from Hacker News

Job Has 685 Applicants

by Lk7Of3vfJS2n on 7/3/23, 1:42 PM with 2 comments

https://weworkremotely.com/remote-jobs/toggl-database-reliability-engineer-2

I wish job postings and application tracking systems showed the number of applicants in a position. Then I would know if it's worth putting time into applying or if it's a waste of time.

I want job application software to show more info about what's going on.

  • by chiefalchemist on 7/3/23, 1:57 PM

    It wouldn't hurt to know. But what you really need a sense of is the quality of the applicants.

    At least for contractors, for the type of work that I do, I'll hear "We got hundreds of applicants and all but a dozen were not even close." We've all done it. Apply for something we're not quite ready for. Multiple that by the internet and for any given opening there is a steady and significant amount of noise.

    So you're not only up against the good, you have to stand out from the bad and the ugly as well. Make sure your CV is prepared for all there. To that point, your CV isn't for finding a job. It's for getting interviews.

  • by mtmail on 7/3/23, 2:14 PM

    Years ago I've been on the receiving end of applications. One hard requirement was "has to have a work permit to work in country $X". Over 100 CVs right in the virtual /dev/null for not meeting that requirement. I can only imagine with full-remote there is even more noise. In this year's Google Summer of Code we saw the first cover letters written by ChatGPT, utterly unqualified students not even mentioning the job. I'm no longer impressed seeing high applicant numbers.