

Ask HN: Are tech job specifications detailed enough? - apfrancis

We’re a team of two well established software engineers looking at how we can improve the job hunting process for everyone.<p>We have a hypothesis, based on our experience as job seekers, that job specifications are often vague and uninformative. Sometimes key pieces of information are missing that prevent candidates from making an informed choice.<p>Currently we&#x27;re building an MVP, but we’d like to further validate the problem space by asking a couple of questions:<p>1) In general, do you find job specifications give enough detail about what the job actually involves and the skills required in order to do it?<p>2) Are you regular users of job boards, or do you tend to find work through other means? (referrals, company sites etc.)<p>If you&#x27;re interested in what we&#x27;re doing you can find out more at http:&#x2F;&#x2F;distl.io<p>Thanks for your time!
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PaulHoule
I think it is people's attitudes that matter more than "skills", and the
problem is not so much "finding" people, it is one of "keeping" them and
"using" them effectively.

For instance, I worked at a place that paid me a six figure salary, but
everybody said I was "not a team player" when I complained that the build
process took 40 minutes. Eventually I got it down to 20, but it was still a
meat grinder. Because the build process took for ever and often had to
repeated several times to make a release, and because we were doing an "agile"
process that required frequent releases, they complained that I was "slow". If
it was just the build system that would have been one thing, but everything
was like that.

They spent at least six months looking for my replacement.

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apfrancis
I agree that very often it is attitudes (willingness to learn, enthusiasm,
diligence etc.) that can set people apart over their skills.

The thing I've found when job hunting is that descriptions, especially from
job boards are missing items like the name of the company who will be
employing you, or where exactly they are based. I believe that this increases
the number of people who either don't apply because they believe they are not
a good fit for the role.

People apply for jobs in different ways of course, and for those who apply for
jobs directly (responding to a job posting on a company website) more than
likely does give you enough information to make an informed choice.

Where I think there's a disparity is on job boards (Monster and the like) who
often consume feeds of available jobs. Here is where I find there are issues.
Mainly caused by the fact that these specifications are often written by third
parties who are vying to hire for the same job. It is in their interest to be
vague so that candidates do not apply directly to the company they are
recruiting for.

In my opinion, there has to be a better way.

