[xiaoma]

Yes, this has been maddening for me as well. For all of the people on this site claiming the market is "red hot", job hunting in the bay area has been slow. I have dealt with a couple of really well run companies that made it through the process quickly, but others have all kinds of HR filters and take weeks to even get a phone screen.

In contrast, I was able to join a start-up within three weeks of beginning my search in 2010 in Beijing... and that was before I had any professional experience. They made the decision on the basis of a couple of interviews and a couple of retro flash games I'd done as a hobby project.

Incidentally, if anyone in SF is looking for someone who can code and a proven record of hustle, my contact info is on my profile page.

[joe_the_user]

As far as I would guess, the market is hot if you meet all ten of the bullshit this is how you spot rockstars this week criteria. Otherwise it's slow.

The thing is, the GP is only about hiring the magic people super fast - as soon you see them, yeah! Which isn't going to make more magic people.

The hire-ers might just think about making their process a bit wider rather than chasing the same things over and over again. Give more people a chance to show some ability rather than passing the same mantra about A-players back and forth.

[l3amm]

This is an excellent point. The analogy I like to use is based on prospecting: you can try to find fully-formed gold from the earth or you can smelt down ore into something useful. Right now the valley is full of prospectors stealing gold nuggets from each other, and I think there is a ton of opportunity to transform smart, hardworking people into great employees.

Of course this requires time and training, which some start-ups feel they can't afford. In the end I think it's worth it to focus on finding talent that can learn quickly rather than emerge from Zeus's brain fully-formed.