Ask HN: Why do some YC companies keep posting the same job bi-weekly?

[throwaway097992]

I noticed a pattern in the job posting section where some YC startups are posting the same job every two weeks.

When you apply, you don't receive a return.

Have you had the same experience?

What are the odds of companies using job sections for advertising?

[dang]

I assume you're talking about the front-page job ads described in https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html and https://news.ycombinator.com/jobguide.html?

I've been meaning to look at the data to see what needs to be tightened or cleaned up there. Currently the rule is that active YC companies can have an ad at most once per two weeks (as you saw), with the caveat that priority is always given to the company that has waited the longest since their last ad or have never posted one before.

We don't monitor the accuracy of the ad content nor how the companies respond to applicants—not that those things aren't important, but we don't have the resources to check them.

[bombcar]

I just hope someday they find that engineer! They've been looking for him for years.

Maybe they should be required to re-word it once a month or once every 6 months. After awhile I start to be put off by the company's name just because of the perpetual noticing.

[bb88]

There's a management strategy to always interview even if they don't actually need anyone.

The idea is that if someone spectacular comes on the market they can either replace an existing dev, or create a new role for that person.

[pcthrowaway]

> The idea is that if someone spectacular comes on the market they can either replace an existing dev

If I learned this happened after getting hired, I'd also be sure to always be interviewing for new positions

[Tommah]

HN should allow comments on job posts. Even if you don't want those comments to be publicly visible, they should go in the database somewhere so that admins can see them. You will see people's many complaints if you look at the monthly "Who is hiring?" threads. One company in particular has been drawing scads of complaints the past few months.

[throwaway097992]

As someone who is heavily unemployed, I am willing to help without any compensation.

[lnxg33k1]

The whole job industry is a scam, I’ve applied for jobs and been asked to register an account to some portal, or received coupons to buy stuff, I hope some regulator notice and will do something

[conductr]

Easy Post is the one I’ve seen constantly and consistently over several years. I assume it’s a growth hack where they just constantly have their name in front of HN eyeballs

[gabrielsroka]

Don't forget Skio and BuildZoom.

TIL Algolia supports the job tag (it's not in the docs).

  # Using https://gabrielsroka.github.io/webpages/pith.html
  
  u = '//hn.algolia.com/api/v1/search_by_date?tags=job'
  jobs = []
  for p in range(50)
    ? 'Fetching page', p
    s = await getJson(u + '&page=' + p)
    s.hits.forEach(j => j.name = j.title.match(/(.*?) \(/)?.[1] ?? j.title)
    jobs = jobs.concat(s.hits)
  debug.clear()
  jobs.sort((j1, j2) => (j1.name + j1.created_at).localeCompare(j2.name + j2.created_at))
  ? jobs.map(j => j.created_at + ': ' + j.name).join('\n')
  
  v = jobs.map(j => j.name).reduce((o, n) => (o[n] = o[n] + 1 || 1, o), {})
  v = Object.entries(v).sort((v1, v2) => v2[1] - v1[1])
  
  | Name | Count
  for [n, c] in v
    + n >> c

[DecentRecruiter]

Yes, they have mastered the system - the company name is apt.

Otherwise, I can't imagine that the benefits from visibility outweigh the reputation damage from posting jobs that are not open.

[cjr]

jerry, svix, lago etc.. clear growth hack :)

[bendigedig]

Some companies advertise solely to make themselves look dynamic to investors.

[sk11001]

"Hmm Meticulous have been looking for a #3 founding engineer for 18 months, they're sooo dynamic"

[Banditoz]

Oh wow, you weren't kidding: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

First post for founding engineer #3 was back in June 2022.

[autonomousErwin]

Yeah I've seen this a lot and while I understand the whole "hire slow, fire fast" mentality, there's a point where you've got to bite the bullet and take a chance.

[lnxg33k1]

I’d argue theyre just running a marketing campaign, post an advert about software engineer, at a company offering software engineering products, id like to see how many felt for it and introduced the product at their companies, how better you can target your primary target?

