3 ms·

Whether or not they had recruiters posing as applicants in mind when designing this, it doesn't change the fact that this particular task is ill advised. The f

Whether or not they had recruiters posing as applicants in mind when designing this, it doesn't change the fact that this particular task is ill advised. The first person that becomes remotely disenchanted with them will flood them with random applications. I'd bet almost anything that they will have to scrap this exercise and start over.

shubb 14y ago
I don't see how it is more open to abuse than just giving an email address. You could send someone 1000 messages if you wanted.
asveikau 14y ago
Is the ability to hammer the POST interface really much worse than the ability to send lots of mails to a jobs@company.com alias? Sure, maybe people's email configurations are better equipped to deal with spam, but you can send email in a script, too.
rickhanlonii 14y ago
I disagree. Were it to become a problem, it would be trivial to deal with an application flood. Among many options, provide a unique 'application key' on the instructions page which expires after first use. If you're really concerned, or it becomes a problem, just add a Captcha-like requirement to get your application key. Besides, as asveikau points out, the risk is no different than any other application acceptance system. Take applications by mail? Fine, I'll buy a roll of stamps and make a few stops to the post office.
- downandout 14y ago
  http://www.de-captcher.com/ http://www.de-captcher.com/ - have 1,000 Captchas solved through their API for $2. Captchas haven't been a reliable anti-spam solution for years.
  - rickhanlonii 14y ago
    Considering that I said "Captcha-like," don't you think you're missing my point altogether?
jon-wood 14y ago
We've been running this exercise for the past year now. During that time we've had several excellent applicants, no recruiter spam, and no "web developers" who couldn't describe how a website might track a session. And no random applications other than people playing with it for fun.

shubb 14y ago

I don't see how it is more open to abuse than just giving an email address. You could send someone 1000 messages if you wanted.

asveikau 14y ago

Is the ability to hammer the POST interface really much worse than the ability to send lots of mails to a jobs@company.com alias? Sure, maybe people's email configurations are better equipped to deal with spam, but you can send email in a script, too.

rickhanlonii 14y ago

I disagree. Were it to become a problem, it would be trivial to deal with an application flood. Among many options, provide a unique 'application key' on the instructions page which expires after first use. If you're really concerned, or it becomes a problem, just add a Captcha-like requirement to get your application key. Besides, as asveikau points out, the risk is no different than any other application acceptance system. Take applications by mail? Fine, I'll buy a roll of stamps and make a few stops to the post office.

downandout 14y ago
http://www.de-captcher.com/ http://www.de-captcher.com/ - have 1,000 Captchas solved through their API for $2. Captchas haven't been a reliable anti-spam solution for years.
- rickhanlonii 14y ago
  Considering that I said "Captcha-like," don't you think you're missing my point altogether?

jon-wood 14y ago

We've been running this exercise for the past year now. During that time we've had several excellent applicants, no recruiter spam, and no "web developers" who couldn't describe how a website might track a session. And no random applications other than people playing with it for fun.