Looking for work is a full time job • Hacker News Board

Re: Looking for work is a full time job

#51

Post by __MatrixMan__ » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 2:02 AM UTC

sunjieming wrote: post #4

Dallas_B wrote: post #2

For anyone currently stuck in the grind of endlessly applying for jobs, I completely understand your frustration. I’ve been job hunting for the past three months, and it’s been painfully repetitive and time-consuming. Applying via LinkedIn often feels like throwing your resume into a sea of 1,000+ other applicants, even with daily alerts turned on. What worked better for me was following founders, recruiters, and oth…

We're seeing a flood of fake AI generated job applications basically DDOSing our hiring funnel. Not sure how widespread it is but it has become enormously frustrating to sift the complete garbage from the good resumes. I'm sure a lot of good people have been accidentally filtered out It's rough out there right now. Also, not even sure what the benefit or angle is for spamming fake job applications. State actors tryin…

> not even sure what the benefit or angle is for spamming fake job applications

Ok, tinfoil hat time. Suppose for a moment that the AI hype is true, and that two years from now everyone will have access to god-like coding ability on the cheap. Even if it's untrue, there are plenty who believe this is the case. Seems to me like there are two ways for that to go:

1. Coding jobs get scarcer and scarcer and the only remaining ones are populated people willing to work unreasonably hard to keep them.

2. Coders being the group with the most on-the-job experience re: driving an AI (acquired back in the days when coding was all it was good for) all quit their jobs to start their own companies--because why bother with the bureaucracy of a large company when you can now do the same work with four employees?

I'm not sure who exactly would want to influence the general vibe towards 1 and away from 2, I guess somebody who believed the hype enough to see 2. as a threat, but not enough to see it as an ideal outcome. Or maybe someone whose product is more valuable against a backdrop of an impossible-to-navigate job market. Whoever they are, DDOSing job applications would be a way to achieve that goal.

Re: Looking for work is a full time job

#52

Post by graemep » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

surfingdino wrote: post #47

graemep wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK. Freelance. A major client put their project on hold and (looking to fill gap) its been a long time since I saw so few opportunities for things I used to find it easy to get work in (e.g. Django, which can be boring but has always been solid bread and butter).

It started in 2019 with the introduction of IR35 legislation. HMRC scared the living daylights out of clients using contractors, they even went after the government contractors. That opened the market to umbrella companies and large consultancies who switched paperwork, lowered rates, then shipped roles offshore.

I did not think of that as a possible cause because I do not do any work that could conceivably fall under IR35. I did find the market pretty healthy until very recently myself.

I do think contractors were to blame too. Using ridiculous schemes (like the borrowing from an offshore company one) was only going to lead to a crackdown on both individuals and in general.

Re: Looking for work is a full time job

#53

Post by surfingdino » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 9:35 PM UTC

graemep wrote: post #52

surfingdino wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It started in 2019 with the introduction of IR35 legislation. HMRC scared the living daylights out of clients using contractors, they even went after the government contractors. That opened the market to umbrella companies and large consultancies who switched paperwork, lowered rates, then shipped roles offshore.

I did not think of that as a possible cause because I do not do any work that could conceivably fall under IR35. I did find the market pretty healthy until very recently myself. I do think contractors were to blame too. Using ridiculous schemes (like the borrowing from an offshore company one) was only going to lead to a crackdown on both individuals and in general.

These schemes were used by high-profile celebs, not ordinary IT contractors. Most of the cases brought up by HMRC related to contracting are against umbrella companies or people who tried to be "clever" on a much smaller scale, certainly not trying to avoid paying hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds in tax.

Re: Looking for work is a full time job

#54

Post by surfingdino » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 9:38 PM UTC

username135 wrote: post #50

surfingdino wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is based on my own experience and conversations with hiring managers and recruiter over the last two years. I have also been involved in screening CVs. It's impossible to keep up with the flood of fake CVs.

Its perfectly nefarious! Was just wondering if there was anything written about it yet. Thanks!

When I see an ad for a hybrid role that pays £200 pd inside IR35 I know it is designed to "prove" that there are no suitable candidates interested in it in the UK.