It’s recruiting time again! This time in Tel Aviv, Israel. My new company, SenintelOne has a strong engineering and product management presence there. Since my budget is limited, I decided that it would be best to replicate the success I had at Treasure Data by hiring junior folks and training them.

I visited Tel Aviv and was pleasantly impressed with the city. It is vibrant and bustling. The night life was extremely active with people on the streets every night. English was very common and it was easy to communicate. Everyone seemed very nice and welcoming.

Greenhouse ATV

I had previously used Level.co and a few others as the applicant tracking system. Lever has clearly been my favorite to use. This time I am using Greenhouse. I am still getting used to it, but it has similar features to Lever.

My initial reaction is that it has a more clunky UI than Lever. The buttons and fields are somewhat inconsistent in position and visual treatment. There are some parts that are disappointing, but not because of the UI but rather the configuration. I have limited control over that part of the system.

My ideal workflow would allow me to quickly separate the candidates into a few different buckets. I can usually tell definite no/yes people, but there are a few that need a second pair of eyes. Alas, it’s not perfect.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

First 100 Candidates

Unfortunately, this is like the never-ending story. This has been the case year after year after year. Every single portfolio site is identical. All of the case studies are the same. All of the same mistakes over and over. If you are a candidate, please see my candidate resources. It makes it so hard to pick one candidate over another when literally every single website looks the same. Here are some of the flaws that are pervasive:

• Hardly anyone is writing cover letters. I wrote a nice job description, just read it and write a short cover letter.
• Everyone says “Hi, Im [Name]! with a wavey hand. 👋 omg. stahp.
• The case studies are so long, with so many words
• The “about” pages are boring
• No differentiation or interesting visuals or interactive elements

With that said, I do see a few diamonds in the rough. I am hopeful that I will find some future superstars. I reviewed 100 in the first 3 days. Hopefully, we can find enough people to fill the ranks quickly.

Good luck to us both!