Ask HN: We all know recruitment is broken. How can we fix it?

It's not a single problem. There are layers of perverse incentives. I also suspect that there are differences between geographical regions.

Recruiters operate as call-centres, staffed by salespersons with no real IT knowledge nor understanding of how technologies are actually used. The AI software recruitment companies use is no better than some keyword matching, scoring system.

To do technology recruiting well, the "consultants" need to be experienced in their field. But such people are unlikely to be motivated to cold-call, etc. I see it as a problem whose solution is to do things that don't scale.

There are definitely several layers here: - Approach - Process of application - Interviewing - Offer process

I guess I just wanted to rant in general about this entire flow.

Have you ever tried the `meritocracy based recruitment tests`? As in they send you some exercises to solve before they invite you to the interview?

I haven't tried MBRT. But I'm more a BA/PM contractor.

Totally agree with you that the process is broken. In my experience more during the early stages. What I have seen over the decades (yeah that long) is that the knowledge level of consultants has plummeted. Used to be that the consultant knew the candidate personally and was a true matchmaker on behalf of both parties. These days, it seems that consultants are just hammering away trying to reach their KPIs. More like off-shored call centers.

Companies don’t pay recruiters to send spam. Recruiters get paid for successfully finding a candidate and getting them hired for a job.

Recruiters play a numbers game. The more potential candidates they have in their database the better their chances of filing a job. People looking for jobs themselves often play a similar numbers game, applying to hundreds of jobs, and many online job boards play the same game, listing as many jobs as they can find (or scrape) and building an audience of job seekers.

We don’t all know that “recruitment is broken.” If you only see recruiters as a source of unwanted emails you might get that impression. But recruiters only need to place one person in the jobs they have to fill to succeed. Emails cost next to nothing. In fact recruiters can do very well if they provide value to companies who use them to recruit.

Perhaps I didn't mention all the reasons so its not just a matter of spam but: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20845802

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11580938

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20708026

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25298983

Funny that you posted a similar reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23123686

I agree that not everyone will find the process frustrating. My humble personal experience and at least 90% professionals around me says otherwise though.

You have illustrated that “hiring is broken” and “recruitment is broken” threads get posted on HN fairly often. A small sample from a small and possibly unrepresentative subset of job seekers.

I don’t question that maintaining a profile on LinkedIn or similar sites will lead to a lot of unsolicited recruiter email. I don’t have a LinkedIn account anymore, so that fixes the problem for me. I explained why that happens, I didn’t say it doesn’t happen.

The recruiting and hiring processes we see in the tech industry may not give the best results for anyone, and may have unwanted side-effects like spam. I tend to agree, which is why I have made similar comments before, and why I have advised not playing the numbers game to find a job.

In my experience good recruiters exist. You have to cultivate an actual relationship with competent recruiters, not just put a CV on LinkedIn and expect every recruiter to care about you and your preferences.

From the recruiters point of view I expect that the process is nearly perfect.

All you need is a cheap call centre, some pseudo keyword matching software, and employers willing to pay money. The product is of course the applicants (that's us).

Make it simpler to apply. Every time I click Apply on a LinkedIn job posting and it takes me to a Workday or Brassring portal to create an account, I immediately close the window.

If you want me to create an account and do a formal application during the interview stage, that's fine, but not before the resume review.

It cannot be fixed because it's an ego trip. HR wants to feel important, interviewers want to feel smart and the executives want to make a bargain.