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Ask HN: Job hunting remotely, looking for tips and to avoid potential pitfalls
I have 5 years exp in .net and am looking to move to NYC in the new year. I live in a considerably smaller metro area currently and am finding the scope and breadth of the market intimidating. In the past I have had the normal programming job hunt hurdles to leap; whiteboard interviews, multiple phone/in person interviews, flakey HR responses or no responses. All of that are things I feel are standard in the job hunting process I am comfortable about going through again.
Currently I am finding that even looking for and settling on a place to start is overwhelming. The potential of places to work seems 100x the current market I am in (and it probably is). This leads me to think I should connect with a recruiter but that brings a whole new host of issues I am unfamiliar with, since I have never used a recruiter in the past.
With that being said, I was wondering if people here had advice or experiences worth sharing with regards to job hunting and the issues that might not be as recognizable before you went through the process. Pay negotiations, setting up in person interviews, traversing a larger job market, whether or not to use a recruiter and how to find a good one. Anything that could be helpful or pertain to a large market job jump.
- auslegung 8y agoJust to clarify, are you trying to land a job in NYC, or are you trying to land a remote job?
- jobsearchthrow 8y agosorry for the lack of clarity , plan on moving to nyc, but I do not currently live there. The main reason I bring it up is I have heard HR/companies will potentially ignore people with non local addresses, as well as there are clear logistical issues associated to not being less then an hour away from an interview.
- dmode 8y agoI hire a lot in SF. A remote address in the same country is usually not a barrier as we will fly people in if they make it to the on-site round. The bigger challenge is actually standing out among the 400-500 resumes we receive per job. A referral is a far better approach to getting your foot in the door that applying online
- meesterdude 8y agoMy advice would be: don't hesitate to walk away. If they are unprofessional from the start, it's a huge red flag, and never works out. Don't put up with BS like 30 minute psyche profiles, or code tests before talking to anyone about the role or culture. recruiters can be helpful - and frustrating. It's a mixed bag, but there have been a few good ones. Be patient, do other things in the meantime. Anything you can get locally will have a better chance than remote. Use something like resumasters.co to polish up your resume and linkedin. Otherwise, don't get discouraged!
- jobsearchthrow 8y agothank you, I usually follow pretty close to this in my job searching and interviewing process. I didn't know about resumasters, that looks like a great resource, thanks!
- tmaly 8y agoI have used recruiters on almost every job I have worked. I find it is easier if they have an existing relationship with the company and management. They can provide you with a better idea of what the people are like at the company in some cases.
- pavel_lishin 8y agoIt's very hard to find a good recruiter, though. Some of the ones I've used just started shotgunning a list of job titles and companies at me.
- chasedehan 8y agoI couldn’t disagree more. In my experience I have found recruiters to be a complete waste of time (whether internal or external).
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- RhodesianHunter 8y agoRecruiters are like Realtors. The vast majority are crap. The really good ones are worth their weight in gold.
- cimmanom 8y agoThe question then becomes: how do you find a non-awful recruiter remotely?
- hadeon 8y agoHi, I just went through the same process - moving to London from New Zealand. I found that I had the most success when I directly applied to companies that I had a very very close fit with, rather than the more generic jobs. My feeling for more general jobs was that the companies weren't really interested in putting the time in if they couldn't meet me in person - but for jobs where I was a good fit they went out of their way to make it easy for me to interview. I would recommend just picking a random company and putting some effort into an application for them, then rinse and repeat.
- jobsearchthrow 8y agoThis has been my experience as well. I guess my initial hang up is some of the companies that I am interested in are so huge that my usual strategy of finding a hiring manager on linkedin is much more difficult. Where as when applying to a company of 500 employees, they probably only have a few hr people, vs XYZ fortune 100 company has potentially hundreds.
- awinder 8y agoThis is a bit ahead of the getting started area, but the last time I was interviewing out of state, no one told me this, and I was young, so here goes: Do not let companies set you up for failure with a ridiculous travel schedule. I was flown from MD->CA for a big-five tech company, on a flight with 2 layovers, that arrived at 11PM, with interviews starting at 10AM the next day. I have never screwed up an interview so bad as that one, and to some level I still blame the whirlwind schedule for being super-fried coming into that interview setting. You'll probably get much better suggestions from the rest of the group here, but hopefully this still-painful-12-years-later story will bring some amount of levity. Best of luck! :)
- jobsearchthrow 8y agoThanks! I thought about this as well. One thing I would ask, how common is a company paying for travel/accomodations for an interview? I am capable financially of making trips for interviews, but I almost feel like I need a commitment from a company to show that they consider me a serious potential hire for me to spend my own money for just an interview.
- charlesdm 8y agoIf the company isn't willing to pay for your travel, you shouldn't work there. Serious companies will pay for travel.
- jobsearchthrow 8y agogood to know, thanks!
- sokoloff 8y ago100% accurate. When I was interviewing on the west coast, I tried to coordinate between two companies where one would pick up the hotel and the other the flights, mostly so I didn't have to cross the continent twice. That was a surprisingly difficult thing to pull off. Each of them seemed to prefer to pay for it all and have me criss-cross once per company...
- kathrynhough 8y agoCheck out https://app.talentpair.com https://app.talentpair.com - they work with experienced recruiters that have relationships + AI to match you with remote jobs.
- ccvannorman 8y agoNeat! I just signed up, and will see what happens. I also recommend WeWorkRemotely.com and CyberCoders.com, two of the most user-friendly sites I've seen for tech jobs. Hired.com was mentioned earlier, and they are quite good. I've had a very pleasant experience so far. Lastly I'll also mention TopTal - I haven't tried them yet but have heard good things.
- thenanyu 8y agoI’d say try Hired and Triplebyte as a baseline to get some deal flow going A good remote culture is something you should look for. Remote-first if you can find it. For example, where I work (Abstract) we are based in SF but 70% of employees are remote and we do not change the pay scale based on geography. The center of gravity is remote and not at HQ
- chasedehan 8y agoI second triplebyte. I liked their process a lot even though I didn’t accept a job through them. I actually found my current position through HN. Check The Who’s hiring threads.
- ccvannorman 8y agoI'm in the same boat you are (Unity AR/VR developer looking for a new job / relocation). I've had the best luck searching for very specific roles / job titles that fit me and reaching out to companies I have a special / good fit with. It's been working well, and serious companies have already begun offering to fly me out for the final interview. This is standard.