
Ask HN: What's the best way to apply for jobs privately? - Euroment
You don&#x27;t want a current employer to think you&#x27;re about to jump ship. What do you do?
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JSeymourATL
Make a habit of meeting people in the morning for coffee. So if you come in a
little late, it's normal.

Attend evening meet-ups and industry events, happy hours-- great for
networking with insiders.

Finally, keep ALL communication / surfing on your personal device.

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twobyfour
Find a good recruiter.

Make a practice of taking the occasional personal day / mental health day even
when happily employed and not looking.

~~~
Euroment
how do you find a good recruiter?

i'm usually not a big fan of recruiters. they spam everyone, and are
reminiscent of con artists.

~~~
twobyfour
Yeah, there are a lot of bad ones out there. The best way I know is through
networking. Chances are that someone in your network has worked with a good
recruiter; or worked with someone they liked who was incidentally hired
through a recruiter.

If you're sifting through recruiter spam, pay attention to which ones are
talking about opportunities that are relevant to you and why. I keep an email
folder just for messages from recruiters - it helps me keep a pulse on what
people are looking for. And if I do start looking it becomes a) a well of
potential recruiters to work with, and b) a training set for my own neural
network (aka brain) to work out how the best and worst are communicating.

Let's take a look at this month's spam so far. I'm a full stack developer
slash engineering manager in NYC with almost 20 years of experience in web
development mostly in PHP and Python. The recruiter who just sent me a mid-
level front-end opening is toast. So is the one who sent me a senior opening
on .Net. And the one who sent an opening in Cincinnati. And the one who asked
me to send HIM names of good candidates for his opening.

The one who sent me an opening similar to what I'm doing now, but with a 50%
pay raise might get an email back if I happen to be looking. So might the one
who sent me a VPE opening. Both personalized their messages to reflect
specific details of my profile - which means they actually read it and didn't
just mail merge me into a spray-and-pray mailing. And they're not just trying
to fill an opening with a body who matches qualifications but also putting
consideration into how the candidate might want to _advance_ in their own
careers.

After speaking further with them, I may or may not end up working with either.
I already have a recruiter I like who found my current position, and working
with more than one recruiter at a time if you're already working full time
gets to be exhausting. (Heck, juggling 3 or 4 when you're between jobs can be
a full time job if they've got robust pipelines.)

Good luck!

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vfulco
Go to some social/private/kids event at school for half a day and dress up in
a suit. Wear it back to the office. Perceptive people/managers will start to
worry. Works every time.

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chatmasta
Isn't this answering the opposite question of what the OP asked? He does _not_
want his managers to know he's pursuing another job.

Then again, maybe Poe's law applies.

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imhoguy
Take a day off and let them think. And why you want to jump ship? Have you
tried to express the issues and renegotiate?

~~~
bradknowles
So, now no one can ever take a day off, lest their manager think that they are
interviewing somewhere else?

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mickelsen
What's wrong with you? (Because of this and the other reply) The suggestions
are pretty standard and could be for a myriad of reasons other than seeking a
new employer. Besides, how do you think it works for most people when they
switch jobs?

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stckyfngrs
Take a "sick" day.

~~~
chris__butters
This really doesn't work, I've taken a few "sick" days but to be honest, we
are that quiet sometimes that nobody even notices if I'm not there

