
Show HN: Applying for jobs? Manage all your interviews in one place - ohsik
https://afterinterview.com/
======
WestCoastJustin
How do you plan on making money? My concern would be that you need to be
extremely upfront about what data you're collecting and if you're selling it
back to these companies whom the person interviewed with (even if anonymized).
This is a _very_ personal exchange between an employee and employer that could
have significant impact on employment negotiations. For example, I might not
want employer A, knowing that I'm also interviewing with employer B/C/D,
unless I choose to use it for negotiation. This could be used to target folks
into lower paying jobs if they don't have prospects, multiple offers, etc.

I'm not trying to be harsh here or blow up your idea. Maybe it's a totally
free app. I'm not sure. But, if you are selling user data, you could be
inadvertently increasing companies bargaining power through hidden knowledge
of what someone is doing too. If a company uses this added data on me, and
gets me to take an offer that's 30k less per year, and I stay there 4 years,
that ends up costing me 120k over 4 years (30k*4y) all for using an interview
note taking app.

~~~
ohsik
Thank you for the comment! To be honest with you, I didn't expect to get this
much traction but that's something I have been thinking about a lot lately for
the future of the product. I'm still not sure the exact path of monetizing the
product yet but I know I want After Interview to help people to get the job
they want rather than selling data to companies.

Currently, companies can claim their company pages but exchange for uploading
a company logo, description and maybe job listing.

~~~
rjpr
On your FAQ page you say "This will require a monthly subscription fee for
companies".

What does the company get in exchange for the monthly subscription fee?

~~~
strken
You could use the fact that a candidate has been verified to have interviews
at a FAANG to let other tech companies poach them. Maybe a footer saying "Have
you considered ACME Corp? (sponsored)" with a bidding system based on where
they're interviewing or have interviewed.

Would HN consider that an invasion of privacy?

~~~
tylerhou
Not a violation of privacy if you get the users’ consent first. And I’m sure
that there are people who would actually want this as a service.

------
kanyethegreat
I swear that I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but can someone help me
understand what's so spectacular about this? I don't understand why it got so
many upvotes. How is this more than a list view of companies you've applied
to? The company can send a decision through the app, but how is that better
than them just sending an email? If this app resulted in feedback being given
at a higher frequency, I could see the value add, but most companies don't
give feedback for liability reasons. Legitimately curious why anyone cares
about this. What am I missing?

~~~
Secretmapper
I completely agree with you. I couldn't believe the description, that I had to
go to the FAQ to confirm what actually happens is what was described - a link
companies can use to review. How is this better than email?

I mean I wish success and everything but I just can't see anyone bothering
using it.

------
justboxing
> Interview feedback - Give interview feedback to your interviewer and get
> feedback back.

I'd be very surprised (and impressed) if any interviewer gives honest feedback
on the interview, in writing (via the app), esp. in cases where candidate was
rejected / didn't receive an offer.

Cos that would have a discrimination lawsuit written all over it. HR and/or
Recruiters also never gives candid feedback for the same reason. Because if
they do, someone will eventually sue the company for discrimination.

Ex: The most common cookie cutter response for rejection based on ageism is
"We really loved you, but unfortunate there wasn't a cultural fit."

~~~
devmunchies
I got clear feedback from Google, Box, and Clearbit about what they didn’t
like about the on-sites in my last job search 2 months ago.

At google I did bad in one of the technical questions (they told me which),
box said I didn’t seem excited about the company (true), and Clearbit said I
wasn’t able to implement a simple solution to a complex problem (because I was
forced to use ruby and was rusty).

~~~
mattnewton
That’s very suprising to me; I have given interviews at Google and Apple and
they really drilled into my head that giving any feedback about performance
was left to the recruiter, and any response no matter how germane it sounded
could open up the company to lawsuits. That kind of answer was exactly what we
were told we could not give.

~~~
marcell
I think when companies give feedback it is a recruiter or HR person doing it,
and they are more aware of what could be lawsuit bait. I think companies want
to avoid having engineers give the feedback, but are ok having HR do it.

------
css
I just made a spreadsheet I added to over time to track this type of stuff for
myself. It is interesting to see the process in a graph [0]. Would be really
interesting to see this data aggregated for industries or specific positions.

[0] [https://i.imgur.com/NnzXT6K.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/NnzXT6K.jpg)

~~~
duiker101
Wow that's a lot of applications. I am actually shocked. How come? Are you not
getting the jobs or are you striving for the perfect position? Were all those
applications hand crafter for each position?

