Post B2JT1Cyj3U2npNl9Sy by jeremiah@tldr.nettime.org
(DIR) More posts by jeremiah@tldr.nettime.org
(DIR) Post #B2J8GEhSq3E6TQ0gee by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T11:29:16Z
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
(DIR) Post #B2J8OgO5mT5Af4ycD2 by RogerBW@discordian.social
2026-01-15T11:30:45Z
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@futurebird Process, but I got the job 20 years ago and I've stayed with it.
(DIR) Post #B2J8iJfXxPAFzdVEsS by NatureMC@mastodon.online
2026-01-15T11:34:16Z
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@futurebird May sound crazy but I got my best projects in my freelanced job on good old Twitter. When it was still good and Musk-free. Just by communicating with interesting people ... never met that atmosphere again, nowhere.
(DIR) Post #B2J9DNGIeJMg74VGvA by paninid@mastodon.world
2026-01-15T11:39:55Z
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@futurebird I might “appropriate” a version of this poll for LinkedIn…
(DIR) Post #B2J9ExqA8YHVqg2IQS by beeftacos@famichiki.jp
2026-01-15T11:40:08Z
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@futurebird My current job (which is one of the best jobs I've had in a long time), I got through a recruiter that I had worked with before. My current boss knew of my previous boss (who I was working for at the time), and so was aware of my work indirectly, even if he didn't personally know who I was yet.
(DIR) Post #B2J9bGYbEGzGGhSIYi by kritischelezer@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T11:44:14Z
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@futurebird I'm 55 and only applied 'cold' once, which was a job I left within 3 years. Been at my current one almost 16 years.
(DIR) Post #B2JA52wAQqhSiMgBaC by david_chisnall@infosec.exchange
2026-01-15T11:49:37Z
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@futurebird I always feel like a bit of a fraud giving CV help to students. I've reviewed a lot of CVs in my professional life, but I've never once applied for a job where the CV was a major factor. Even when I was doing freelance work, all of my clients were people who knew my work before I worked for them.
(DIR) Post #B2JAU2k2IRylLavNrs by oldmankris@mastodon.xyz
2026-01-15T11:54:06Z
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@futurebird I got my best most-recent job because a recruiter contacted me. I’m so old, I got my first job by answering a want ad in a newspaper.
(DIR) Post #B2JAWx0w30RwS8DQCO by mansr@society.oftrolls.com
2026-01-15T11:54:39Z
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@futurebird Which category is self-employed?
(DIR) Post #B2JB5c93d6qRrdXkiO by anguinea@mstdn.social
2026-01-15T12:00:54Z
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@futurebird I was recruited at a portfolio review/interview session the corporation held at my art school.
(DIR) Post #B2JBD6l2DAvKpmsdKS by pomCountyIrregs@mstdn.social
2026-01-15T12:02:16Z
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@futurebird @catmisgivings The best job I’ve had in the past ten years is the one I have now. 6 years ago, I was a candidate offered by a temp company. Last year, they were going to shed many of the temps, but I was one who converted to regular employee.But, to the point, I didn’t know anyone.Now, during my 50 year so-called career, interviewing as a mutual stranger, it wasn’t until I temped in 2016 that I got hired cold and even then, my percentage as a temp for being placed was low.
(DIR) Post #B2JDLjE3GvVGMjgu3c by kc@social.coop
2026-01-15T12:26:13Z
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@futurebird my opinion is more : I applied cold but both companies didn’t (at the time) have those stupid recruiting platforms that look for keywords and throw out candidates randomly, so I got the job on experience
(DIR) Post #B2JE40TCWFeUactGGu by SteveJB@beige.party
2026-01-15T12:34:13Z
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@futurebird I already worked for the company when I got my best job. The QA manager, who needed someone reasonably fluent with a computer, headed up a continuing improvement team. I built an interactive website that accepted, parsed and monitored "suggestion tickets" on line. He liked my work and brought me off the production floor to QA. That's the job I retired from last year.
(DIR) Post #B2JG66o683gcjOnLFo by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T12:57:02Z
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@billiglarper @david_chisnall That sounds like a weird reason.At small and medium organizations “hiring” is extra work pawned off on already busy people and simply being the easiest to locate person who those tasked with the hire can trust won’t cause them embarrassment is the process rather than reading 100 CVsCalls to previous employers matter a great deal. This is because smaller orgs don’t budget any time to do this work.
