6 ms·

Having just been through the job hunting process, it’s gotta be the speed at which I can apply. If it takes me more than 2 minutes to apply for your position,

by cgb223 9y ago

Having just been through the job hunting process, it’s gotta be the speed at which I can apply. If it takes me more than 2 minutes to apply for your position, I’m going to skip the whole thing If you make me retype everything that’s on my resume, I’m going to pass My ideal application is attach resume, put basic info like Email and name if not automatically scraped and submit

bluedino 9y ago
>> If it takes me more than 2 minutes to apply for your position, I’m going to skip the whole thing This is such a pain, it’s 2017 and I have job sites who want a Word document resume, plain text resume, then in the middle of filling out a web form with my work history I just closed the browser window because I don’t think I really wanted to work at a place like that anyway.
- ju-st 9y ago
  My favourite are job sites where you have to create an account and the account has ridiculous minimum password requirements. Example: "Your password must be at least eight characters long and must include at least one letter (A–Z, a–z), one digit (0–9) and one special character (e.g., !"§$%)."
  - avip 9y ago
    That's downright a scam. I've applied once to a JPMorgan dev team. The verbose application process required me to "register" to some "applicants network". Alas, the registration form had the infamous "I accept the terms of service AND allow you to send spam to the email address you've just forced me to provide" bundled checkbox. Granted that was the end of my attempts to work there.
  - bostik 9y ago
    Sounds like any $BIGCORP that outsources their application flow to Taleo.
dougmccune 9y ago
Just to weigh in on the flip side of this from a hiring perspective, if it's clear to me that someone has done zero research on my particular company, has no knowledge about what it is we do, and has no articulate explanation of why this particular job is a good fit for them, then I pass on the candidate instantly. I don't know if the shotgun a resume with a cut-and-paste cover letter approach works to some degree, but it at least doesn't work for me. I know that applying to jobs is a pain in the ass, and that there are far too many bad actors on the hiring side (ie not giving a clear no and just ghosting applicants). But if you enter the application process making it clear you have done your research, you know what the company does, what the specific role is, and even better if you know something about the people on my side, who you want to work with and why, etc. then you are guaranteed an interview and you're starting a mile ahead of anyone just shotgunning in a resume. Yes, that takes a LOT longer than 2 minutes. But with that approach maybe you won't need to send in hundreds of applications.
- polote 9y ago
  Why would you only consider only applicants who made research about your company before ? What kind of skill this task is proving you ? If I'm right, you are trying to find people who have the rights skills and the ones who match the culture of the company, right ? Then not doing any research doesn't mean anything I do the same, if the application process is longer than 2 minutes, I skip, if the cover letter is mandatory, I skip. But when I get an interview I prepare a lot.
  - dougmccune 9y ago
    Part of it is showing that you know how to be effective, in this case how to effectively get yourself hired. A huge part of any tech job is about how you approach problems, creative thinking, and figuring out the best way to make an impact -- much of which is not about actually writing code. So it's about showing that you can take the viewpoint of someone other than yourself (in this case the person doing the hiring) and figure out how to be effective. Refusing to even write a paragraph explaining why you're the right person for a particular job is simply not an effective way to try to get a job. It shows naivete and a lack of understanding of the system involved, which makes me assume that you'll approach similar non-technical roadblocks, of which there will be millions, in the same ineffective way.
polote 9y ago
I completely agree with you, these companies are not showing enough interest to make the life of applicants better, it is highly probably the same with their employees And I skip when they ask for a cover letter (or send a blank pdf page)
- moogie 9y ago
  This has to be one of the childish and laziest things I've read in a long time. Seriously, who can't spend 10 minutes writing up a cover letter? If you can't even manage that, how the hell are you going to do your job properly? You're not! Job hunting works both ways. If the company has put in the time to write up a decent enough job listing to make you interested, then you damn well do your side and don't waste their time (yes, this may be a shock to you, but sending a crappy email without a cover letter wastes someones elses time).
  - polote 9y ago
    Thanks but the current world is that job hunting doesn't work both ways. People in tech have probably no problem finding a job whereas most tech companies have problem recruiting. And yes if I don't spend 10 minutes writing a cover letter for your company I'm not able to do my job properly, you probably find the easiest way to find if someone is going to do his job properly. Well done !
    - user15672 9y ago
      I'm guessing from your posts here that you're either very naive and/or too young to have been in a hiring role. Yes, it does indeed work both ways. Just because you don't understand this doesn't make you in any way correct. I'm not really sure what your second paragraph means. Are you saying you job hunt while at work? That's not a professional thing to be doing. In any case, writing a cover letter is very easy, so being unable to do that probably means you need to work on your communication skills. Heck, with the amount of posts you've stuck onto HN today alone, you could have knocked up a short cover letter that would suit 90% of technical job applications, so this can't be a time problem for you.

