Musing 64

Each spring, I try to keep my interviewing skills sharp by interviewing for new positions myself, and if I found a better job, even better!

But to echo what everyone else is seeing, there’s a rise in ghost jobs where you apply, and don’t even so much as get an acknowledgement email. Then half the time you get an interview, the interview itself is a nightmare of either the most niche things (to draw examples from my own experience - “how do you use aspect oriented programming to do logging”, or the quintessential “what kind of sort do you use most often” type questions) with minimal questions about what you’ll use day to day, or interview questions so basic that despite the position being a senior position, I leave feeling insulted by feeling like I was being treated as a junior.

On the flip side of this, I’ve run interviews for probably 2 dozen people the last couple years. And while it doesn’t get rid of my frustration, it also puts it in a better context.

Just in the last year and a half, I’ve interviewed 4 people who could not outperform my toddler. Despite having (on paper) multiple years of experience. It’s frustrating. Then there’s the people who are legitimately skilled. . . but use AI to BS their resume and make themselves appear to have expertise they do not. It is depressing to run interview after interview like that. And that doesn’t account for the 1 guy I’m still convinced was a nation-state actor trying to get hired (no video on the remote, accent didn’t match the region he was in, despite all work experience being in-person, local positions, among several other signs).

To be honest, despite it being a clear sin, I find myself with sympathy for many of the people who applied. This job market is horrific, and I too desperately want to provide for my family. And a job, even if just to get your foot in the door goes a long way.

I fear the direction things are going. I want to see a better world for my child and with how things are going, I see hard times ahead.

I pray that God grant us mercy and reprieve from the hard times, but I suspect that His discipline is what we really need.