What the crap is it with job applications and requiring freaking videos now?

I'm not some social butterfly that wants to be all friendly with everyone and a part of their goddamn lives. Give me a problem and/or some code and I'll happily make it work; give me an extrovert with a goddamn video call fetish and I'll fucking leave.

I'm an engineer, not your salaried girlfriend.

Another one? Where do you find these?

"Another one," @epse says. "That's the second one in two weeks," he thinks.

If only it had been just two.

At least this one asked some really nice questions. but the video is required, so. Rickroll it is.

@root
So feeling with you.
What are we, some fucking insta end time consumers?!
Fuck their shit!

@epse
Seen this on Henkel procurement I think. And IBM maybe.

Anyways. I believe this being a tool to test whether you're willing to sell your soul and privacy to any potential corporation.
Will not bend to this shit.
Climb up the career ladder and step in higher position, where batshit ain't needed no more.

To me personally such measures are a corporations signs of desperation.

@rutee07 I've been paranoid ever since picture-in-picture was a thing. I'm already very self-conscious, and seeing myself in the video call just exacerbates that.

The complete lack of any followup interviews lately has totally made that worse, too... >.>; I seem to ace the interviews, so I'm beginning to question if it's something else making them reject me. sigh.

@Root
Don't know your location but in France, applications are anonymous by law.
Ever since, I dream just doing so in Germany.

@scor completely anonymous? As in the employer can’t even meet the prospect for a coffee or anything beforehand?

@52cal
No picture, name. Not sure about gender.
Intentions were to abolish adresses.

In Germany, ALDI at least allows applying by variable gender.

@Root Nothing is wrong with you, don't worry. The bird is probably the one scaring those cunts away. (Which isn't a bad thing in itself, considering how crappy they all seem.)

Totally going to rickroll them tomorrow. 🙂

"I think I'm a great fit because I'm...

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you"

@rutee07 It's beautiful!

Well, I also wouldn't like video applications, it's just goofy and unnecessary.

On the other hand, a good software engineer does need to be a good teammate and a strong communicator so the "just give me a problem" argument doesn't stand

@scor It's not, it was at test for a time but ultimately it was canceled in 2015 if I remember well

@Root

> if it's something else making them

> reject me. sigh.

Find out what the companies current 'Affirmative Action' group is, and become a member.

Related link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

https://vimeo.com/241763828

> Cover Letter

this still astonishes me, i never ever heard of video applications. Having sat at both sides of application processes (i am working in a somewhat small company) i couldnt even imagine watching through 100 Videos of random people.

Speaking of discrimination: while a true problem, the sheer mass of stupid applications is astonishing.

Handpicked example: engineering construction position, we had around 100 applicants. We clearly said "german language only, small company (aka not the ressources for any visa processes)"

We got like 40 applications from various middle eastern countries alone, 40 more were from people with arabic, indian names/faces with dubious backgrounds (aka no way to verify for us). Of the 20 applications we could consider "real" there were only 10 that actually graduated from a university and 5 had actual met up the prewritten conditions. If those all had been anonymous we would need an actual HR department to sort through.

@hash-table Willing to relocate, but not to Cali. and yes, I'm looking everywhere. local (las vegas), relocate (decision depends upon significant other, too), and remote (anywhere). I definitely appreciate the offer!

@Froot My 'argument' wasn't about communication being irrelevant. It was about the video submission specifically. I'm friendly and chatty, and can communicate quite well, especially with other devs. I can also speak fluent 3-year-old, so dumbing down technical concepts for managers isn't too difficult.

Video conferences are awkward, especially with extroverts that video call for everything. But making a video for someone I've never met? and talking to my own image? That's way too weird for me.

@Root agreed

Here’s template
https://youtu.be/GuLcxg5VGuo

I wonder if the same rules will apply to CV design ?

Someone told me that you have about, what was it now, 10 to 20 seconds to capture their interest in your CV or they just go to the next one.

So no use doing a 3 minute video, if they never watch more than 20 seconds..

@Nanos Last time I had a presentation about HR stuff, they told as the number is around 3.5 seconds per C.V. (that was 3/4 years ago)

@Jilano

Wow, 3.5 seconds !

How many words is that ?

About 15 ?

"Bill Blogs wants this job because I'm really talented and good at problem solving."

What else could one say that is better..

@rutee07 that's why you should cover your webcam.

I've mentioned before that I got a job interview once because I'd heard that a particular company was using automation to screen job applications.

It would look for key words in your CV and covering letter, and if enough key words, you got an interview !

One of the key words I found out was 'degree', so I wrote:

"I have a degree of understanding of computers."

And got an interview. :-)

At the end of it, they asked "What was my degree in again..?"

So, you really read my CV then..

@Nanos I thought they all do it. At least the larger ones and for the initial filtering.

@electrineer

Are there any sites that list some of these key words ?

As if cover letters weren't dreadful enough.

These startups look so stupid when they try to be giddy, edgy and out of the box. You're not auditioning for a reality show ffs!

@OnurOz92

I remember one place I applied for, they didn't seem to be at all impressed with my list of experiences, which included nuclear reactor design. :-)

Just what are they looking for !

You could get really creative with the video. Rick roll is nice but you could also do something else.

I call for a sock puppet show. Add some rubber ducks and let them know you value your privacy but still have the skills to do the job. And yeah Rick roll them too!

@Nanos Well, that was the average time, but pretty sure they only look the important part and general look of one's resume.
In any case, lots just look for keywords like you mentioned in your other comment. So it doesn't take that much to do that, haha

PS: Love your "degree" ;)

@hash-table

On my list of possible income sources is a rickshaw taxi, but I have to build one first !

Well said

@Nanos I would love to learn how to desing a Nuclear Reactor. How did you start?

@Jilano

> general look of one's resume.

I tend to style mine differently to everyone elses..

@OnurOz92

I can't remember offhand how it started.

I've always been into science, so somewhere along the road I came across an interesting design approach and dug deeper.

There are quite a lot of different designs, fuels, approaches. (Some dead ends folk reckon..)

It is an area where new breakthroughs in the understanding of how the universe works happen, causing the rewriting of known physics.

New, or long lost materials are discovered, and disagreements among science folk on what will and what won't work in practice. :-)

As such, I love experiments, as they can help us answer these questions.

Finding a good forum can be difficult, as there are so few places left with intelligent folk around to discuss these things with.

@rutee07

Sounds like a good time.

Just got to add day-drinking to complete the dream.

@lunorian No.

One time I applied for a part time ios teaching position. They wanted a 10 minute long video of me explaining for-loops, like da-fuq is there to say for ten minutes "It's a loop... it loops... it does a task over and over again?"

@Mosesrocks

They take video interviews with dozens of people each one explaining a single concept, and then rebrand and use THOSE.

tl;dr it's a scam.

@Mosesrocks

Reminds me of:

https://youtube.com/watch/...

> Ariston - And On And On - Da Da Da - 1991

https://youtube.com/watch/...

> Ariston and on and on and on advert

> from the eighties

@Nanos

Great song to have an endless loop to annoy your colleges.

@Nanos

Actually what it really needs is to cut out the on and on part and just loop that..

Great elevator music. :-)

Talking of which..

https://youtube.com/watch/...

> Falling Elevator Prank

Good thing I'm living in such a backward country as Poland. No one ever wanted to video chat and the worst I had to do was answering technical questions over the phone

Time for deepfakes