by cgb223 9y ago

bluedino 9y ago

>> If it takes me more than 2 minutes to apply for your position, I’m going to skip the whole thing This is such a pain, it’s 2017 and I have job sites who want a Word document resume, plain text resume, then in the middle of filling out a web form with my work history I just closed the browser window because I don’t think I really wanted to work at a place like that anyway.

ju-st 9y ago
My favourite are job sites where you have to create an account and the account has ridiculous minimum password requirements. Example: "Your password must be at least eight characters long and must include at least one letter (A–Z, a–z), one digit (0–9) and one special character (e.g., !"§$%)."
- avip 9y ago
  That's downright a scam. I've applied once to a JPMorgan dev team. The verbose application process required me to "register" to some "applicants network". Alas, the registration form had the infamous "I accept the terms of service AND allow you to send spam to the email address you've just forced me to provide" bundled checkbox. Granted that was the end of my attempts to work there.
- bostik 9y ago
  Sounds like any $BIGCORP that outsources their application flow to Taleo.

dougmccune 9y ago

Just to weigh in on the flip side of this from a hiring perspective, if it's clear to me that someone has done zero research on my particular company, has no knowledge about what it is we do, and has no articulate explanation of why this particular job is a good fit for them, then I pass on the candidate instantly. I don't know if the shotgun a resume with a cut-and-paste cover letter approach works to some degree, but it at least doesn't work for me. I know that applying to jobs is a pain in the ass, and that there are far too many bad actors on the hiring side (ie not giving a clear no and just ghosting applicants). But if you enter the application process making it clear you have done your research, you know what the company does, what the specific role is, and even better if you know something about the people on my side, who you want to work with and why, etc. then you are guaranteed an interview and you're starting a mile ahead of anyone just shotgunning in a resume. Yes, that takes a LOT longer than 2 minutes. But with that approach maybe you won't need to send in hundreds of applications.

polote 9y ago
Why would you only consider only applicants who made research about your company before ? What kind of skill this task is proving you ? If I'm right, you are trying to find people who have the rights skills and the ones who match the culture of the company, right ? Then not doing any research doesn't mean anything I do the same, if the application process is longer than 2 minutes, I skip, if the cover letter is mandatory, I skip. But when I get an interview I prepare a lot.
- dougmccune 9y ago
  Part of it is showing that you know how to be effective, in this case how to effectively get yourself hired. A huge part of any tech job is about how you approach problems, creative thinking, and figuring out the best way to make an impact -- much of which is not about actually writing code. So it's about showing that you can take the viewpoint of someone other than yourself (in this case the person doing the hiring) and figure out how to be effective. Refusing to even write a paragraph explaining why you're the right person for a particular job is simply not an effective way to try to get a job. It shows naivete and a lack of understanding of the system involved, which makes me assume that you'll approach similar non-technical roadblocks, of which there will be millions, in the same ineffective way.

polote 9y ago

I completely agree with you, these companies are not showing enough interest to make the life of applicants better, it is highly probably the same with their employees And I skip when they ask for a cover letter (or send a blank pdf page)

moogie 9y ago
This has to be one of the childish and laziest things I've read in a long time. Seriously, who can't spend 10 minutes writing up a cover letter? If you can't even manage that, how the hell are you going to do your job properly? You're not! Job hunting works both ways. If the company has put in the time to write up a decent enough job listing to make you interested, then you damn well do your side and don't waste their time (yes, this may be a shock to you, but sending a crappy email without a cover letter wastes someones elses time).
- polote 9y ago
  Thanks but the current world is that job hunting doesn't work both ways. People in tech have probably no problem finding a job whereas most tech companies have problem recruiting. And yes if I don't spend 10 minutes writing a cover letter for your company I'm not able to do my job properly, you probably find the easiest way to find if someone is going to do his job properly. Well done !
  - user15672 9y ago
    I'm guessing from your posts here that you're either very naive and/or too young to have been in a hiring role. Yes, it does indeed work both ways. Just because you don't understand this doesn't make you in any way correct. I'm not really sure what your second paragraph means. Are you saying you job hunt while at work? That's not a professional thing to be doing. In any case, writing a cover letter is very easy, so being unable to do that probably means you need to work on your communication skills. Heck, with the amount of posts you've stuck onto HN today alone, you could have knocked up a short cover letter that would suit 90% of technical job applications, so this can't be a time problem for you.