[Tommah]

Maybe they've hired 18 people and each one has only lasted a month! It doesn't get much more dynamic than that.

[solardev]

The first #3 engineer set up the job ad script too, and none of the other 17 people could figure out how to increment the integer. It's hard to find good help these days!

[rumori]

I was always curious what was going on there. I definitely have a negative impression of them already based on their recurring job ads for the elusive 3rd engineer.

[intelVISA]

Trying to find some poor sap to build your startup for 18 months doesn't signal what they think it does, lol.

[zeitgeistcowboy]

I just talked with a recruiter that said 80% of companies are posting jobs just so they collect the answers to the diversity questions so they can prove to the government that they are considering everyone. You know, the questions about race, gender, veteran status, and disabilities.

[brailsafe]

I just passed on an application that asked for nationality, gender, pronouns, whether I'm part of some sort of victimhood "community", veteran status, indigeneity category, or whether I'd describe my identity some other way, for which they replaced the cover letter textbox so I can give them as much useful info as possible. Insane.

[throwaway097992]

Some companies are following a similar pattern for already approved hires using H-1B.

[kevinmershon]

I'm not saying this is the case here, but there can be both tax and labor outsourcing incentives for posting a job ad that you "just can't seem to fill".

[BugsJustFindMe]

I can't say anything about YC specifically, but, anecdotally from working at a great place that was fairly well known and that constantly had job calls going out for months to years on end, it's because the bulk of people applying actually sucked at either software engineering or at not being weirdly aggressively rude or both.

You might think that the people on HN are all super brilliant engineers with patience and social grace in spades, but I doubt it.

[Tommah]

If your company can't find someone after years of looking, the problem isn't with the candidates.

[binsquare]

From what I can tell, companies seem to use job postings as a form of advertising for potential customers.

Especially since this forum is frequented by techies, having a job post will get eyes on their product from their target customers as well

[coolThingsFirst]

Because HN fails with moderation, it's not only on HN there are tons of boards that post jobs and aren't looking for engineers. Some will even interview you but they aren't looking for an engineer. The more generic the name of the company the more likely it's BS.

Haven't checked if a person with email nota[particularAnimal]@gmail.com is still posting the same job.

[siva7]

Probably also marketing because those yc posts get special treatment from the hn algo to appear on the front page.

[echelon]

How frequently are YC companies allowed to post on the front page?

I got over two dozen applications to my "who's hiring" thread post. (People want to work in Rust and AI/film/gaming, which might skew our numbers.)

[frfl]

You only got two dozen (~24) applications for a job posting!? How is that possible in this current job market where jobs get hundred of applications within days?

That's not to say hundred of qualified applications, just applications in general, unqualified and qualified.

[sokoloff]

Any of the mainstream job site's listings get hundreds of low-effort, rapid-fire applications. GP's post on who's hiring (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38501428) requires you to think a little about what they do and send an email to a jobs@ address. That's more effort than the person who is "applying" to 200 jobs every day is willing to put in.

Sonara*1, LazyApply*2, and others allow job seekers to create an incredible amount of noise with virtually zero effort.

*1 "We send out job applications on your behalf, while you watch the interview requests roll in."

*2 "Automatically apply for 1000's of jobs in a single click. LazyApply will auto fill job applications and apply to all of the jobs..."

[lnxg33k1]

Seems to me that a lot of companies just don’t under Their spot, there are companies who have above average pay and benefits, where people take their time to apply and to prepare, I’ve personally met them and spent weeks preparing. But them some crappy company paying peanuts with shitty benefits puts an advert and say oh applications without a proper motivation/ cover will not be considered. I think if youre a startup trying to stay afloat which could not exist in a couple of months anymore, dont expect people treating you like google

[voakbasda]

I would actively avoid hiring anyone that used one of those services.

[cvhashim04]

Steady stream of candidates in the pipeline?