~~~
ryanklee
His numbers track closely to mine when I had only an unrelated career behind
me.

300~ applications. ~25 actual rejections. ~15 phone interviews. ~5 onsites. ~1
accepted.

It felt both necessary and successful, considering the junior dev market is
flooded and treacherous.

~~~
docker_up
When I last applied for jobs, I had ~20 years experience. I was 8 for 10 after
the phone screen, and 4 offers out of 8 onsites. I didn't apply to a single
company, I just responded to recruiters reaching out for me, and I arranged
all my phone screens and onsites within a 6 week window. I'm planning on
changing jobs next June, so I already have about 5 recruiters ready to contact
me around April of 2019.

------
aphextron
Has anyone else had a hell of a time finding a job in SF lately? It seems like
there is so much competition now I literally can't even get an in-person
interview. It's a total shift from 5 years ago when people were begging you to
come in after a quick phone screen. Now it's nothing but automated responses
with Triplebyte quizzes and getting ghosted.

~~~
paxy
I haven't felt this at all. What companies are you applying to? How much
experience do you have?

~~~
aphextron
>I haven't felt this at all. What companies are you applying to? How much
experience do you have?

Mostly mid-size startups. I have 5 years experience as a front end dev, but
being self taught with no degree I look pretty bad on paper.

It's never been a problem for me in the past, but it seems like the market for
mid-level self taught developers is drying up.

~~~
nbardy
I have the same qualifications as you. And the same struggle getting my foot
in the door. I used Triplebyte and it was fantastic. If you can pass their
interview it's worth doing.

~~~
paulgrant999
Why?

What actual benefits did you receive?

------
nstj
I’m a developer and also have a recruitment consultancy for engineers. Don’t
listen to what everyone says about monetisation, there are literally _dozens_
of ways you can make money from this.

Super awesome you’re getting so many upvotes! It seems like a very useful
product. I’ll aim to send some more detailed feedback from an industry
perspective separately.

Again - really nice work!

------
TarpitCarnivore
I have been doing this recently with AirTable using a template I got via
twitter thread:
[https://twitter.com/kwuchu/status/1032007263026864128](https://twitter.com/kwuchu/status/1032007263026864128)

I've found it helps me keep much better track and stay on top of where
everything is with recruiters.

------
mrleiter
Great idea! I guess you are open to input if you post here:

1) afterInterview is a bit of an ugly name. Maybe shorten it to afterview?

2) How do you intend to monetize? I can only think of what u/WestCoastJustin
said: data. But then you'd need to be more open about that in these days I
think, people are more suspicions, especially the one who are first-movers.

2a) if not data, make users pay for your services. Maybe on a monthly basis -
but you would need to implement that right away, bc later it'll be hard.

0) Good luck!

~~~
mikepurvis
Monthly payments has the same conflicted incentive issue that paid dating
sites have: success is ultimately the loss of a customer.

~~~
mrleiter
True! Never thought about that. Indeed conflicting.

------
philsnow
All my job searches have been fairly intensive, switching between a notes file
of some kind or a spreadsheet-alike and dozens of browser tabs (job req pages
for companies I'm interested in, tabs of research on each company, etc).

Conversely, whenever I'm trying to get real work done on my phone I feel like
I'm looking at and using the internet through a drinking straw. The interface
just doesn't have enough bandwidth.

However, maybe there's a crop of people who don't feel this way and actually
prefer phone apps? I'm definitely not going to tell these folks they're "doing
it wrong", but they're ignoring at least some segment of the market if they
only have a phone app.

~~~
mgkimsal
I have similar thoughts. Years ago I had a big job search, and over a few
weeks had more than 80 applications out - had a job posting page, some notes,
etc. I kept track in a spreadsheet, but it was bothersome.

Later when I start freelancing (years later) I put together a tool, wrapped it
in a dotcom - appliedto.com, then later a slightly more generic version -
outreachto.com. Wanted to do email 'send as', and got bit hung up on making
that work well (at the time, yahoo and web outlook were just PITA non-starters
- I've done a bit more with outlook now and it's a bit better).

I've considered revisiting this service, but could never quite figure out any
monetization. As others have mentioned, people who are looking for work are
often cash strapped (or at least more mindful). Making it in to a bit more a a
'job crm' maybe...? Freemium, with sample cover letters and templates?

