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Document: WM-025 P. Webb
Category: Rant 2018.01.11
Why the Job Search Sucks
Abstract
It's not your fault
Body
I have been unemployed since November 1st, *four days* after my
wedding. The company I was working for went out of business for
various reasons I won't get into but at least I got one last
paycheck! This was the first time in my life that I'd been let go
from a job. I'd either leave on my own accord or be fired (this only
happened twice, once in my professional career). I went into this new
development in my life fairly non-plussed because I've *always* been
able to find work relatively quickly. Of course, life has a way of
reminding you not to get comfortable. *Hooray*.
1. Rounds of interviews
Lots and *lots* of rounds. I really don't understand why this is
necessary. Here's what what makes sense to me:
1. Phone screen
2. Tech screen
3. Meet the team
After this, shouldn't you *know* if you want to work with someone
or not? What's wrong with your process that you need *more* than
three steps? Last month, I ran an interview *gauntlet* with a
company I (previously) admired. I had a video interview with HR
and a phone interview with *another* person from HR days later.
Then, I had to clear my entire Friday from *9am to 6pm* for *five*
video interviews with the shortest one being 45 minutes. I thought
I aced it! I even wrote a tutorial on how to use one of their
products and integrated said product into some of my projects. I
was told that I'd hear back from someone in a few days and if not,
to email.
Stop me if you've heard this before.
I waited. Emailed. Waited. Emailed again. By this point, another
week passed and I was *pissed*. I even checked my mail server to
see if messages were lost in the ether. *Nothing*.
Companies don't seem to realize that every interview is an
investment of time and emotion for the applicant. I apply for
positions where I feel I can make a positive impact and work on an
awesome product or help an idea form and gain traction. *There is
no excuse for not communicating.* While these companies are
internally deciding who to vet next, they can at least send a
templated reply back. I don't care if it looks like:
> Dear Paul, Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
> ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
> ahaha NO.
At least I know not to waste my time waiting on you.
2. Coding/design tests
See also: whiteboarding.
I've *never* met someone who performs exceptionally well with
thinking on the spot in front of people they've never met when the
grand prize is gainful employment. Not only are you thinking about
whatever question you've been asked to demonstrate your thought
process on, you're also thinking about what they might want to
see. Do you have your back turned too much? Should you
over-explain to "prove" you fundamentally understand the
concept(s)? What happens if you don't understand the question? Do
they take "points" off for that?
That shit is incredibly stressful.
You know what I love about coding tests? Finding a use for one-off
code exercises in my own work so I feel like my time wasn't
completely wasted. You know what else I love about them?
Absolutely nothing. These *tests and whiteboarding are not*
*indicative of your skill level*, they are *approximations* of
what you can do with what is likely to be limited information and
ambiguous scope.
Assuming you are gainfully employed, dear reader, think about your
job today: you (typically) aren't asked to create a solution for
something with three bullet points in a README file with a section
for "extra credit ;)".
I recently did one of these tests and yes, I've identified a
portion of the code I wrote for integration in one of my projects.
After days of waiting to hear yay or nay, I decided to email a few
hours ago and was told other people had more impressive code
submissions and tech stack cohesion. Makes sense but, would I have
gotten that rejection email today if I hadn't checked in? Next
week? Next month? In my experience, I either don't get that email
until at least two weeks later at the earliest, if ever.
Segue!
3. Feedback
It's very rare that you'll get helpful emails on how you can
improve your chances in interviews from the very companies that
rejected you, especially if you ask for it. This is at odds with
the initial tone and type of communication that's exchanged when
figuring out if you two are a good fit. "Other candidates were a
better fit, feel free to apply again in the future." Um, okay, but
why would I do that when *I don't know why I wasn't a fit to begin
with*? I view these canned statements as passive aggressive and
make a note of avoiding the company and their products
going forward.
4. How to deal
Depends on the person.
For me, open world video games are a great outlet for expending
frustration and allows me to cool down. I also enjoy writing and
that's why I've written this post. Having my time wasted is one of
my chief pet peeves and it's an unavoidable part of the job
search…falling in love with a product and/or company only to later
be rejected, dismissed, and ignored is a *soul-crushing* exercise,
one that we subject ourselves to because we quite literally don't
have a choice.
It fucking sucks.
I was at a seminar today about dealing with stress in the job
search and I heard from people over the age of 40 expressing their
experiences and frustration with age bias. They do well with
initial email contact and phone interviews but when it's time for
the in-person interview, they see and feel quite accurately that
their age is what prevents them from moving forward in the
process. I feel bad for these people because their only enemy is
time. Rather than hire the best, some companies look to hire
recent graduates so they can 1) be overworked and 2) offered less
pay. They don't know what they don't know and certainly won't ask
questions. Older people and those with experience would never put
up with that.
In the seminar we were told:
> *You are not at fault for being in the situation you are in.*
> External forces changed your lives in a (mostly) negative way
> but, it's up to you to deal with it in a productive way.
Have you ever tried guided meditation? It was the first time my
brain was silent outside of sleep…it was weird. I almost fell
asleep, haha! I'm going to try practicing mindfulness[1] more.
5. Upsides?
Losing my job and not finding a new one shortly after has awarded
me something that's been lacking in me for quite some time, and
that is *focus*. As I mentioned in my last post[2], I put a stop
to all but one of my projects and am focusing on just one[3].
Seeing my year-old child grow and learning new words, colors, and
numbers has been a fascinating experience. He'll randomly point at
something and say whatever he's looking at: "Red! Nine! A!
Lellow!" (Yellow) and so on. Pretty neat.
Constantly retelling my employment history has encouraged me to
shorten my "elevator pitch" so I can at least get that part of the
conversation over and done with quickly. My cover letter has seen
*many* shifts and improvements. I state upfront that I have zero
React experience because 99.999999% of tech companies want someone
with 18 years of experience with a four-year-old JavaScript
framework. I'm being facetious here but that requirement is
*ridiculous* for a fad. Writing CSS in JS? *GROSS*.
I redesigned my resume to put my skills upfront (responsive
front-end web design and development, yes I can design *and*
code), followed by projects that utilize those skills, and then
experience. As tired as I am of the bullshit companies put you
through in the hiring process, I'm sure companies deal with all
sorts of other bullshit too. I like to think my cover letter and
resume do a very good job of informing potential employers if I'm
a good tech fit. If not, no need to respond! Just keep it moving.
Getting me invested in the conversation, your company and product,
and then ignoring me?
*Maaaaan*, go *fuck* yourself. 🕸
P.S.
When I eventually hire people for my own company I'm reading this
post every week to remind myself that applicants aren't just
numbers or Post-Its on a board, they are people with feelings and
expectations that they will be replied to in a timely manner
because they have life and responsibilities to deal with.
P.P.S.
This post has garnered more interest than I thought it would on
HackerNews[4]. You can read varying viewpoints ranging from those
who've been in this situation and are employers doing MUCH better
than the ones I've outlined in this post, to people who are just
plain dismissive of myself and others like me. It's a pretty good
read regardless, I love discourse.
References
[1] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness>
[2] </WM-024>
[3] </WM-023>
[4] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16127697>
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