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Ask HN: How to Parse “Requirements” in a Job Listing?

• kylecordes 12y ago
  From the point of view of someone who writes job requirements then receives resumes: no matter what you write in job requirements, you will receive a stack of resumes which don't even remotely match the job requirements. So many resumes that it is impossible to sift through them in any depth. In an attempt to get a stack of hundred (or more) resumes down to a pile you can read in any depth, you are forced to look at each one very briefly and put it in the "no" pile for missing, or even not clearly fulfilling, any requirements listed. It ends up as a sort of "tragedy of the commons" situation. There might be a person in that stack, who does not literally meet the listed requirements, but who nonetheless would be a great hire. Their opportunity to be "discovered" is taken away by the large number of respondents polluting the resume stack for a job they clearly are not qualified for.
  • sarciszewski 12y ago
    I see. It has been my tendency to go "Hmm, I match 8/9 of the ones listed, but not #7 on their list. Oh well, moving on." I had been wondering if this was foolish of me.
    • byoung2 12y ago
      I had been wondering if this was foolish of me. Keep in mind that all of the other applicants might have matched at most 7/9 requirements, and you could have been the top candidate.
      • sarciszewski 12y ago
        There's the rub: What if the requirements are actually requirements? What if they're not, and only the first 1 or 2 list items are essential? I tend to play it safe so I don't waste companies' time.
        • dragonwriter 12y ago
          > There's the rub: What if the requirements are actually requirements? Then they won't call you back if you don't meet them. > I tend to play it safe so I don't waste companies' time. If the requirements are actually hard requirements and you don't meet them, the company isn't even a potential employer. If they aren't hard requirements, you aren't wasting their time. It seems to me the only real consideration should be whether you are wasting your time.
          • sarciszewski 12y ago
            > It seems to me the only real consideration should be whether you are wasting your time. If my time were valuable, I'd probably be getting paid better for it. :P
• poseid 12y ago
  I found that besides skills, people focus on "years of experience" . I would love to see more of "flow" parameters in job requirements, and I blogged about this idea a while back: http://thinkingonthinking.com/skill-bars/ http://thinkingonthinking.com/skill-bars/
  • sarciszewski 12y ago
    Yes, I've seen this a lot. The years of experience thing can be taken to ridiculous extremes, as well: I was turned down in the middle of an interview for a PHP position (I have 12 years of experience) recently because, and I'm not making this up, the interviewer claimed, "Well, I have guys with 18 years of experience, I'll call you back if we have an opening for a junior PHP devleoper role. click" I like the flow concept. :)
    • byoung2 12y ago
      Wow...18 years of experience in PHP! I would imagine the last 10 years would be the most relevant (post PHP5 and OOP) for most modern applications.
      • sarciszewski 12y ago
        Yes indeed, and the language itself is only 19 years old. I personally view this claim as suspicious, but I didn't argue the point. Anyone who decides that 12 years isn't enough to qualify for a senior position without further examination is probably not the sort of person I'd enjoy working for. :)
    • poseid 12y ago
      here is my freelance profile: http://patrick.mtpartners.de/ http://patrick.mtpartners.de/ - the interesting idea here, is that the profile is generated by a small build script. I you provide some basic data, I could try to generate a profile for you too, and we could see if this helps for you, or why/not ?
      • sarciszewski 12y ago
• dragonwriter 12y ago
  > When you see a list of "requirements" in a job ad, and fail to adequately meet even just one of the list items, do you apply anyway? If not, at what point do you, personally, draw the line? Unless there's a context in which I know the requirements are non-negotiable (class admission requirements for a civil service position, for instnace), I look at the duties first, and if I feel I can do the duties, I look at the "requirements" as what the hiring entity assumes are necessary to do the job, but also assume that the hiring entity can be convinced that those are not really minimums on a case-by-case basis -- but that they are things that the application should address in some way if they are missing. IME, it's true often enough that its worth taking that approach.
  • sarciszewski 12y ago
    > ... I look at the duties first, and if I feel I can do the duties, I look at the "requirements" ... > ... they are things that the application should address in some way if they are missing. That's actually a pretty reasonable way to handle the uncertainty. :)