Ask HN: What's with the repeated job posts on "Who's hiring"?

[rafavento]

I've been applying to some jobs (EM) that are posted on "Who's Hiring", getting rejected without even an interview and then see them posted again and again. I'm ok with me not being the best candidate but I can't fathom the idea that not a single candidate was good enough in months.

What's going on here?

[samcheng]

I've posted on "Who's hiring" for years now, and hired many engineers from those posts. We reject the vast majority of candidates, and to those who we reject, it might seem like we can't hire "a single candidate." That's not true - if it were, I'd stop posting here!

[daredoes]

I was hired by this guy for my first job in Software Engineering after applying via Hacker News in 2018. True story!

[owebmaster]

> if it were, I'd stop posting here!

unless you (the royal you) are posting it for other motives other than hiring.

[TheMongoose]

Unicorn hunting is probably some of it. I followed up on one that sent me a rejection letter after two interviews and just said "I see your job has been re-posted" Never heard back. =)

[ahi]

I see a lot of unicorn job postings here and elsewhere. Bunch of companies here in the midwest are looking for 5 years experience in AI pipeline engineering. Those people exist, sorta*, but they aren't taking $60/hr contract gigs from bureaucratic hellscape Acme Corp types. Likewise, I see a lot of startups led by technical hustler types (more power to them) who would never pass their own hiring expectations. Your CTO is a webdev with 6 months prompt engineering. Why would an actual expert agree to work for them?

*unclear if experience from 5 years ago is relevant to current practice.

[thatguysaguy]

I both got a job through such a thread, and have now seen the other side of the applicant pipeline. The average applicant (in general, idk about HN in particular) is not very strong! Especially true when you consider the alternative of preserving runway and being patient.

[shusaku]

I don’t understand the argument for being patient. If you think the new hire will lead to increased profits, there’s an opportunity cost every day you don’t have them on board. And sure, maybe you wait for the best person and they are more productive, but they might be out the door in a few years.

[rafavento]

Smells to me that if you can be patient then you’re not after a need. Companies than can hire, hire because they can and not because they need? Isn’t that what got us into this mess?

[thwaway]

Anecdotal data

As a hiring a manager, I posted a job offer in Who’s hiring, and doubt I’ll do it again anytime soon.

In my field of work, I am looking for skills other than software (maths, physics, engineering…). There were few qualified applicants coming from the thread. Most of them were nice. One candidate, whose background was unrelated to my field of work, got very offended when I told them it wasn’t the right fit.

This never happened when screening candidates that reached out other means (LinkedIn, Lever…)

[nickpsecurity]

There's a large number of people who might have the skill. Tech companies have been laying people off, too, which increases the talent pool. That lets them be picky. If patient, they'll get a better employee.

On the other side, techniques recruiting is getting harder. They've long had to deal with applications that have nothing to do with the job, by people with no experience, and people who can't code. Now, AI's might be writing applications or sample code. On busy sites like HN, they might also just get many applications. Even a reasonable, hiring manager might have difficulty trusting an application enough for an interview.

Those are my two theories for most of it. Others include companies prioritizing culture fit, status, or job adds that are schemes. Some of these happen in other places.

[prmph]

Some of the posters even ask you to contact them directly, and then ghost you when you respond.

[ElCapitanMarkla]

My workplace reposts the same senior dev ad each month. And we’re not reposting it because no one was good enough last month, it’s is we want all the senior devs, we’ve hired a few from there now.

[Mc91]

I got a gig from who's hiring a few years ago. I also interviewed at some other places which were not a fit. Some places never got back to me. It has been a mix.

[gwbas1c]

It probably varies from company to company.

Sometimes the company might set the bar impossibly high. Other companies might be rejected by the candidates.

Given the current economic situation, I think a tech job that stays open for longer then 2-3 months is a warning sign about the company. (Except for jobs that require ultra-rare skills, but most jobs I see don't require them.)

[hermannj314]

I am on the site because it is full of very thoughtful and intelligent people in the tech industry.

I don't stand a chance in an interview pool made up of a sample of HN readers.

Outside of HN, I am a successful IT director, with a graduate degree and a good career. Here, I am an auto-reject bottom-rung parasitic loser that never went to Stanford.

[koliber]

You're being harsh on yourself.

People are not rated on a single scale. Not everyone on HN is better than you on every type of scale an employer will use.

There are many people who are better than you at some things, but an employer is looking at the complete package, and not any one skill in particular.

[stevekemp]

Some times they get so many (often low-quality) applicants they just bin hundreds at a time for arbitrary reasons.

Other times the jobs were never real, it's a "growth hack" like other forms of spamming, posted to advertise the company and sell the illusion the company is growing, not slowly sinking.

[mixmastamyk]

Tech industry hiring heavily believes in the "fixed mindset." Meaning that people are unable to grow. Combine with extreme risk avoidance, an explosion in the number of stacks, and no appetite for waiting a week for a dev to learn another thing. No hire.

[ozim]

I have seen enough devs being corporate drones and people who say they want to learn but do nothing to be tilting towards “fixed mindset”.

I do have myself as a counter example but that’s small N and as usual always others are lazy ;)

[gedy]

I think a big part of this problem is HR non technical recruiters. They really have no idea who to hire and trash people based on dumb voodoo criteria. They however will fight to the death on how important they are for hiring.

[tslocum]

I've seen the same position posted for a YC-backed company for over a year. I commented on it months ago, it's funny to see this topic come up again. We seriously need some legislation in this area. Finding a job as a tech worker is hard enough.

[ipaddr]

Collecting resumes then upselling you on a service.

[mathgeek]

That’s also what the Looking to be Hired thread is scraped for.

[ahoka]

Hard to prove and I don't want to accuse anyone, but could be just posting for visibility.

[justsomehnguy]

People are searching for people. I'm not in the demo. yet it's interesting to look where the interests are.

And if you look further there are enough of people who were actually hired because of this.

[quintes]

Technical and culture fit likely.

Though with a large pool you’d expect it to close.

Hope they are real jobs.