[cookiecaper]

Hey, I appreciate the reply. What I heard through the grapevine is that Thumbtack primarily wants Stanford grads. A very experienced friend had his resume dismissed out of hand because they didn't like his educational pedigree -- didn't even consider an interview. Meanwhile, the Thumbtack employee that had forwarded my friend for consideration told of constant pleas for referrals of "qualified programmers", and promises of exorbitant bonuses for people who could furnish them.

After watching this happen, it was no wonder that Thumbtack was unable to fill their positions. There's a point where such baseless and flippant dismissal of good talent stops representing selectivity and begins instead to represent incompetence.

The prior head of recruiting, who was employed by Facebook and Google before she was employed by Thumbtack, has been replaced since that incident, so perhaps things are better now.