Haha, that mission statement though! "empower all people," "help they deserve," "status quo is unacceptable," "they have had decades to find a solution to help the masses. They have failed," "facilitate this _movement_," "increase the rate of innovation across the world"... Who do you think you are? MLK? You're a fancy-pants version of "Goodwill" that literally caters to just the 1%, get over it.

I do believe everything that is written there. If you want to take it as inflated or egotistical, go ahead -- that's your right. If you understand the mission and what we're trying to do here though, we're really aiming to help everyone. Starting with software is simply a foothold that works when you're an early stage startup. It lets us focus the business and run the model against an industry that moves so ridiculou…

It's a good take. Super healthy. I hope you can go far

Re: Jobstart – Personalized, expert guidance to land your next software job

#124

Post by fecak »

rawnlq wrote: post #122
fecak wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in agency recruiting for almost 20 years, and I've never told a candidate what question to expect. I might say there is a whiteboard exercise, or years ago mentioned if a client asked Fermi problems, but never a specific question. The biggest problem with contingency recruiting is when the recruiter feels that the size of the fee > the value of a recruiter's reputation. This issue caused me enough angst tha…

Well it's definitely cheating, not going to argue that. But it doesn't hurt anyone other than other people vying for the same spot (but they are not paying you, so fuck em). Your candidates get to take out variance by passing interviews they can clearly pass if they "by chance" prepare for it ahead of time. And the company will just see you as someone who refers a lot of high quality candidates in terms of interview…

Again, I'll help a candidate by letting them know what type of interview to expect (whiteboard, grilling, pairing, etc.), but not specific questions. I'll also mention if there is a drug test, and I can't help them pass that either. I don't think anyone would consider that cheating, especially in this day and age where candidates can find actual interview questions and answers in a ton of places.

I'm sure other recruiters may be inclined to try and let their candidates cheat. My reputation is worth more than that, and since my work isn't contingency I don't have the same incentives to cheat as contingency recruiters do.

Re: Jobstart – Personalized, expert guidance to land your next software job

#126

Post by ztratar »

omouse wrote: post #125

Seems you're taking the 10X approach and focusing on full-time jobs instead of freelance/per-project jobs. I like it! Too bad about the location restriction, are remote positions possible to hire for?

Yes -- we'll help candidates with whatever they're looking for.
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