What is Wrong with Hiring
The podcast where we try to understand why hiring and getting hired in tech are both absolute nightmares. Hosted by Laura Klein and Amy Santee.
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What is Wrong with Hiring
Why is it such a pain in the ass to hire and get hired in tech? Join co-hosts Laura Klein and Amy Santee as they attempt to figure out what the heck is going on when it comes to hiring in this ridiculous industry.
The answers may surprise and infuriate you! Ok, they probably won't totally surprise you, and will likely infuriate you (because humans gonna human). But we hope to provide some new perspectives and mild entertainment as we discuss the experiences of hiring managers, candidates, and talent professionals, and work toward solutions. Because y'know, we do care, and there is a better way.
About the Hosts
Laura Klein (she/her) is an angry hiring manager, co-host of What is Wrong with UX, and author of Build Better Products & UX for Lean Startups. Amy Santee (she/her) spent a decade working in tech and is now a Career Strategist & Coach for User Experience Professionals.
Episodes
4 days ago
4 days ago
For this episode, we "randomly" select five questions from Listeners Like You (thanks!) and attempt to give quick (well, as quick as Laura ever gets) answers to each of them.
What's up with unpaid take-home assignments as part of the interview process?
How many rounds of interviews and assignments is actually reasonable?
Should I apply to a job if I don't meet all the qualifications?
What the heck is going on right now with huge companies paying peanuts for contract positions? Is the market REALLY that flooded?
How do conversion salaries typically compare to hourly contract rates?
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
Episode transcript
🤑 2021-2023 Global UX Compensation Transparency Database 🤑
Monday Aug 28, 2023
Monday Aug 28, 2023
In this episode, Amy and Laura discuss the awful state of job postings—even the best ones are a bit confusing, and the worst are pretty much just bad fiction. If you are baffled by the different titles, levels, code words, and meaningless jargon, tune in for some tips for how to figure out what you're even applying for, and how to identify the red, green, yellow, and checkered flags. Plus a special cameo from our producer, Adonis!
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
Episode transcript
That unpleasant job posting from Nielsen Norman Group by Per Axbom
Gender Decoder: Finding subtle bias in job ads
Laura's famous Twitter post featured in r/antiwork (Amy's favorite subreddit aside from r/birds, r/birding, r/birdsfacingforward, r/linkedinlunatics, and r/stupiddovenests)
Katrina Kibben - Writing Advice for Job Postings and Recruiting
Why are UX job descriptions so bad?
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
In this episode, Laura and Amy talk about who you should listen to when looking for career advice. Besides Laura and Amy, obvs. The answer is pretty straightforward, except it sort of isn't.
Also, sorry about the audio on this one. Technology is hard.
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
Episode Transcript
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
In this episode, Amy and Laura talk about their experiences as freelancers, consultants, coaches, trainers, and everything else in tech. They explain which business models to use when and how to not get screwed by red flag clients.
Episode Transcript
Some useful links for more information after you listen to the show:
Avoiding worker misclassification from Bitches Get Riches
Tips for figuring out your pricing at Anthropologizing
Pricing Design by Dan Mall from A Book Apart
And, of course, the classic tumblr Clients from Hell
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
Monday Jun 26, 2023
Monday Jun 26, 2023
In this episode, Laura and Amy chat about the pros and cons of becoming a freelancer, consultant, contractor or some other form of self employed person. After all, it's tough to get hired these days! Maybe you should hire you!
Episode Transcript
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
In this episode, Amy and Laura talk about a few key ways to help other folks get jobs, even in a bad market.
Based on Amy's blog post, which you can check out here.
Tuesday May 16, 2023
Tuesday May 16, 2023
Amy Santee and Laura Klein kick off a whole new season of ranting about hiring! In this episode, Amy and Laura talk about what's been going on in tech over the last 9 months or so (spoiler: it's not great!) and what this means for folks looking for jobs. They also tease some future podcast episodes that they'll probably get around to recording in the future.
Tuesday Sep 27, 2022
Tuesday Sep 27, 2022
In this episode, Laura talks to Mary Lukanuski about how to tell whether a candidate is right for the job. They discuss the pros and cons (mostly cons) of design exercises of various sorts and the things that actually do help you hire better.
Drink Pairing: Mezcal Negroni
Tuesday Sep 06, 2022
Tuesday Sep 06, 2022
In this episode, Laura talks to Cindy Alvarez, Director of UX for Powerpoint, about how to figure out what sort of hire you really need and write a job description targeted to the right folks.
Drink pairing: Sparkling Rose
Tuesday Aug 09, 2022
Tuesday Aug 09, 2022
In this episode, Laura talks to Bryan Cantrill, CTO of Oxide, about a wildly different approach to recruiting and hiring.
Drink Pairing: Diet Dr. Pepper