(DIR) Post #B2JGIdcbwzB5ymOdiy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T12:59:18Z
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@billiglarper @david_chisnall CVs matter since it’s what the hiring committee will squint at while they try to figure out what to do. Introduction letters are not as important in my limited experience with small companies colleges and schools.
(DIR) Post #B2JHlUjo9wxsmK5QUy by Maker_of_Things@cupoftea.social
2026-01-15T13:15:41Z
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@futurebird At the time I was known to be actively volunteering within the community and had contacts with the local people*. Someone asked me if I knew anyone local who would be interested in a particular part time job. I decided to apply for it myself. I have been there for 11 years now.*I didn't know many people really, but everyone seems to think I know everyone, but in reality everyone seems to know me. I am not sure that is a good thing or not. I have been referred to as 'a local character'! 🤔
(DIR) Post #B2JIIEbr92nKJVyjwG by OrchidLC@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T13:21:37Z
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@futurebird I got my current job, literally the best job I've ever had, by working as a contractor for about a year and a half. They finally decided to hire me on permanentl in June 2024. Since I graduated from college in 2012 (and got married in 2013), I've not had a job that pays this much or offers this many benefits before. We were pretty poor before this job, often going to food pantries.
(DIR) Post #B2JIMUqAjz6toMhtuC by coolcoder360@mastodon.gamedev.place
2026-01-15T13:22:24Z
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@futurebird In the middle of 2019 I flipped a toggle on LinkedIn saying I was looking for a new position.Recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn based on my then-current position (I literally flipped the switch and sat there, didn't apply to anything) Few interview rounds later I was hired, moved cross country. Still work there.Probably could never happen that way again.
(DIR) Post #B2JIXwnZ8MtXhswqPo by mick@cosocial.ca
2026-01-15T13:24:26Z
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@futurebird am still working my best job (in IT) after 20 years and I was contacted by a recruiter to apply for it. I gather the job market has changed somewhat in the intervening years. 🙃
(DIR) Post #B2JKbJvPo2QuD4M7Wq by Wen@mastodon.scot
2026-01-15T13:47:30Z
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@futurebird @JeniParsons In my vase it was starting my own company. We grew by personal recommendations and have transitioned to being employee owned
(DIR) Post #B2JOiTfSNhdQGmYl1M by shammers@mastodon.coffee
2026-01-15T14:33:34Z
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@futurebird It was a cold application because I was desperate to get away from a former boss who was a bit of an asshole. After a bunch of auto-rejections all over the place, I saw a company I actually like who had a position open and it just happened to cross my LinkedIn feed (LinkedIn was never good, btw).What really helped is the guy who was doing the hiring/vetting was really weird and disorganized (just like me). We hit it off instantly.Up to that point, no prior connections.
(DIR) Post #B2JPaXGtCNgP5GqT6O by Karen5Lund@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T14:43:22Z
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@futurebird I'm retired and only worked part-time and temporary for the last few years of employment, so none of these really fit... However, I am able to take the long view of my working life, in retrospect, so I will again say that none of these fit, but for a different reason. The "best" job I ever had ("best" meaning most satisfying and morally best) I got by starting as a volunteer. After almost two months I was hired in a paid role.
(DIR) Post #B2JRE5fNLwF70QivNA by david_chisnall@infosec.exchange
2026-01-15T15:01:44Z
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@futurebird @billiglarper At small and medium organizations “hiring” is extra work pawned off on already busy people Often this pressure works the other way around. At a small organisation, the person who is going to be responsible for the work that the person does is also responsible for all steps in hiring. This can cause issues with bias, but at least the incentives are aligned.In a larger organisation, CVs are typically filtered by HR / recruiters. At Microsoft, they had an annoying habit of filtering out the most qualified candidates because they lacked a traditional educational background (because they'd spent their time doing exactly the thing you were hiring for instead). You had to work quite closely with them to avoid this.The problem is that you get a lot of applicants for some posts, but you get very few good ones. Someone has to do a deselection pass so that the selection pass isn't overwhelmed. LinkedIn now has an AI thing that does this. For an LLVM compiler rôle, it filtered out 80% of applicants who had worked on LLVM previously and hid them in the default view. Utterly useless. And, at the same time, their one-button-apply thing meant that I was flooded with unqualified people.
