Shikhar Sachdev wanted to reveal what made the process so draining—so he spent 11 hours filling applications. Now he has tips for both job seekers and hiring managers.

Job Hunting Sucks. This Programmer Filled Out 250 Applications to Find Out Why::Shikhar Sachdev wanted to reveal what made the process so draining—so he spent 11 hours filling applications. Now he has tips for both job seekers and hiring managers.

  • PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldEnglish
    611·
    1 year ago

    Or, hear me out, that brick wall is stupid in the first place. If you’re applying, you probably want the job. Just like if you’re listing for applications, you’re probably hiring.

    There’s a saying Sachdev likes, from computer science professor Randy Pausch: The brick walls are there for a reason. Facing and surmounting hurdles can help a person discover how much they want something. But if an employer erects too many barriers, “is an applicant really going to think, ‘That brick wall is there for a reason?’ Or is the applicant going to exit out of your website and go apply somewhere else?” Sachdev says. “I think it’s the latter.”

    • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      641·
      1 year ago

      It’s dumb in dating as well as hiring.

      I mean, do you really want to limit your pool to people who are desperate enough to suffer such indignities?

      • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        531·
        1 year ago

        I mean, do you really want to limit your pool to people who are desperate enough to suffer such indignities?

        If you want the individual to be submissive, yes

      • PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldEnglish
        22·
        1 year ago

        In the sense that you are remotely qualified for the position or meet any of the requirements?

        Sure there are people who blanket apply, but those should be the easiest to figure out. Job posters post jobs that don’t exist at the company and salaries are inflated consistently, that’s why there’s a law.

        You’re going to have to admit that the companies have the upper hand and neg the people looking for a job. During the pandemic, it was an employee’s market and now they’re trying to switch it back. That’s why the tech companies had agreements not to raise people’s salaries, etc.

        • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          5·
          1 year ago

          I recently landed a new job where the salary range could be considerably higher than my last gig. Predictably, I was hired at the base of the range. It’s still more than my last job, but having been laid off from a struggling company, I felt no power to negotiate. Had I still been employed, it’s more likely that I’d have balked and said I want better than the base pay.

          Job listings are lies like people on dating apps using filters on their photos.

  • MDZA@feddit.ukEnglish
    36·
    1 year ago

    Bad candidate experiences suck and Workday is the absolute worst.

    In my most recent round of job hunting about six months ago, I had a pretty decent rate of getting a screening call with a recruiter at the company. Maybe around a quarter of applications got me there.

    Despite my pretty decent odds of getting a call, it was never worth applying to a company with Workday.

    I don’t want to sign up to their shitty candidate portal with another set of login credentials I have to manage.

    I don’t want to repeat what I wrote on my CV, because their parsing is abysmal.

    I don’t want to have to use a desktop because it doesn’t because feel like working on mobile that day.

    I’ve had friends refer me for positions at the companies they work at. I’ve had talent acquisition reach out on LinkedIn, who’ve been professional, friendly and knowledgeable about the role and their company. But in both cases, if they ultimately needed me to create a profile in Workday I’ve told them I’m not interested.

    Given how good ATS’ have become about highlighting potential good fit candidates to recruiters - there is no reason candidates should have to input anything other than their CV, basic contact info / screening questions and a cover letter (depending on role). And it should all work smoothly using a mobile device.

  • moog@lemm.eeEnglish
    21·
    1 year ago

    “‘I wanted to chop my head off’ Sachev says” relatable

  • QuandaleDingle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    1 year ago

    Can’t even be a programmer any more. Gotta be some kinda full-stack gigaengineer just to be looked at.

    • Fades@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Part of the reason I’m glad I pushed myself to get a masters degree (graduated with both a bs and ms in 5 years) was that it truly feels like my resume floats up on the stack of resumes in part because of the degree.

      These days my previous positions have more say in that sort of thing as I’m a decade into the industry but getting started it was a real boon. Still didn’t have quick and easy job searches tho

      You have to really put effort in standing out in multiple ways

  • Ilflish@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    This only highlights a symptom of the horror. The malleability of jobs on offer make each application more deliberate and getting passed this phase, you likely have 1-2 Projects to do + a technical interview to get to an actual interview