Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Let me just give my perspective. I just hired a junior software developer for a small company in NYC (I own a very small piece of the company). I wanted someone with a B.S. in computer science, a little relevant experience with Java, and good soft skills (organized, punctual, good communication skills, works well with others). The job paid $70K with full benefits and equity potential, so it is a good position for a recent graduate.
$70K in NYC is not really a good salary for a software developer, not even with little experience.
The truth is that most employers have no clue how to determine whether or not an applicant is qualified the job, so employers really don't have grounds to say they can't find qualified workers.
The truth is that most employers have no clue how to determine whether or not an applicant is qualified the job, so employers really don't have grounds to say they can't find qualified workers.
That's hardly the truth. I guarantee you that I know how to identify qualified candidates for my firm.
The truth is that most employers have no clue how to determine whether or not an applicant is qualified the job, so employers really don't have grounds to say they can't find qualified workers.
I have actually seen this a few times. HR writing these job descriptions that are way off.
For example, our lab was looking for a forensics computer expert. The downside to this job is sometimes you will be exposed to things like underage pornography, which of course is very disturbing to most people. Anyways, the write up this job description, and make it sound NOTHING like what the job entails. We get people to interview, and AT the interview when this is mentioned, we had applicants say "this was not in the job description, I am not interested at all, I wish this had been told to me sooner" and walked out.
Luckily there were a few people who interviewed who understood what the job entailed despite HR's blunder. And that wasn't the only time I've seen HR screw up.
$70K in NYC is not really a good salary for a software developer, not even with little experience.
No, it's not a good salary. But it apparently includes equity "potential", although you can bet it's non-voting equity, which basically leaves the employee's equity at the hands of other people.
In 15 years as a hiring manager of various levels in technology, I've heard about every shtick there is. The startups offering equity shares always talk like captains of Silicon Valley, and demand nothing less than the finest people at cut rate prices, but of course, with the promise of piles of money at a later date.
I'm not saying it's true for this guy's offer, but it's true across the industry. In almost every case, a person is better off holding out for prevailing market salary rather than taking a job with the "potential" for future earnings via equity shares. A few people get rich that way, but in general, most would be better off financially in the long run, having more money today instead of the small chance of getting a lot more money in the future.
What about the employers for non-technical jobs claiming no suitable candidates? Like retail.
I know people who have years of experience in retail and when they apply for those jobs now they must pass those stupid tests on the computer. You know the ones: there are no "right" answers but if you don't answer it the way we want we will just purge your application and resume out of the system and no manager will ever see it.
So the people with the relevant experience don't do well on these dumb tests and are never considered for the job.
If these employers are as dumb as they sound we are in for some more rough economic times.
I remember applying at a temporary agency right out of college. The last couple of years at college I worked two part-time jobs while going to school full-time (one job was on campus and one was a retail job on evenings and weekends).
The interviewer simply could not understand the concept of working two jobs at the same time (plus going to school full-time). She kept telling me I filled out the application wrong, that my jobs overlapped. I explained to her the situation but it was completely over her head. She never did get it.
I know people who have years of experience in retail and when they apply for those jobs now they must pass those stupid tests on the computer. You know the ones: there are no "right" answers but if you don't answer it the way we want we will just purge your application and resume out of the system and no manager will ever see it.
So the people with the relevant experience don't do well on these dumb tests and are never considered for the job.
So these assessments should only be for people without experience? How would you propose they set up the system to do that? Do you think that would have any potential legal ramifications?
If anything the people with experience should do better, most of the retail specific assessments I have seen have been largely situational judgment, where they give you a common retail situation (ie you are dealing with a customer and another customer comes up and interrupts you and says they are in a hurry, what would you do?) IMO someone trained in retail with years of retail experience should be more likely to choose the most appropriate response than someone without any experience.
These assessments should be for noone they are total junk science written by some botttom tier unemployed psychology majors and marketed to desperate employers as the cure for bad hires. The only thing these tests measure is whehter or not the candidate is smart enough or well prepared enough to decode what the employer wants to hear.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
but if you don't answer it the way we want we will just purge your application and resume out of the system and no manager will ever see it.
