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Every so often I set my LinkedIn profile to open to work to see what rolls in. In June, I was getting maybe 1/4th of the interest that I was in 2022. I am still

Every so often I set my LinkedIn profile to open to work to see what rolls in. In June, I was getting maybe 1/4th of the interest that I was in 2022. I am still confident I could find another position if needed, probably at reduced pay. The people I see struggling on LinkedIn that I know are all people I wouldn’t hire. Maybe its just the toxic people that are vocal enough for me to notice? Just my anecdote and doubt it reflects the wider market. On the hiring side, it seems to be harder than ever to get qualified candidates. We’ve given up even trying to tech screen and hire based on “attitude”. I feel stuck in a lose lose situation where I either OK a subpar candidate and hand hold them or continue to do all of the work. I suspect this has to do with the boring unsexy nature of the company, but it was never this bad in the past.

tnel77 3y ago
We have two open positions on my team and we have yet to fill them as management is “being picky” with candidates. With so many amazing candidates allegedly looking for work, I find it interesting that we haven’t found someone faster.
throwaway5959 3y ago
> On the hiring side, it seems to be harder than ever to get qualified candidates. We’ve given up even trying to tech screen and hire based on “attitude” I’m curious what your interview process is like.
- time0ut 3y ago
  Pretty basic. Three one hour sessions with a manager, engineers, and final round with a director or VP. Sometimes we will do an extra session for more senior roles to follow up on stuff.
flagrant_taco 3y ago
Do you have the option of just not hiring anyone if no candidates come through that the team feels good about? I had one particular role where our team had the same issue and eventually really ticked off higher management when we kept open vacancies on the team for too long. They effectively said fill the spot soon or they'd move the headcount elsewhere, making for a really dumb choice between filling a seat or committing to be under resourced indefinitely.
- time0ut 3y ago
  Similar thing here. The more candidates we reject the more scrutiny we get and management starts hinting we should take what we can get. The latest few hires we’ve been told to just ask basic questions and not do any coding stuff.
  - flagrant_taco 3y ago
    > The latest few hires we’ve been told to just ask basic questions and not do any coding stuff. Oh this is one that would definitely get me in trouble. I'd rather just not hire someone than make a bad hire, and I expect I'd be pretty ticked off myself if management was telling my team to dumb down our interview process and make it easy for most anyone to fill the seat
  - jjav 3y ago
    > The more candidates we reject the more scrutiny we get and management starts hinting we should take what we can get. This is actually quite rational. Does the team actually need the help? If yes, just hire someone already who is adequately qualified and has a good attitude. These people are super easy to find. But lots of teams like to have a req open forever while they keep looking for that absolutely perfect candidate on a hundred arbitrary scales who has spent a lifetime working the exact tech stack they have, is totally willing to spend a year crunching leetcode and doesn't ask for much pay. So it's more of a game, like a cat toying with a mouse instead of actually needing to eat. In that case it is the best decision to close that req and reallocate the funding to some other team who actually needs help right now.

tnel77 3y ago

We have two open positions on my team and we have yet to fill them as management is “being picky” with candidates. With so many amazing candidates allegedly looking for work, I find it interesting that we haven’t found someone faster.

throwaway5959 3y ago

> On the hiring side, it seems to be harder than ever to get qualified candidates. We’ve given up even trying to tech screen and hire based on “attitude” I’m curious what your interview process is like.

time0ut 3y ago
Pretty basic. Three one hour sessions with a manager, engineers, and final round with a director or VP. Sometimes we will do an extra session for more senior roles to follow up on stuff.

flagrant_taco 3y ago

Do you have the option of just not hiring anyone if no candidates come through that the team feels good about? I had one particular role where our team had the same issue and eventually really ticked off higher management when we kept open vacancies on the team for too long. They effectively said fill the spot soon or they'd move the headcount elsewhere, making for a really dumb choice between filling a seat or committing to be under resourced indefinitely.

time0ut 3y ago
Similar thing here. The more candidates we reject the more scrutiny we get and management starts hinting we should take what we can get. The latest few hires we’ve been told to just ask basic questions and not do any coding stuff.
- flagrant_taco 3y ago
  > The latest few hires we’ve been told to just ask basic questions and not do any coding stuff. Oh this is one that would definitely get me in trouble. I'd rather just not hire someone than make a bad hire, and I expect I'd be pretty ticked off myself if management was telling my team to dumb down our interview process and make it easy for most anyone to fill the seat
- jjav 3y ago
  > The more candidates we reject the more scrutiny we get and management starts hinting we should take what we can get. This is actually quite rational. Does the team actually need the help? If yes, just hire someone already who is adequately qualified and has a good attitude. These people are super easy to find. But lots of teams like to have a req open forever while they keep looking for that absolutely perfect candidate on a hundred arbitrary scales who has spent a lifetime working the exact tech stack they have, is totally willing to spend a year crunching leetcode and doesn't ask for much pay. So it's more of a game, like a cat toying with a mouse instead of actually needing to eat. In that case it is the best decision to close that req and reallocate the funding to some other team who actually needs help right now.