(DIR) Post #B2JT0S1FeH8cBba0NU by jeremiah@tldr.nettime.org
2026-01-15T15:21:40Z
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@futurebird best is hard. Most fulfilling: got through the process with a cold application and am really proud of thatBest quality of life: went through a process but there was a recruiter involved so that's like knowing a person
(DIR) Post #B2JT1Cyj3U2npNl9Sy by jeremiah@tldr.nettime.org
2026-01-15T15:21:40Z
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@futurebird best is hard. Most fulfilling: got through the process with a cold application and am really proud of thatBest quality of life: went through a process but there was a recruiter involved so that's like knowing a person
(DIR) Post #B2JToHtHa2mtFhcGxM by lffontenelle@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T15:30:39Z
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@futurebird Federal university, so via a civil service examination. It didn't even have an interview phase, to avoid any favoritism.
(DIR) Post #B2JTz3M3xr83M7DAv2 by Traumkaempfer@sueden.social
2026-01-15T15:32:37Z
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@futurebird For the best jobs, I was asked by the CTO personally, if I would like to do it. The first time was an internal change, the second time was away from there by a former team lead who was then CTO at a new company.
(DIR) Post #B2JY6A4vlQbq3JqKfI by kevingranade@mastodon.gamedev.place
2026-01-15T16:18:44Z
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@futurebird mine was kinda in between, I didn't know anyone at the company directly but I was sought out by recruiters due to social effects of my job search. I applied and interviewed at several companies with some kind of clout and that got attention at the place I ended up.
(DIR) Post #B2JYYqCAlgrImeuDnk by amyworrall@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T16:23:48Z
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@futurebird Headhunted after speaking at a conference.
(DIR) Post #B2Ja1zosAGXYz7TQB6 by Jorsh@beige.party
2026-01-15T16:40:23Z
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@futurebird My first job out of recovery from alcoholism was at a little tiny produce place in Abbotsford, BC. I dropped off my resume, got a call for an interview that afternoon, and was hired a few days later. My boss, Trent, was incredibly generous and kind. He was one of the best bosses that I ever had. He was always there, getting his hands dirty with produce prep and stocking, jumping on cash, helping us break down shipments, put together restaurant orders, etc. He was the only boss that I ever had who felt more like a co-worker than a boss. I worked there from '14 to '19.
(DIR) Post #B2Jbc0XH4yJJaKyfwm by moriel@chaosfem.tw
2026-01-15T16:58:06Z
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@futurebird To be fair, i've only worked at one place over the past ten years, so "best" isn't really a fair way to describe it.
(DIR) Post #B2JfGnaePmoNAdhPrk by zeborah@mastodon.nz
2026-01-15T17:39:03Z
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@futurebird Applied 'cold' for a different job at the company (which would have been a stretch for me), got an interview but not the job, and a few months later was invited to apply for the job[*] I ended up getting....This was like 15 years ago, since then the job has accrued responsibilities and eventually pay to match.[*] A vacancy arising from someone getting a different job I'd also interviewed for; that company never actually got back to me to say I hadn't got it, so the phone call from my to-be-boss was how I found out lol. It would have been a bad fit for me so this was very positive all round.
(DIR) Post #B2JjRGDLFIwOev2ZrU by david@cosocial.ca
2026-01-15T18:25:40Z
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@futurebird A recruiter got me an interview. I’m at 27 years and counting.
(DIR) Post #B2JvnLoUJ9XZqSiPUu by IngaLovinde@embracing.space
2026-01-15T20:44:16Z
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@futurebird they saw my CW and reached out to me
(DIR) Post #B2JwnQ0wmxvApQ8h9c by KanaMauna@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T20:55:30Z
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@futurebird I had a reverse cold application. 25 years ago I applied for an entry-level contract management position with a public agency. The CFO did not select me, but she said that she’d keep my résumé on file. I thought sure, everybody says that. Six months later I get contacted out of the blue for another position at the same office. Eventually I replaced her.
(DIR) Post #B2KkhDiQb6omegiO1Y by lufthans@mastodon.social
2026-01-16T06:14:35Z
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@futurebird I applied cold, but managed to get an referral from a sibling organization which might have gotten me the initial reviewPrevious industry jobs have mostly involved knowing someone on the inside or at least being known to people on the inside
(DIR) Post #B2LA6XxMycZhWcsRJA by reiver@mastodon.social
2026-01-16T10:59:14Z
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@futurebird I created the job myself.
(DIR) Post #B2PP9G91vvb160vFtw by Muiris@mastodon.ie
2026-01-18T12:06:43Z
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@futurebird For me it’s “Other”, I think it was a cold call I received from a recruitment company based on my LinkedIn profile. I didn’t even think I was suitable, but they convinced me otherwise. Turned out to be the most enjoyable job I ever had, it was a small Startup, definitely the best learning experience. The pay was bad, but the company was really interesting, and really fun to work for.