My employer is currently spending a MASSIVE amount on recruitment globally, and we're still having a hard time hiring especially in California. We've got ads on every social media platform and job network, we've got booths at every career day and conference, we've hired extra recruiters on contracts AND subbed out to boat loads of 3rd party recruiters, and I'm pretty sure we've even started producing video ads for YouTube.
Our offers are pretty generous I would say, not FAANG levels but way above "average" + good bonuses. We're not a "bad" company to work for either - high staff retention (some are nearing 20 years), good Glassdoor feedback, really generous with the WFH equipment (we've all got more monitors than we know what to do with), and I would say we're an almost universally liked brand all over the world. And despite all this, so far this year in our team we've managed to hire 2 people for the 8 vacant spots (with 6 more spots over 12 months). I hear from other teams it's basically the same story, they're even getting people quitting one week before they start due to a slightly better offer.
tl;dr - I think there are still companies out there making obscene offers to some candidates, especially the senior and above tier ones. I wish they would stop because I'd also like to hire some people.
Most places don't pay FAANG money, hence why FAANG's are so popular and hard to get into.
EDIT: The more I think about this, the weirder this comment is. Did you not see the bit where I mentioned some staff have been around for 20 years? What kind of startup is more than 20 years old?
Our offers are pretty generous I would say, not FAANG levels but way above "average" + good bonuses. We're not a "bad" company to work for either - high staff retention (some are nearing 20 years), good Glassdoor feedback, really generous with the WFH equipment (we've all got more monitors than we know what to do with), and I would say we're an almost universally liked brand all over the world. And despite all this, so far this year in our team we've managed to hire 2 people for the 8 vacant spots (with 6 more spots over 12 months). I hear from other teams it's basically the same story, they're even getting people quitting one week before they start due to a slightly better offer.
tl;dr - I think there are still companies out there making obscene offers to some candidates, especially the senior and above tier ones. I wish they would stop because I'd also like to hire some people.