Clojurians Log v2
jobs-discuss 2026-08-22
Job hunting right now is kind of depressing, really. I applied to a job; they auto-answered me to schedule an interview. It's with an AI agent, full package - including the praise for every stupid thing I say, like "Amazing, that shows solid Docker knowledge and you know your way around; now, let's talk about..." - it's honestly sickening, how dehumanized I felt. And then, at the auto-answer, there's an e-mail address that I can send my questions. It bounces with "invalid address". Then, everything broke - like, my interview was uploaded, but I still receive reminders to the interview, with a link that only shows "you already completed this step, we'll call you back". Now, I applied with another company - the exact same pattern, up to the e-mail not working.
If you cultivate the jungle you get a couple of extremely good yields. But then it becomes the same as everything else. I always say to myself that we're in this "first two yields stage". But who knows. Let's hope they find their perfect ATS candidate. A person who knows their prompts. A perfect actor.
that's awful, i'm sorry to hear that
This second one had an option to reject the AI chat and ask for a human. I will probably be rejected by the company by pressing that button, but I think I value my dignity more 😄
about 1.5y ago I was working in a job where I tried to move to another internal position. They've put me through this AI questionaire and when I read the ToS and asked if they force to upload my data somewhere they said they didn't.
but I think I value my dignity moreThe interview began when you saw the job post, not when you started filling the ATS questions in. The interview is also interview if YOU want to work there. If they make a button like in "talk to support agent" chats and it doesn't work then it will be the same inside of the company too. I.e. if you'll want to talk to your manager you'll see this same button: "talk to this agent; or click this button to talk to a human"
I posted it into LinkBook and got some likes from CEOs: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7496764041294405632/
I just started a new gig, and consequently ended last round of search. Depressing, but a different flavour for me. Mostly (skipping the usual, high number of applications falling into the void) I found my interactions slow. And I mean way, way sloower than usual, in particular for permanent roles. I have the impression many recruiters are there to perform the abstract task of searching candidates with no real need to hire. You clearly see quickly when there's some actual need&urgency, you get a real conversation with a human that talks things that makes basic sense! 😃 As often happens, I still get now replies for applications triggered weeks or 1-2 months ago. Unsure if this depends on geography or market but I did not get many AI interviews, the few I stumbled on that went in that direction also smelled super-strongly of scam hence I avoided them. I also got an unusual amount of recruiters (usually based in India) with no sense of local geography, eg I'm in London area and they approached me with you should really check this role that is perfect for your profile! 4 days in an office in Sheffield. I have personally nothing against Sheffield, and I understand that Indian long distances are way longer than Brit ones, but still... PS: unfortunately, no Clojure also this time around 😭
Yeah, I've been feeling the same about the job market. There are many recruiters, they often send the same job description and are not allowed to tell you the company, although some bypass that and end up telling you the company behind. The bad part is you get a call with them, they ask you the same boring questions they'll just forward, and never ever hear of them again. I have been told that they will keep me updated even if the application doesn't proceed at any step. I just try to ignore recruiters now. Probably the problem underneath is that there's lots of people without a job due to layoffs 🤷♂️.