What I needed this for was for keeping track of which versions of resumes I'd
sent to people, having multiple versions already written and uploaded, and
email templates that I could save and reuse.

I don't really want to be hijacking this thread, but... at the same time, any
feedback on these from the gallery would be appreciated. (and... no doubt
there's some security stuff I need to revisit soon - it's an older codebase).

------
rodolphoarruda
I believe the big challenge for any job seeker is to get the interview in the
first place. I'd love to see an app that could provide me with insights about
my resume, and how it stands against the type of job I'm looking for.

~~~
doodhwala
Jobscan ([https://www.jobscan.co/](https://www.jobscan.co/)) might be helpful.
It scores your resume based on a pasted job description.

------
sandGorgon
This is super-compelling.... if you can add a lightweight ATS on the other
side.

It is very hard for recruiters to remember all the people that they have
interviewed. But if you give them that functionality, you have the potential
to kill all the ATS out there by going from the interviewee side of things.

Kind of like Github for interviews!

~~~
soneca
That would be nice!

Candidates asking permission to audio record their interviews and upload on
the site as a portfolio. Recruiters listen to those interviews and can be much
more assertive on their recommendations!

------
flog
I've been noodling on this product idea for about 6 months now, but never
gotten around to building it. Drat, but congrats on doing it.

One killer feature I would propose is to help candidates weigh up multiple
offers; salary, equity, commute time, enjoyment, advancement, etc.

~~~
fhbdukfrh
Is that really a killer feature though? Seems more like a series of
conversations with those important people in your life vs. Some sort of
optimization algorithm.

And rather than have competition destroy your idea, take it as one data point
towards validation.

~~~
taude
And are people really getting that many offers that they have a hard time
deciding? Usually there's some chemistry with the company....

------
grogenaut
Wondering what companies from FANG give feedback. I am specifically not
allowed to give any for HR reasons. There are situations where it can be very
frustrating but it's what it is.

~~~
taude
Or, any company in general. We're not a FANG, and we don't give interviewees
feedback after they interview, even when they write us (as a hiring manager).
And our HR recruiters likely give an innocuously bane reason for not hiring
the person.

~~~
grogenaut
yeah I only said FANG because the examples were all FANG... but come to think
of it it's just common sense legally.

------
coolboy93290
Great idea. I am jealous. I thought of this exact same thing. The issue is:
how to make money? It is difficult to charge the broke job seeker [ironically,
it wont be the guy flush with offers using this app - it will be the guy
struggling]. On the other hand, it is difficult to charge the recruiters
unless you have the linkedin type volume. Even if you do, recruiters wont like
the quality since these interviewees are struggling so hard they need an app
to track failed interviews.

------
DataInSolutions
The app looks nice but I hate doing any kind of data entry on an app.

You might consider making a web based version, then it could be accessed on
desktop as well.

------
ultrasounder
Wait.How does one give feedback to the interviewer? Thought even as the
interviewee, getting post interview feedback is not your prerogative. Am I
missing something here. Also someone posted this a while back essentially for
the same purpose of tracking various interviews and
feedbacks[https://jobhound.io](https://jobhound.io)

------
r3vrse
Honest feedback: I don't see how this succeeds without integration with
existing applicant workflows. The cognitive overhead of another app to store
data, manually update status etc is high.

If e.g. Monster or Indeed launched this as a value-add to existing
functionality it would be big, but i'm not going to make the effort you're
asking for in isolation.

~~~
dabockster
I think this is geared more for the applicant than the employer. So ATS
integration really shouldn't be a priority.

------
mavilia
Any plans on adding an ability to import job applications? I would love to
switch to your product but unfortunately I already have a Google Sheets
document with about 60+ applied companies and 50 rejected. If there were a way
for me to at least import the company names that would make it easier to
switch.

------
antisthenes
Getting an interview is the biggest hurdle. I can usually count the number of
interviews with my fingers, at least from the companies I'd want to work for -
that is, it's usually under 5, most often 2-3, sometimes just 1.

Definitely don't need another login/app to manage them.

~~~
Aeolun
I see you are in a luxury position.

------
ohsik
Thank you all for the comments and upvotes! I really appreciated it! Didn't
really expect this to happen at all lol.

I will come back tonight to answer all your questions but my lunch break is
over and I need to go back to work rn :)

------
dzwillia
Interesting idea!

