<story><title>We Don&apos;t Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage</title><url>https://resumeskills.us/talent/shortage</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>b212</author><text>Is this an American thing? I live in Eastern Europe and make decent buck here (close to 5000 EUR&amp;#x2F;mo after taxes in a country where you can cover all expenses under 1000 EUR&amp;#x2F;mo). I never had any trouble getting quality work in my country but a few times I got approached by companies from the US and oh boy, weeks of tiring recrutation process and the pay was ALWAYS worse than local. I feel like they do it on purpose maybe some people really fall for it after investing so much time? Once or twice an US SV startup asked if I’ll allow them to install some tracking software on my machine. Meanwhile no developer in my country even responds to offers if the salary is not given in the offer even before the interview kicks in. What’s wrong with the American market? Are there too many developers or what?
(sorry for the typos, fat fingers and small phone)</text></item><item><author>revvx</author><text>I had the same thing happen to me a couple times. Long and tiring process. Blackboard, make a project, lots of dirty laundry about &amp;quot;long gone incompetent developers&amp;quot; that made the current system a giant mess. Lots of red flags but lots of promises including a large maximum salary, including bonuses and stock options.&lt;p&gt;The final offer, however, was 60% of my current pay. Lower than the average for someone with my experience and position.&lt;p&gt;I had good rapport with the HR recruiter and flat out asked why they proceeded, even though she knew I was already getting more, at a better company, with more benefits.&lt;p&gt;The answer: they assumed I was lying about my current salary and I was just bluffing. Recommended me that I lie in my next interview.</text></item><item><author>burtonator</author><text>I had a recruiter call me a year ago with what sounded like a really amazing offer.  Working for a well funded startup on a problem in which I happen to be a domain expert.&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;re aren&amp;#x27;t many expects in my field with my background and skill set and they said the right things to get me to interview (compensation won&amp;#x27;t be a concern).&lt;p&gt;Anyway... Went in for 4-5 interviews.  Took me about 10 hours in total to interview with them.&lt;p&gt;Kept hearing that they have a difficult time filling the position. Reports directly to the CTO, etc, etc.&lt;p&gt;They came in at 1&amp;#x2F;2 my current salary.  It was about 30-40% of what you would pay a decent engineer with experience.&lt;p&gt;I told them my salary level BEFORE the interview...&lt;p&gt;Gave them a hard now. They came back and said they can offer more stock and remote work.&lt;p&gt;Why in the heck would I turn down a bird in the hand for 1x in the bush?&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem is that if you&amp;#x27;re interviewing you need to know what you&amp;#x27;re buying!&lt;p&gt;You can&amp;#x27;t go to a ferrari dealership and offer to buy one or $20k.. that&amp;#x27;s just not how it works.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jldugger</author><text>&amp;gt; I live in Eastern Europe&lt;p&gt;Well, a number of people use Eastern Europe location as a filter for &amp;#x27;cheap labor&amp;#x27;. And SV startups tend to have crap wages to begin with, but offer equity to compensate. I could imagine a few startups seeking to crimp further.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Meanwhile no developer in my country even responds to offers if the salary is not given ... before the interview&lt;p&gt;Posting salaries is rare in the US. It&amp;#x27;s becoming the law in California, but this is hardly universal. There&amp;#x27;s an expectation that you&amp;#x27;ll negotiate, but they&amp;#x27;re really hoping you won&amp;#x27;t. And plenty of US engineers assume if you don&amp;#x27;t post a salary, it&amp;#x27;s because the budget for the position is low.</text></comment>
<story><title>We Don&apos;t Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage</title><url>https://resumeskills.us/talent/shortage</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>b212</author><text>Is this an American thing? I live in Eastern Europe and make decent buck here (close to 5000 EUR&amp;#x2F;mo after taxes in a country where you can cover all expenses under 1000 EUR&amp;#x2F;mo). I never had any trouble getting quality work in my country but a few times I got approached by companies from the US and oh boy, weeks of tiring recrutation process and the pay was ALWAYS worse than local. I feel like they do it on purpose maybe some people really fall for it after investing so much time? Once or twice an US SV startup asked if I’ll allow them to install some tracking software on my machine. Meanwhile no developer in my country even responds to offers if the salary is not given in the offer even before the interview kicks in. What’s wrong with the American market? Are there too many developers or what?
(sorry for the typos, fat fingers and small phone)</text></item><item><author>revvx</author><text>I had the same thing happen to me a couple times. Long and tiring process. Blackboard, make a project, lots of dirty laundry about &amp;quot;long gone incompetent developers&amp;quot; that made the current system a giant mess. Lots of red flags but lots of promises including a large maximum salary, including bonuses and stock options.&lt;p&gt;The final offer, however, was 60% of my current pay. Lower than the average for someone with my experience and position.&lt;p&gt;I had good rapport with the HR recruiter and flat out asked why they proceeded, even though she knew I was already getting more, at a better company, with more benefits.&lt;p&gt;The answer: they assumed I was lying about my current salary and I was just bluffing. Recommended me that I lie in my next interview.</text></item><item><author>burtonator</author><text>I had a recruiter call me a year ago with what sounded like a really amazing offer.  Working for a well funded startup on a problem in which I happen to be a domain expert.&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;re aren&amp;#x27;t many expects in my field with my background and skill set and they said the right things to get me to interview (compensation won&amp;#x27;t be a concern).&lt;p&gt;Anyway... Went in for 4-5 interviews.  Took me about 10 hours in total to interview with them.&lt;p&gt;Kept hearing that they have a difficult time filling the position. Reports directly to the CTO, etc, etc.&lt;p&gt;They came in at 1&amp;#x2F;2 my current salary.  It was about 30-40% of what you would pay a decent engineer with experience.&lt;p&gt;I told them my salary level BEFORE the interview...&lt;p&gt;Gave them a hard now. They came back and said they can offer more stock and remote work.&lt;p&gt;Why in the heck would I turn down a bird in the hand for 1x in the bush?&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem is that if you&amp;#x27;re interviewing you need to know what you&amp;#x27;re buying!&lt;p&gt;You can&amp;#x27;t go to a ferrari dealership and offer to buy one or $20k.. that&amp;#x27;s just not how it works.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>andrei_says_</author><text>I highly highly recommend Lab Rats by Dan Lyons. Dissects the forces behind the current state of the workforce in the US.&lt;p&gt;Very well written and exposes the brutality and destruction resulting from focusing on short term profit at any cost.</text></comment>