4 ms·

Using something like "professional-looking LinkedIn picture" as a filter is just throwing out candidates for the sake of getting the number lower. Any company t

Using something like "professional-looking LinkedIn picture" as a filter is just throwing out candidates for the sake of getting the number lower. Any company that would be this lazy as to potentially throw away their best candidates in the first round of filtering on criteria that has such little actual signalling is not one that I would want to work for anyway.

tomhagen 11y ago
I doubt people get filtered out solely on their profile picture. Yet when you have two similar resumes, things like this might (and probably will) decide who'll be filtered out. Pro-tip: no one wants to see a Nikon in your profile picture and no one cares about your photography hobby on your resume. I'm talking to you, half of the tech community on Linkedin!
- Jach 11y ago
  People are filtered all the time for BS reasons, e.g. there's a fairly well-known "I only hire lucky people" filter where a random half of the application pile is tossed out without a glance.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    That "I only hire lucky people" is clearly parody. Noone actually does that in real life. I agree that many of the filters that people use are bullshit.
    - Jach 11y ago
      Fair enough. Though I still can't help but think there have been people out there who read the fable and then said, "That's a good idea, I'm going to try it." (You've most likely also read https://web.archive.org/web/20120501193533/http://raganwald.posterous.com/i-dont-hire-unlucky-people https://web.archive.org/web/20120501193533/http://raganwald.... too, a point in which is that other BS filters act just like the toss-half one in that they aren't really useful when your qualified applicant proportion is small.)
    - coldtea 11y ago
      >Noone actually does that in real life You'd be surprised. Might not be so explicit, but randomness (ie luck) plays a huge role in filtering process.
  - mcv 11y ago
    You might be throwing out the lucky ones if your company is a bad place to work.
wisty 11y ago
People looking for jobs are usually far more motivated than managers looking to hire (or worse, people who aren't going to work with directly with the employee). Even the CEO, who has skin in the game, won't be entirely dependent on making the best possible hire (hopefully). Most job seekers are terrible at job seeking. What does that say about how good managers are at hiring? (Also, managers has to look at hundreds of different candidates.)
coldtea 11y ago
>Using something like "professional-looking LinkedIn picture" as a filter is just throwing out candidates for the sake of getting the number lower. Who said hiring is fair? >Any company that would be this lazy as to potentially throw away their best candidates in the first round of filtering on criteria that has such little actual signalling is not one that I would want to work for anyway. For most companies (not talking Facebook and Google level stuff) it doesn't really matter -- and they could care less if you would work for them or if they get top talent or not. Any decent-ish programmer can do the work they require, so they are OK with being lazy in hiring.
dandare 11y ago
Come on, it's a fact that ugly people get longer prison sentences, it sucks but that is how our brains are wired. Deal with it.

tomhagen 11y ago

I doubt people get filtered out solely on their profile picture. Yet when you have two similar resumes, things like this might (and probably will) decide who'll be filtered out. Pro-tip: no one wants to see a Nikon in your profile picture and no one cares about your photography hobby on your resume. I'm talking to you, half of the tech community on Linkedin!

Jach 11y ago
People are filtered all the time for BS reasons, e.g. there's a fairly well-known "I only hire lucky people" filter where a random half of the application pile is tossed out without a glance.
- DanBC 11y ago
  That "I only hire lucky people" is clearly parody. Noone actually does that in real life. I agree that many of the filters that people use are bullshit.
  - Jach 11y ago
    Fair enough. Though I still can't help but think there have been people out there who read the fable and then said, "That's a good idea, I'm going to try it." (You've most likely also read https://web.archive.org/web/20120501193533/http://raganwald.posterous.com/i-dont-hire-unlucky-people https://web.archive.org/web/20120501193533/http://raganwald.... too, a point in which is that other BS filters act just like the toss-half one in that they aren't really useful when your qualified applicant proportion is small.)
  - coldtea 11y ago
    >Noone actually does that in real life You'd be surprised. Might not be so explicit, but randomness (ie luck) plays a huge role in filtering process.
- mcv 11y ago
  You might be throwing out the lucky ones if your company is a bad place to work.

wisty 11y ago

People looking for jobs are usually far more motivated than managers looking to hire (or worse, people who aren't going to work with directly with the employee). Even the CEO, who has skin in the game, won't be entirely dependent on making the best possible hire (hopefully). Most job seekers are terrible at job seeking. What does that say about how good managers are at hiring? (Also, managers has to look at hundreds of different candidates.)

coldtea 11y ago

>Using something like "professional-looking LinkedIn picture" as a filter is just throwing out candidates for the sake of getting the number lower. Who said hiring is fair? >Any company that would be this lazy as to potentially throw away their best candidates in the first round of filtering on criteria that has such little actual signalling is not one that I would want to work for anyway. For most companies (not talking Facebook and Google level stuff) it doesn't really matter -- and they could care less if you would work for them or if they get top talent or not. Any decent-ish programmer can do the work they require, so they are OK with being lazy in hiring.

dandare 11y ago

Come on, it's a fact that ugly people get longer prison sentences, it sucks but that is how our brains are wired. Deal with it.