I'm also curious about the business model here. It seems like if you were to
aggregate a certain set of metrics and then have each use rate each company
for a given position, you could put together some sort of metric which might
be useful a) to the companies that are doing the interviewing and/or b) to
other folks that are applying for the same position.

Curious to see where you go with this...

------
austincheney
I find this to be a rather strange idea.

If I want feedback on my interview then I simply contact the interviewer and
ask for feedback.

When interviewing with many places simultaneously the only differentiator that
has determined job acceptance is the speed with which an offer letter was
presented after the interview and the employer benefits.

------
hk__2
Some feedback: \- you should use a link in your confirmation email; nobody
wants to copy/paste a confirmation code from an email. \- why do I have to
give my first and last name just to list my interviews? \- location would be
helpful. I’m in France; I don’t really care about the response rate of US
companies

------
sizzle
Seems like Microsoft Excel or Google sheets does the same job or am I missing
something here?

~~~
puranjay
So many apps just seem like Excel with a better UI.

------
toyg
Dude,

1) how do I delete my account? Pretty sure GDPR won't like not having a button
for it.

2) you should probably test the UI a bit more with different settings. The top
buttons, on my iphone 6s with bold text enabled, don't fit on one line.

------
tandles
Hey, let’s chat about this. I built a product that is related/similar!

------
the_clarence
I need the same stuff but for managing agents and apartments I’m looking at.

Creating these kind of tools are really good ideas for disrupting the markets.
Because once you get the users you get everything.

------
tozeur
This honestly seems so overkill. Just use a spreadsheet?

------
bmarch
“See what companies give interview feedback to their candidates for last 30
days”

This should be ‘gave’ or ‘have given’ instead of ‘give’.

------
Improvotter
Tbf, are there many people who use their phone for applying to jobs? Why not a
desktop app? What as your thought process?

~~~
Woofles
While you're probably correct right now, one way that he could begin
monetizing it is becoming a recruiting platform that's largely phone based. I
think more and more people are moving towards doing most things on mobile
platforms, so why not job interviews?

------
ratiolat
I tried to to use the app but cannot, since it does not accept my e-mail
address which contains a + sign

------
michaelchris
It can't accept email address that does not end with .com. My email address
ends with .space.

------
nil_pointer
Great idea for an app, not sure how you can make money with this though.

------
tixocloud
Side note: very nice graphics. Where did you have them designed?

------
tandles
Yo. Let’s chat about this. I’ve built something very related!

------
tixocloud
Side note: very nice graphics. Where did you design them?

------
arthurofbabylon
Stay focused through the next economic recession.

------
asien
Would love to use this , but I’m sure this is one those many rushed
applications with the startup mentality.

Personal and Senstitive data is probably stored in a totally unencrypted
manner and developers have unrestricted access to production.

We’ve seen what happens in terms of security when you give something like
Firebase to startups « developers »[0]

Love the concept , but I Care more about privacy.

[0]
[https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/252443616/Unprote...](https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/252443616/Unprotected-
Firebase-databases-leaked-over-100-million-records)

~~~
rpedela
Do you have evidence or are you just being unnecessarily unkind?

~~~
sanderjd
I wouldn't be so blunt as the parent, but I think their comment demonstrates
something that would be foolish to ignore if you're a potential business
founder: credibility matters, and SaaS has a major credibility problem when it
comes to personal data protection. If you're collecting personal data - and
especially if you are targeting a market that is particular aware of how
widespread data beaches are - it would behoove you to include your data
protection approach in your sales pitch.

~~~
nerdponx
Honestly I'm not so sure. People apparently use Grammarly.

------
nukleosome
looks good but it's worrying it got approved by apple/app store (and some
users) without a privacy policy

------
forgotmypw
Can you explain which part of your website requires JavaScript so much as to
make it inaccessible to those browsing with JS disabled?

~~~
newuser6969
Seconded. I appreciate javascript unnecessary sites. Although, if something
really requires js im okay with it. Theres some demos i have on my personal
site that straight uo require js which i think is fine

------
MotwaniSuhas
hirepool.io is pretty good too

------
m1cl
why should I give them my data?

------
m1cl
SCAM

------
decebalus1
Show HN: Selling shovels in a gold rush

------
xor_ax_ax
Initial dating ought to be managed similarly... meet lots of people and filter
down from there.

