| There have been a handful of these threads on HN lately, I thought I'd chime in as someone on the other end hiring engineers, recently. - If you're using the new "AI Tools" to auto-apply, especially if there are additional questions asked in the application that you use AI to auto-fill - it's relatively easy to spot, and is an immediate disqualifier for me. (fwiw - it may seem like it's providing good/unique answers, but if you get 100 applications from people using ~similar tools, guess what, many of the answers are ~similar or follow the same format) Sure - AI is increasingly more a part of all our workflows these days, but I'm still hiring a human and so want to hear from the human. - Speaking of applications with additional questions on them - if the application has those questions, answer them! The more thoughtful, the better. Why half-ass the first step of the interview process? - There are hundreds of applicants for every job, plain and simple - a resume is not enough. Everyone has experience, and education, and skills, and it all just blends together. You need to stand out. Whether thats your GitHub contributions, a link to a personal website with writings or projects, personal side-projects or cool hobby hacks you've worked on - you need to have something you can point to and standout. When I get several hundred applications for a role - I can quickly narrow down to a top 5% or fewer just by those that put in effort and had something to showcase. Hopefully some helpful suggestions to someone. |
This one is part of the crux of the woes, IMHO: everyone wants life story, heartfelt, detailed but not too detailed answers to everything. So, let's say roughly 30-60 minutes per application. But, after the candidate completes this okcupid-ish application, then crickets. Multiply that times 10 or 20 applications and the burnout is real. Burnout isn't just "well, job searching sucks" it also cuts into the compassion budget left for future applications, reducing the amount of enthusiasm offered for all these cover letters and "gorsh, I really want to work with your unicorn organization!!1"
So, let's turn this back around: for those top 5% or whatever, do YOU reply to say "thank you, but no" or do you just delete the email and go back to whatever else you do all day?