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Three reasons for this: 1. Difficult/lengthy application processes can filter for intent 2. Structured data (obtained during sign-up) is useful for recruitmen

by agd 4y ago

Three reasons for this: 1. Difficult/lengthy application processes can filter for intent 2. Structured data (obtained during sign-up) is useful for recruitment platforms 3. Some ATS's are just bad Point 1. might be difficult for SWEs to understand, but in lower leverage roles (e.g. non-grad) you sometimes have a 100+ applicants for a single role, so any filter helps a lot with the recruitment process.

maerF0x0 4y ago
> so any filter helps a lot with the recruitment Only if the filter is good. What's a good filter? One that improves the quality of candidates at a given market price. I don't think filtering out people who realize the system is bullshit/broken is a wise filter. Such a filter means you'll be capturing the portion of the populace that is unable to think beyond what they're told and inefficiently bash their heads against brick walls. I know the cynical will say "Exactly! thats exactly what these employers want!" But truthfully, it's not, it's just what they think they want... This is part of what is breaking America down, people getting what they "want" instead of what's actually "good for them". I understand these are just concepts and really messy in reality, and there's a dystopian take of false benevolence. But America I believe that America used to work because people used to be optimistic, which meant they could work with honest benevolence towards many/most. I was telling a friend yesterday that one difference between the Canada I remember and the America I live in now is that Canadians used to not chase every last personal profit (dollar). As an example, if a company could buy a piece of software that helped them perfectly price their product giving an average increase of $101 dollars, but at a cost of $100... most would say "yeah, the company should do that! they make an extra dollar..." but what is missed is the customer ends up paying $101 dollars for the increase of $1 profit. I think in Canada people let some of those marginal dollars lie, thinking it was just too much effort to chase it, and not good for everyone involved. Not good for the customer, the software developer could do something virtuous with their life instead of predatory, the entrepreneur can both feel good for how they act in the marketplace and also sell something else for $100 that the customer now still has.... So what does this all have to with hiring software and forms? I don't entirely know, but I think this form stuff is a symptom of a real problem to be fixed, not just bandage over.

by agd 4y ago

maerF0x0 4y ago

> so any filter helps a lot with the recruitment Only if the filter is good. What's a good filter? One that improves the quality of candidates at a given market price. I don't think filtering out people who realize the system is bullshit/broken is a wise filter. Such a filter means you'll be capturing the portion of the populace that is unable to think beyond what they're told and inefficiently bash their heads against brick walls. I know the cynical will say "Exactly! thats exactly what these employers want!" But truthfully, it's not, it's just what they think they want... This is part of what is breaking America down, people getting what they "want" instead of what's actually "good for them". I understand these are just concepts and really messy in reality, and there's a dystopian take of false benevolence. But America I believe that America used to work because people used to be optimistic, which meant they could work with honest benevolence towards many/most. I was telling a friend yesterday that one difference between the Canada I remember and the America I live in now is that Canadians used to not chase every last personal profit (dollar). As an example, if a company could buy a piece of software that helped them perfectly price their product giving an average increase of $101 dollars, but at a cost of $100... most would say "yeah, the company should do that! they make an extra dollar..." but what is missed is the customer ends up paying $101 dollars for the increase of $1 profit. I think in Canada people let some of those marginal dollars lie, thinking it was just too much effort to chase it, and not good for everyone involved. Not good for the customer, the software developer could do something virtuous with their life instead of predatory, the entrepreneur can both feel good for how they act in the marketplace and also sell something else for $100 that the customer now still has.... So what does this all have to with hiring software and forms? I don't entirely know, but I think this form stuff is a symptom of a real problem to be fixed, not just bandage over.