2y ago

Job Hunting Sucks. This Programmer Filled Out 250 Applications to Find Out Why

www.wired.com

Job Hunting Sucks. This Programmer Filled Out 250 Applications to Find Out Why::Shikhar Sachdev wanted to reveal what made the process so draining—so he spent 11 hours filling applications. Now he has tips for both job seekers and hiring managers.

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Or, hear me out, that brick wall is stupid in the first place. If you're applying, you probably want the job. Just like if you're listing for applications, you're probably hiring.
There’s a saying Sachdev likes, from computer science professor Randy Pausch: The brick walls are there for a reason. Facing and surmounting hurdles can help a person discover how much they want something. But if an employer erects too many barriers, “is an applicant really going to think, ‘That brick wall is there for a reason?’ Or is the applicant going to exit out of your website and go apply somewhere else?” Sachdev says. “I think it's the latter.”
- It's dumb in dating as well as hiring.
  I mean, do you really want to limit your pool to people who are desperate enough to suffer such indignities?
  
  I mean, do you really want to limit your pool to people who are desperate enough to suffer such indignities?
  If you want the individual to be submissive, yes
  
  That's exactly what I was trying to say but you said it better. They're negging.
- In the sense that you are remotely qualified for the position or meet any of the requirements?
  Sure there are people who blanket apply, but those should be the easiest to figure out. Job posters post jobs that don't exist at the company and salaries are inflated consistently, that's why there's a law.
  You're going to have to admit that the companies have the upper hand and neg the people looking for a job. During the pandemic, it was an employee's market and now they're trying to switch it back. That's why the tech companies had agreements not to raise people's salaries, etc.
Bad candidate experiences suck and Workday is the absolute worst.
In my most recent round of job hunting about six months ago, I had a pretty decent rate of getting a screening call with a recruiter at the company. Maybe around a quarter of applications got me there.
Despite my pretty decent odds of getting a call, it was never worth applying to a company with Workday.
I don’t want to sign up to their shitty candidate portal with another set of login credentials I have to manage.
I don’t want to repeat what I wrote on my CV, because their parsing is abysmal.
I don’t want to have to use a desktop because it doesn’t because feel like working on mobile that day.
I’ve had friends refer me for positions at the companies they work at. I’ve had talent acquisition reach out on LinkedIn, who’ve been professional, friendly and knowledgeable about the role and their company. But in both cases, if they ultimately needed me to create a profile in Workday I’ve told them I’m not interested.
Given how good ATS’ have become about highlighting potential good fit candidates to recruiters - there is no reason candidates should have to input anything other than their CV, basic contact info / screening questions and a cover letter (depending on role). And it should all work smoothly using a mobile device.
"'I wanted to chop my head off' Sachev says" relatable
What a noob. It only took me just over 100 applications to get a job.
/s
- 100 applications, 80 auto replies, 50 actual responses, 30 immediate rejections, 27 we are no longer hiring, 12 void of silence, 5 invites to fill out another battery of questions, 2 actual interviews one of which canceled while you're in traffic.
  
  I'm so frustrated right now with trying to find a new job. I've been promised about 15 interviews, only for them to be cancelled 24-48 hours beforehand. The market I'm in is saturated after the massive tech layoffs that have happened this year.
  Disney hurt me the worst, I was laid off earlier this year. Unfortunately for me now, they're a heavy Ruby on rails ecosystem. Which means a lot of more experienced developers got let go around the same time as I did and I can't even get a fucking interview anymore.
  
  Are you pre-pandemic me?
Can't even be a programmer any more. Gotta be some kinda full-stack gigaengineer just to be looked at.
- Part of the reason I’m glad I pushed myself to get a masters degree (graduated with both a bs and ms in 5 years) was that it truly feels like my resume floats up on the stack of resumes in part because of the degree.
  These days my previous positions have more say in that sort of thing as I’m a decade into the industry but getting started it was a real boon. Still didn’t have quick and easy job searches tho
  You have to really put effort in standing out in multiple ways
250...rookie numbers, gotta pump those up.
https://archive.ph/T8y86 Down with the paywall.
This only highlights a symptom of the horror. The malleability of jobs on offer make each application more deliberate and getting passed this phase, you likely have 1-2 Projects to do + a technical interview to get to an actual interview

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