Live data from Hacker News

I applied to 250 jobs and timed how long each one took

careerfair.io

41–50 of 220 posts

Re: I applied to 250 jobs and timed how long each one took

#41
post #30

Apply to Procter & Gamble, and as part of the application itself enjoy being put through 1-2 hours of ambiguous personality/morality testing and Mensa-style math, memorization, and logic puzzles! With adaptive difficulty! It's the most surreal and absurd experience. There are actually prep courses you can pay for just to improve your odds on the P&G testing process just to get someone to actually see your resume. Be…

Many years ago, I had to complete a long personality inventory AND about 45 minutes of "what would you do"-type scenario simulations to apply for a job at...Kmart! Then the manager no-showed when I came in for the interview.

[deleted]

Re: I applied to 250 jobs and timed how long each one took

#42
post #33
post #17

I overheard a guy at the gym a couple of weeks back saying that he's automated (gpt4) the keyword-optimised CV/cover letter process to the point where he was able to apply to - I'm a bit suspect on this bit, but the generation at least is believable - 75 jobs in an hour and a half. We've raised the noise floor significantly. Ps. If you're here mate I hope it worked out for you.

I think there's a dynamic where: - Desirable job applicants get hired quickly, but people who can't get hired stay on the market - People who can't get hired will keep applying to more and more jobs - So every new job opening gets flooded with applications from people who couldn't get hired elsewhere - Employers don't have time to read the flood of applications in detail, so they rely on cheap filters (keywords on re…

The shortcut around this problem is for companies to rely on networking/recommendations rather than a large net, but that comes with its own downsides.

Re: I applied to 250 jobs and timed how long each one took

#43
I always tell my friends that i apply to 100 jobs, go through interviews with 15 companies, get 5 offers. In my experience as a generalist it's possible to find _something_ interesting about the position once you get an interview, there's no reason to pre-filter self to a very specific tech stack. As long as they pay!

Re: I applied to 250 jobs and timed how long each one took

#44

Oh goodness, someone else who shares my irrational antipathy for Workday! Workday is such junk from a user facing perspective. It’s a huge pain to index content from. I have to omit a bunch of big semiconductor companies from my job site because it’s fucking impossible to get job data out of Workday. If you work in talent at either NXP or Qualcomm, please God read this essay. You are actively harming your own recruit…

Can you elaborate on the problems with Workday?

I hear lots of antipathy about it, but the only problem I've personally noticed is (IIRC) it consistently mis-parses my PDF resume.

Re: I applied to 250 jobs and timed how long each one took

#46
post #7

Will you follow up with stats and analysis on response rate and further steps in the application/evaluation process? I'd be interested in that.

Very likely going to be zero. The only way I can get a chance at a phone screen is to spend at least an hour crafting my resume and cover letter for each position.

Re: I applied to 250 jobs and timed how long each one took

#47

Oh goodness, someone else who shares my irrational antipathy for Workday! Workday is such junk from a user facing perspective. It’s a huge pain to index content from. I have to omit a bunch of big semiconductor companies from my job site because it’s fucking impossible to get job data out of Workday. If you work in talent at either NXP or Qualcomm, please God read this essay. You are actively harming your own recruit…

Can you elaborate on the problems with Workday? I hear lots of antipathy about it, but the only problem I've personally noticed is (IIRC) it consistently mis-parses my PDF resume.

For me, I refuse to create accounts when applying for jobs. Too much of a pain in the ass.

Re: I applied to 250 jobs and timed how long each one took

#49

Apply to Procter & Gamble, and as part of the application itself enjoy being put through 1-2 hours of ambiguous personality/morality testing and Mensa-style math, memorization, and logic puzzles! With adaptive difficulty! It's the most surreal and absurd experience. There are actually prep courses you can pay for just to improve your odds on the P&G testing process just to get someone to actually see your resume. Be…

Is P&G a particularly great employer that justifies such a bizarre job application?

Re: I applied to 250 jobs and timed how long each one took

#50

Two and a half minutes to apply to a job doesn't seem like a lot of time at all. Do people really think that's too much time?

If a person only spends that much time applying, it's likely those applications are going in the trash, unless they have highly relevant signals. I change my resume for every company I apply, which is likely not happening.
Post reply on HN