
Proposed Who Is Hiring Spec - perspectivezoom
https://github.com/perspectivezoom/who-is-hiring-spec/blob/master/README.md
======
msvan
This is not going to work unless it is enforced by software running on the HN
servers. Many of the hiring posts are posted by non-hackers who don't give a
flying roomba about specs and correct formatting. The ideal format would be
something generated by a set of dropdowns and textareas, but then again, would
it still be HN?

~~~
dheera
For job-seeking engineers, it would be interesting to then write another
script that filters for only the posts in the correct formatting. This at
least gives some level of comfort that you're talking to hackers and not
sales/business people.

------
phantom_oracle
I really like this, but salaries should definitely be considered something
that could (optionally) be added as well.

I guess this is the HN way of turning a simple proposal by _dang_ (for
feedback) into an engineering problem where we try to solve:

============================================================

 _The optimal method of describing a job post where the utility of most users
/readers is, at least, mostly satisfied_

============================================================

:)

~~~
MCRed
I think salaries should be required-- if not by rule, then by convention.

Companies have been asking candidates to give their salary up front
("expectations" or "history") without ever justifying it when it's obviously
not in our best interest to do so...yet they do already have a budget for
these positions, so let us decide if we are in the range or not. (Rather than
applying for jobs which will never offer a salary commensurate with our
experience because we read the demand for high end skills and "salary
commensurate with experience"\-- and don't realize it's someone trying to
score a deal, and not really offering a market salary.)

------
MCRed
"Onsite" and "remote" are not sufficient, unfortunately. Remote should be
obvious, but a lot of companies say "remote" when they mean "you can work at
home a couple days a week"... rather than really remote. So we need a new word
for "work from home ok" thats distinct from "remote" (Which means "work from
another state ok" I don't mind employees requiring you to be in the same
country, but in the same state is a problem.)

------
adjwilli
Isn't this basic just a job listing micro format?
[http://microformats.org/wiki/job-listing](http://microformats.org/wiki/job-
listing)

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northisup
This spec isn't very human friendly. As a human this bothers me.

~~~
vcarl
Their explanation of a line break doesn't really explain why JSON or something
wouldn't work. Strip whitespace from input and it's basically the same.

------
e12e
I think breaking a bit from the current de-facto format would be better.
Consider the example:

==

Acme Products | Test Engineer | Las Vegas, NV; Austin, TX | Onsite; Remote |
Full-Time; Part-Time | Visa (H1B) | Tunnel Theory; Kinematics

Engineer needed to test prototype products. Must be able to lift and carry
anvils. metafriendly

==

The only real problem I've had with existing listings, is that people tend to
list both "remote" and "no-remote" \-- making search hard.

I propose moving those "tags" to "hash-tags", and just list them at the bottom
of the ad:

==

Acme Products | Test Engineer | Las Vegas, NV; Austin, TX

Engineer needed to test prototype products. Must be able to lift and carry
anvils. metafriendly

#on-site #full-time #part-Time

==

Note that the two are different; I don't see how you could work remotely
testing anvil-lifting... ;-)

At any rate, if we're talking about a new "spec", I'd say:

* Apart from position, and location, as little as possible on the first line.

* Replace the "text"-tags with "hash"-tags - #remote is easy to search for with text-search, and won't match #no-remote, No-remote -- and doesn't require regexp magic to match word-boundaries etc (which few (no?) browsers support anyway).

* Put the tags at the bottom -- they're really for searching (and machine parsing), with the amount of listings we are getting now -- no-one is reading just _your_ ad, they're reading a stream of ads.

* Don't go overboard with "hash"-tags. I'm not all that interested in seeing: mulitple-line lists of #python #ruby #haskell #c++ #dev-ops (...)

Now, if we _really_ want to over-engineer this thing, why not draw some
inspiration from the Dewy decimal system? So 001-234 could be 001:devops
2:python and bash 3:unix-like-and-windows-nt 4:remote-or-onsite ... ;-)

------
shawnps
Is there a way to be more clear about whether the company will apply for an
H1B for a candidate, as opposed to sponsoring an existing one? I have a lot of
friends who talk to companies that end up saying, "we only sponsor existing
visas."

~~~
kjackson
It is really, really hard to apply for an H1B for a candidate unless they just
graduated from college and are on OPT. If they are on OPT they basically have
2 chances to apply for an H1B. If you don't, then the employer would have to
apply on your behalf on April 1, with a coin-flip probability of getting one,
and even if they got one the employee couldn't start work until October 1.
That makes anything except an H1B transfer prohibitively risky and
inconvenient.

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purephase
The real answer, as many have tried to implement, is another site/tool
entirely. One that allows filtering, notifications etc.

Pretty easy to build, not so easy to get community engagement unless the HN
folks endorse it officially as an alternative.

~~~
brudgers
Another site probably won't solve the underlying problem that Who is Hiring
addresses - the problem of non-YC companies posting jobs on HN. Basically, Who
is Hiring provides an outlet for what would otherwise be spam. Move it off to
another site and then non-YC companies will still want to post on HN because
that's where the eyeballs are.

The companies posting in Who is Hiring aren't posting on HN because they have
no place else to post.

~~~
bbcbasic
A simple HTML form with options that then posts to that thread and formats
would solve the problem.

Then the post is still on HN and is formatted to the spec.

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beyti
The parameters will need to be extensible and this only kills the proposition
imho.

