I agree that an HR drone scanning for keywords is not good (though some are better than others).
The most savvy candidates, however, tend to skip the step where you throw your resume into a giant vat with the others and hope for the best. Isn't it still the case that most jobs are filled using references and professional networks?
No, not at truly large companies -- Amazon could never fill its halls with just references and such.
Even at smaller companies, however, there's some pushback to network hiring because it isn't particularly great for getting a diverse pool of talent.
To be honest, though there are a lot of dangers with this sort of thing, I am a fan. End of the day, engineers should be great engineers, not great at hacking the job finding process.
there's some pushback to network hiring because it isn't particularly great for getting a diverse pool of talent.
I'd be surprised if random resumes are really that much more diverse than network hiring. Consider principles like the Erdos number[1] -- the collaborative distance between groups of people in similar fields is strikingly small. I bet, a company with a reasonably large development staff (50 people) is probably no more than 2-degrees separated from 99% of the talent pool in a given region.
Just about every position I've looked at was with a company where a former colleague works.
Comments
I agree that an HR drone scanning for keywords is not good (though some are better than others).
The most savvy candidates, however, tend to skip the step where you throw your resume into a giant vat with the others and hope for the best. Isn't it still the case that most jobs are filled using references and professional networks?
No, not at truly large companies -- Amazon could never fill its halls with just references and such.
Even at smaller companies, however, there's some pushback to network hiring because it isn't particularly great for getting a diverse pool of talent.
To be honest, though there are a lot of dangers with this sort of thing, I am a fan. End of the day, engineers should be great engineers, not great at hacking the job finding process.
I'd be surprised if random resumes are really that much more diverse than network hiring. Consider principles like the Erdos number[1] -- the collaborative distance between groups of people in similar fields is strikingly small. I bet, a company with a reasonably large development staff (50 people) is probably no more than 2-degrees separated from 99% of the talent pool in a given region.
Just about every position I've looked at was with a company where a former colleague works.
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s_number