I had no idea it had gotten so bad. 4th of July was talking with my brother-in-law. His daughter just got some awesome job working for an insurance company (they do commercial insurance) and she had over EIGHT interviews she had to go through, which involved not one, but two days where she spent the day at the company.
I could not believe it takes companies and managers this much work to try and hire someone new. She was fresh out of college, and I was stunned that she stood in there and kept going back for the next interview.
As an aside, I've found the same thing at the very large corporation I work at. The company has made it all but impossible to move laterally to another team you might find interesting and to grow your skills. We have an internal job board and they have lengthy lists of requirements and if you don't meet every single one, you won't get a whiff of an interview. They seem more bent on more outsourcing and contracting at this point. So not only lateral movement is all about impossible, moving up is even harder for the same reason - they're only looking to hire unicorns that come from other FANG companies or on the similar order.
I can't remember a time when I was a developer I had so few people reaching out seeing if I was interested in roles at various companies. At the time I thought it was just a gold rush that seemingly never stopped, even when I thought it would. Even during C19, I still had recruiters contacting him asking me I was interested in remote contract work. Post C19 and everything has dried up. I'm not getting 10 emails from recruiters, I'm not seeing interesting or great roles anywhere that haven't already had 100 people apply. Everybody in my networks are just staying where they are and waiting out the storm so to speak - so no leads from that area either. I apply for a job here and there and never get a response or confirmation they've moved on.
It looks like the writing is finally on the walls that the party is over huh?
I'm not sure I agree that 8 interviews, including 2 all day on-sites, was ever regular for a new grad role. I haven't even come close to such a gauntlet. Does an employee need to round robin interview with every interviewee these days to get a good hire?
I wasn’t a new grad, but was a newish industry hire (couple years experience) and experienced that several times. Before and after the dot-com crash. It wasn’t atypical before the talent competition situation we had for 5-6 years pre-Covid.
It’s a confluence of several factors now:
- lots of stories of candidate fraud floating around (either bait and switch, lying about qualifications, “over employment”, etc.)
- much higher supply of talent due to layoffs and hiring slowdowns, and hence better negotiating position for employers. Previously the FAANGs were sucking up such a huge amount of talent, it left everyone else pretty desperate.
- strategic uncertainty around future market/financial/hiring situations, so companies are being a lot more conservative with what they commit to, and wanting a more ‘secure’ fit before they pull the trigger.
Same is happening in the dating market in some ways.
This had to have been only for FAANG companies right? I'm not saying it's unheard of, but I've done dozens of interviews and I've never had more than 1 all day on site. I'm not even sure anything else even justifies it in terms of time spent interviewing and compensation levels.
None of these were FAANG companies. This was long before FAANG was a term, btw.
FAANG companies, even 3-4 years after the dot-com crash, were 8 something hours - but over a single day, all at once. Grueling to put it mildly. Though lunch was in there too.
The other companies were pretty mellow comparatively, but did take longer.
The one I ended up working at (small no name company in the midwest), I flew out and spent 2 days interviewing and negotiating with.
I had no idea it had gotten so bad. 4th of July was talking with my brother-in-law. His daughter just got some awesome job working for an insurance company (they do commercial insurance) and she had over EIGHT interviews she had to go through, which involved not one, but two days where she spent the day at the company.
I could not believe it takes companies and managers this much work to try and hire someone new. She was fresh out of college, and I was stunned that she stood in there and kept going back for the next interview.
As an aside, I've found the same thing at the very large corporation I work at. The company has made it all but impossible to move laterally to another team you might find interesting and to grow your skills. We have an internal job board and they have lengthy lists of requirements and if you don't meet every single one, you won't get a whiff of an interview. They seem more bent on more outsourcing and contracting at this point. So not only lateral movement is all about impossible, moving up is even harder for the same reason - they're only looking to hire unicorns that come from other FANG companies or on the similar order.
I can't remember a time when I was a developer I had so few people reaching out seeing if I was interested in roles at various companies. At the time I thought it was just a gold rush that seemingly never stopped, even when I thought it would. Even during C19, I still had recruiters contacting him asking me I was interested in remote contract work. Post C19 and everything has dried up. I'm not getting 10 emails from recruiters, I'm not seeing interesting or great roles anywhere that haven't already had 100 people apply. Everybody in my networks are just staying where they are and waiting out the storm so to speak - so no leads from that area either. I apply for a job here and there and never get a response or confirmation they've moved on.
It looks like the writing is finally on the walls that the party is over huh?