I was a software engineer looking for full-time jobs a couple of years ago and it blew my mind how terrible the process was. There are _many_ problems in recru

I was a software engineer looking for full-time jobs a couple of years ago and it blew my mind how terrible the process was. There are _many_ problems in recruiting, but three things really bothered me during my search: 1. Information asymmetry. Job seekers should know more about the people at and day-to-day practices of a company before committing to their long and exhausting interview process. Often times this information is buried under cover letters, applications, phone screens, take-home tests, and hours of onsite interviews. The amount of time/energy it takes for a job seeker to get to the most important information means that they can only really "get to know" a handful of companies. 2. Incentive misalignment. Another big problem in recruiting is having placement fees. If a recruiter's goal is to get me to join a company just long enough to hit the 90-day mark (when they get paid) but it's actually a bad fit, I lose and so does my employer. The incentives are misaligned between (third-party) recruiters, candidates, and employers when there are contingency fees. 3. Lack of exposure to options. When you don't know what your options are, it's easy to settle. It often takes people 3, 4, 5 jobs to figure out what it is they really care about and want from their employer / team / work. Unfortunately, this can take years to figure out for yourself. Not knowing what you want means that you'll do a worser job of choosing the right company to join. We would all do better if we had more exposure to the different ways different teams operate. I ended up too frustrated w/ my job search to actually get a job. I instead founded Key Values (https://www.keyvalues.com https://www.keyvalues.com) which solves for the three issues above and provides a way for software engineers to find teams that share their values. The most talented and competent people will still perform poorly if they're unhappy / uninspired. That junior dev that you took a chance on will blossom if they have the right support and environment. Value alignment is everything.