

Hiring Challenges Shouldn't be Limited to Developers - ryanb
http://seatgeek.com/blog/hiring/hiring-challenges-shouldnt-be-limited-to-developers

======
droithomme
The statement, "an applicant must “hack” into our backend to drop their
resume. As a result, we don’t get distracted by unqualified candidates" is
interesting.

In particular, equating those who don't have web site hacking skills with
"unqualified candidates" is quixotical given this is a position for a site for
purchasing concert and arena tickets, and is not work circumventing site
security.

~~~
barry-cotter
I imagine that the "security" is pretty toothless, but entirely adequate to
keep out cargo cult programmers or others without abstract knowledge of web
technologies and a problem solving mindset. It's less a security test than an
autmated version of Fizzbuzz that good candidates are less likely to find
insulting.

~~~
tmp1234123
just went through the application for shits and giggles (didn't attach
anything personal), and yeah it's pretty much what you said, imo a good filter
test

------
vsprabhakara1
We did something very similar to hire our designer with Fanvibe (now we're
with beRecruited.com) - we ran a normal job post, then asked everyone to
submit a rough mock-up of a mobile site design for Fanvibe in addition to
their resume and portfolio. We quickly got to three top options out of 100,
interviewed those 3 and hired a designer who is amazing and still works with
us. I'm a big believer in "real-world" challenges before hiring someone

EDIT: We likely would have not even interviewed our top 3 choices based on
resume / portfolio alone

~~~
epicureanideal
This is the kind of thing that would screen me out for sure. If you want a
mock up for a site design I'm going to get the impression you're trying to
"hire" 1000 unpaid designers. Unless you're talking about a 1 hour job, in
which case you're getting something pathetic, this is just abuse by the
potential employer. Further, you probably hired the 3 worst guys because they
probably put in 50 hours on what should be a 1 hour design because they're so
desperate for a job (further indicated by the fact that this ridiculous
requirement didn't make them look elsewhere). That's also probably why it
didn't match up with their resumes.

------
ig1
While most of this is fine, you shouldn't use the work candidates produce as
you risk falling into a huge legal quagmire involving IP rights, employment
law and exclusivity contracts.

------
biot
Clever hack... you're gaming the job application process to receive free PR
for your company from aspiring applicants who are doing pro bono work. All
that free advertising essentially done by an army of interns working on spec,
who hope to be the one winner who is offered employment. One downside is that
if enough people are applying earnestly, Google could think you're a content
farm. :)

------
burrokeet
maybe the best candidate would be the one who hacked into their blog and and
added a few thousand votes to their own post...

having said that, i'm not sure i would want to do business with a company with
a hackable backend at all...

~~~
acslater00
It's a fake backend that we wrote specifically for the purpose of being
"hacked" by job applicants. It's more of a puzzle than an actual system hack.

------
skylan_q
Wasn't able to figure it out. :( Any hints?

~~~
freemarketteddy
csrf!

