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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3454 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for March 1, 2023

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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Last week I applied for a position I'm underqualified for via LinkedIn. I applied on a whim for two reasons:

  1. EasyApply means it took all of 30 seconds to send in. Low barrier to entry + plus alcohol = wtf not?

  2. Ten seconds on Google told me the company's primary business was well-afield of what they'd be hiring me for. I'm in a niche field that a lot of HR types don't really understand and make up wild job requirements for, i.e. 5 years of experience using a toolkit that was only invented 6 months ago. Because you have to get through the HR gremlins to deal with the people who actually do the technical interviews, I generally don't feel bad checking "yes" for non-cert requirements I don't have. Everyone's trying to buy a Bentley at Kia prices and we'll all settle on an upmarket Honda in the end.

Fast forward to this morning and I get the initial screening interview email. Turns out the company I applied to is a start-up with an almost identical name to the one that popped up on Google. Aforesaid start-up is also being run by someone with some actual pull/clout/influence/whatever in my field. And that individual is the one conducting the initial screening call. (I did a little more digging and called around to confirm this isn't a scam and it isn't.) I'm not sure how to feel about this.

Point: I got the interview through misrepresentation. This isn't an interview with an HR gremlin who's ticking boxes, this is a screening with someone who knows their shit and very likely knew exactly what they were looking for. Is it ethical for me to burn 30 minutes of this person's time?

Counterpoint: On the other hand, if this person is doing the interview, it's fair to think they have read my resume, right? Some of the easiest flags to screen for, namely years of experience, is pretty easy to derive just glancing over my resume. So if this person read my resume and is still wants to do a quick phone call, that must mean they must see something worth at least exploring, right?

Counter-Counterpoint: This start-up probably doesn't have any organic HR gremlins but that doesn't mean the CEO isn't using some other HR gremlins to screen everything. There's a good chance the CEO just aid "Find me X" and the out-sourced HR gremlins said "Post the template for X on LinkedIn."

Counter-Counter-Counterpoint: This person probably going to interview dozens of candidates for this position. 30 minutes of his time really isn't that much in the grand scheme of things.

There really isn't a point to any of this, I'm just posting this here to keep from spinning out too badly.

Is the job worth the risks, and can you afford the fallout if this goes sideways? If yes, go for it, and be honest (or not, can't force you). If not, send them a email that you aren't interested in the position anymore.

I can probably afford the fallout. While this individual has clout, they can't blackball me from the entire industry. (From what I've read about them, they aren't really the kind of person to do so anyway.) Right now I'm thinking I take the initial interview and just lay my cards on the table at the beginning. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I reckon.

How did you misrepresent yourself? Doesn't EasyApply send your linkedin profile too?

I said I had 10 years of experience with a particular subject. I have anywhere between 7-9, depending on how strict your definition of experience is.

"got the interview through misrepresentation" and "burn 30 minutes of this person's time" implied something much more severe and obvious, like - "job's for experienced java developer, i kinda know javascript". If 10 vs 7-9 years experience was the main ""misrepresentation"", variation in job performance from skill/intelligence/character is quite a bit more than any difference in experience from three more years, you could easily be a good fit.

you only have 7-9 years when it requires 10, and this concerns you? I get that it's an actual nerd (,who might be similarly autistic) you're dealing with and not an HR gremlin, but come on.

That's an excessive degree of scrupulosity you're exhibiting. Go for it with zero guilt. Pretend your time studying at uni counts as "experience" if you must.

Please let us know how this goes!

Remind me on the next Wellness Wednesday.

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