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I automated my job application process

blog.daviddodda.com

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Re: I automated my job application process

#481

Post by chefandy »

aperrien wrote: post #447
belinder wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI has made hiring especially in technical industry an absolute shit show. I agree with parent comment that ideally government could do something about it but agree with you on how would you even do that. Maybe if they required all the job board companies like indeed and glassdoor and LinkedIn to properly vet candidates else those companies would be fined, but it's hard to imagine a solution that doesn't also hurt un…

And then you run into problems on the corporate side: fake job listings to build up resume databases for comparison shopping of applicants. Regulations in this area should have to cut both ways.

This the end game that Silicon Valley created. An automation arms race between two competing groups that were initially trying to save a little time or cut down on staffing but escalated it to the point where the default approach would be considered unforgivably assholish 15 years ago, people that don’t buy into it at least somewhat are drowning in bullshit, and nobody’s happy— but on paper everybody’s got record productivity!

With LLMs, this same exact scenario is playing out in other realms. Look at writing and publishing. Sure you’re on top of the world before everyone else catches up, but when they do, there’s now just a boilerplate of exponentially expanding bullshit and counter-bullshit that everyone has to circumvent to do anything.

Re: I automated my job application process

#482

Post by ein0p »

I know this form of procrastination and action avoidance. :-) Never in my life have I applied to more than 3 companies, and never in my life did I need (or receive, as a hiring manager) a cover letter. My CV was always quite sufficient. The most idiotic part of the whole process (besides the interview loop, that is) is that I can't just submit my LinkedIn profile and be done with it, every single company insists that I enter my info (which is quite extensive, 25 years in) into their system manually. For resume I just export my LinkedIn as PDF these days.

Re: I automated my job application process

#483

Post by ryandrake »

globalnode wrote: post #389
jcutrell wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in the industry for something like 15 years. I've been using LLMs to help me create the stuff I always wanted but never had time to make myself. This is how LLMs can be used by seniors to great effect - not just to cut time off tasks.

Same here (not in the industry though). I recently got a personal project done with the help of LLM's that I otherwise wouldnt have had the time or energy to research properly if it wasnt for the time savings.

I’ve done so many tiny hobby projects lately that scratch 10+ year itches, where I’ve said so many times “I wish there was an application for this, but I’m too lazy to sit down and learn some Python library and actually do it.” Little utilities that might have taken me a day to bring up a bunch of boilerplate, study a few docs, write the code switching back and forth from the docs, and then debugging. Today that utility takes me 30 minutes tops to write just using Copilot and it’s done.

Re: I automated my job application process

#484

Post by pempem »

bdangubic wrote: post #357
Gigachad wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a much simpler solution. You do the interview in your office and watch them answer without typing the question in to chatgpt.

too expensive - no one is doing that anymore

is it more expensive than what we're dealing with now? have we even tallied the human talent cost?

Re: I automated my job application process

#485

Post by jagged-chisel »

ericjmorey wrote: post #341
MrMember wrote: post #314

I'm seeing a lot of back in forth in the comments between hiring managers and employees discussing who is more responsible for the current situation, but from the perspective of someone looking for a job what should I be doing? I've been pretty aggressively looking for a job for the past six months or so. I have 10+ years of professional software dev experience so I've mostly been looking at senior dev positions. I h…

Doesn't seem like your resume or approach in applying to open positions is your problem. It seems like you're not connecting well with the interviewers in some way.

And how does one know how to connect with interviewers when every individual is different, and when there is no feedback from the interviewer’s side?

Re: I automated my job application process

#486

Post by Seb-C »

nitwit005 wrote: post #229
salomon812 wrote: post #131

I'm a software manager that has been doing some form of interviewing/hiring for 13 years. I did two rounds of hiring software engineers last year, one in spring that seemed normal, and one in the fall that was was brutal. The fall hiring had a flood of applicants, and in retrospect, most seemed like AI was used in some way. For the fall round, I suddenly had a higher percentage of applicants that qualified after resu…

I had a recruiter basically hold onto me after I passed more than one technical screen, even though I clearly did get all the way through the hiring process at either role. They were maintaining a pool of competent people.

That's why I don't answer LinkedIn recruiters anymore, unless they can show me a clear opportunity that matches my profile.

Every time I answered their bait and they "just wanted a quick phone call", it was clear that they only were interested in filling their database.

Then I get spammed by them with irrelevant automated offers forever, unless I block them completely.

Re: I automated my job application process

#487

Post by abathur »

uoaei wrote: post #412
pknomad wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I also limit myself on how many applications I see in a day (no more than 20 on a busy day, 50 on a not so busy day) so that I give every resume a fair read. A team can only do so much in a day. It's disheartening when you see a blatant AI use (and it goes into the trash bin right away).

Do you have a technical background? 50 seems quite low for someone to get the gist of the resumes and have a sense of the applicants. If recruiting departments really suffer at parsing about 50 apps per day per recruiter, I can see why this got so bad so quickly.

I think GP means they stop at this point to ensure that they are giving all of the resumes a pretty fair shake by being fresh.

Afaik, any kind of slush-pile reading (including grading, which is probably the best researched) tends to get less fair as the process wears on the reader.

GP isn't optimizing for finishing the pile, but for making the most of what's in it.

Re: I automated my job application process

#489

Post by lolinder »

a13n wrote: post #363
MrMember wrote: post #314

I'm seeing a lot of back in forth in the comments between hiring managers and employees discussing who is more responsible for the current situation, but from the perspective of someone looking for a job what should I be doing? I've been pretty aggressively looking for a job for the past six months or so. I have 10+ years of professional software dev experience so I've mostly been looking at senior dev positions. I h…

Run LeetCode problems until you can crush the technicals

A lot of companies are reevaluating the technical interviews because they're too easy to cheat at now unless they're on site on your hardware (or on a physical whiteboard).

Re: I automated my job application process

#490

Post by 1auralynn »

DavidDodda wrote: post #75
codegeek wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends. As a Hiring Manager, I love cover letters but only if it is not a generic copy paste. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind a Cover letter that may have some generic stuff about you but you must add something specific about the role/company that you are applying for and why you will be a good fit. This will get you miles ahead of others in the queue.

how would you rate this?, this email was written by the system from the article. Dear Hiring Manager, I hope this message finds you well. My name is David Dodda, and I am writing to express my interest in the Software Engineer position at WIA Software Systems Inc. I am a Senior Software Developer with extensive experience in full-stack development, and I believe my skills align well with the requirements outlined in…

Way too wordy, overly formal, and generic
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