[icey]

It's something I didn't mention, but you're completely right.

The past 3 positions I've hired for have had essentially identical applicant spectrums:

* 80% completely ignored the requirements and didn't provide requested the information. Our listings contain one or two questions to make sure they've been read. Things like "What is your favorite programming language?" or "What is your favorite technical blog?"

* Another 10% were not qualified as per the listing

* Half of the remaining 10% did not pass HR screening - usually this meant they were jerks to the HR lady or didn't have good references * Less than half of the remaining 5% were able to perform at any capacity during our very simple coding exercise.

By simple I mean things like "write a function that accepts an integer and returns the next largest prime" or "write a function that interpolates two strings".

We have fairly liberal hiring practices, but insist on being able to do the job we're hiring for. I feel sorry for any company that doesn't have a technical interview process in place.