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> I took great pride in informing her that a) I made more than their proposed offer and b) I’d never work for a company who couldn’t operate with basic human decency in their recruiting process.

I used to work in tech recruiting. I guarantee you 100%, no one cares.

As a candidate your only option is to move on or write a bad glassdoor if you are so inclined and move on.




Well, it tells a lot about how much you(and probably your management) care about your job.

My org was once hiring for a tech position, it was a new role, we weren't exactly sure if the process was right and one candidate sent us an email criticising the process and interviewers. We have apologised and thanked for the feedback, which was brought onboard and used to calibrate and improve the process further. Not every company is the same.

Besides, when we have received that kind of message it immediately raised some red flags. What if the candidate complains on glassdoor or other social media? It would damage our reputation. And frankly speaking, GoDaddy doesn't exactly have a good reputation.


Recruiters...ugh.

About 15 years ago I managed a software team and decided I wanted to consider new opportunities. I wasn't sure I was leaving, but I wanted to see what was out there. A recruiter saw my resume, called my workplace to speak to the hiring manager, and offered his services to help the company fill their soon-to-be-vacant development manager position.

The recruiter was happy to reveal that I was considering leaving until he realized I was the hiring manager he was talking to. He quickly hung up.


Wow, just wow.


I was a hiring manager in tech for many years and my impression was that talented people care, as do managers. Seems like everyone involved except the recruiter wants an optimal outcome ....


Maybe i misinterpreted what GP said. curious if you have an example where you took a candidates feedback and improved your process.

If you company does leetcode puzzles ( I worked at such a company) for hiring and a candidate tells you that they felt like that processes lacked basic human decency. What would you do?


Evaluate the areas of human interaction or places where some could be and try to make those better. Instead of just thinking that a technical challenge is there be all end all of recruiting.

“ I used to work in tech recruiting. I guarantee you 100%, no one cares.”

This does not reflect tech recruiting. People do care and while there are many hurdles to changing a process, we shouldn’t give up because its hard.


ok how does this address my example above about the most popular "inhumane" tech hiring complaint on HN.

What are you going to do about that other than give up?


As a candidate? Tell them you don't do puzzles before talking to humans and to advance you to the next screen? It's not like those rules can't be broken or changed, they aren't laws of physics.


No. Not as a candidate. GP is referring to recruiting.

> This does not reflect tech recruiting. we shouldn’t give up because its hard.


> I used to work in tech recruiting. I guarantee you 100%, no one cares.

Yes, everyone noticed.


> I used to work in tech recruiting. I guarantee you 100%, no one cares.

Sounds correct. That's why professional tech recruiters are best avoided. Have never seen anything but empty talk and bad matches from them. On either side, recruiting or being recruited. Unfortunately the bigger the HR of a company, the more similarities to outside recruiters.


> That's why professional tech recruiters are best avoided.

I worked as a recruiter at a big tech company not a tech recruiting firm.

Recruiting is just a big numbers game, it is nothing personal. Its just the way it is.

Most people here hate white board, leetcode puzzles with passion but you cannot simply "best avoid" it if you want to get into a big tech company.

Do you really think making engineers with 2 decades of experience solve 'trapping rain water' in 30 mins is "basic human decency" ? Do you think they care if you write to them about that?


It's never silly to inform someone when they fail basic human decency.


Attitudes like yours are why tech recruiters are notoriously inconsiderate and difficult to work with. It’s not a good look and not something to be proud of.


> Attitudes like yours

Why the personal attacks?

I am merely telling you what goes on. Its not my personal policy or my personal preference. I hated being a recruiter and pivoted out of it.

Do you think FB engineers personally set the policy to ignore rumours against muslims in India from spreading on their platform.


It wasn't an attack. They're just stating a fact from their own experience.

I hated being a recruiter and pivoted out of it.

That's definitely helpful to know. Thanks for clarifying.


There’s like 2 very discrete camps in recruiting in my experience, people who optimize for short vs long game basically. I’ve maintained a fantastic relationship with the best recruiter I met, and it’s definitely not like this, there’s some great people in the long game camp.


Candidates talk. If we hear that a company has a terrible recruiting process, we'll generally avoid it. This is especially true of qualified candidates who are heavily recruited. You'll send an email or a LinkedIn message to a candidate and get one of the suggested "No, thanks" replies or outright silence.

So if you don't care, you should.


I'm on the interviewer's side of the table and we absolutely do care.


While I agree with you in the sentiment that they are venting to space... metaphorically speaking. A recruiter either works for themselves, as an agency, or for a company. In all three scenarios your business is only as good as your reputation since “service” is your business. I’d highly suggest taking a second look at your stance. While it takes years to build reputation, it takes minutes to destroy it.


I'm hiring now. I don't think no one cares. Our recruiter is processing 400 candidates at once and relying on a lot of new hiring managers to follow a process. It's a lot of work to keep up and stuff does fall through the cracks. And we're a tiny startup.


Agreed, "no one cares" was probably not the right way to put it. I should've said that its highly unlikely that someone will actually look at the feedback and take it seriously.


You shouldn't make such sweeping statements. I can assure you that candidates do care. Feedback should be mandatory for the time invested by candidates.


As a hiring manager, I care quite a bit about how candidates think of our process BUT I also know that most folks who bother to write something like 'basic human decency' to a recruiter, who usually has little power or status in a company, are probably not the people I want to hire.

Nothing wrong with complaining but people often hurl needless insults when they've had a less than optimal time.


Why couldn't the feedback bubble up to someone who has enough authority to improve the process? No one expects recruiters to fix the company by themselves.


As a candidate your only option is to move on or write a bad glassdoor if you are so inclined and move on.

Not in the EU. You can file a GDPR SAR for any electronic records created during the process, which will probably include the interviewer’s notes.


Wow I had no idea. This would be a game changer for the whole industry here.




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