Do you even get phone screens anymore?

Posted by ConflictedHairyGuy@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 31 comments

Web dev here with 6 years of experience in NYC. Noticing that I can't even break through to the phone screen stage anymore. Every job I apply to seems to have 300 - 1,000 applicants on LinkedIn. I go so deep with referrals - paid for LinkedIn premium and DM the hiring manager when I can find them. I've had some good informational interviews with some folks at the company who have given me personalized referrals, and it doesn't matter. Always rejected at the first stage. I don't want to work at a startup, so I am applying to bigger companies in my city. I'm fortunate to have a job right now, but I feel like I'm stuck because there's no mobility, which was one of the reasons I got into this field. I'm worried that if I ever get laid off, it might be months or years before the next job, and sometimes I think I will have to leave the field entirely. Even if 80-90% of applicants for any particular job are unqualified, that still leaves tens-hundreds of relevant candidates jockeying for one spot. Am I wrong in my thinking? How does anyone land a job now a days? I like where I live and I don't want to move. I last searched 2-3 years ago and it was different. Most of the time I'd get the phone screen from a referral back then. Has this been your experience?

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31 Comments

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ecto-2@reddit

I don’t know the market in NYC specifically, but I’m not bothering to apply to jobs without a referral from someone at the company.

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ConflictedHairyGuy@reddit (OP)

I can't even get a phone screen with a referral

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ecto-2@reddit

Damn, that is surprising to me. Only thing I can think of is that there’s something else that makes the internal recruiter think “not a fit”, e.g. not tailored resume, visa sponsorship, etc.

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arcaneasada_romm@reddit

> I don't want to work at a startup Just like most companies are SMBs or mom-and-pop shops, most tech companies are startups. By refusing to apply you're severely limiting your options, which isn't a great idea in this market. There are plenty on startups hiring in NYC; try reaching out to a couple every few weeks, you might be surprised at the style of work and WLB between startups.

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events_occur@reddit

> you might be surprised at the style of work and WLB between startups. Wondering what your experience is here because I've worked at three startups (seed, and 2 series C) and it has been virtually the same at all three. They want to run you into the ground with 60 to 70 hour weeks at all times. Online at all times. Zero work life boundaries.

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arcaneasada_romm@reddit

That's a shame, and I'd wager a majority of startups/scale-ups will run you into the ground given the change. I screen heavily for WLB during interviews, and I guess I've had the good fortune of finding companies that value it as well, though it does make the job search take longer.

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ExperiencedDevs-ModTeam@reddit

Rule 8: No Surveys/Advertisements If you think this shouldn't apply to you, get approval from moderators first.

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_hephaestus@reddit

LinkedIn is useless. You can still apply on other portals after finding listings on LinkedIn, but applying through there entirely is just such a bad signal to noise ratio you’re unlikely to get through.

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TheOnceAndFutureDoug@reddit

20 YOE in the Bay. Yeah, I do, it's just way fewer than I used to. I haven't actually tracked it but it sure feels like I get way less attention than when I used to apply for gigs.

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spitfire4@reddit

Working with external recruiters is generally super helpful, since they have a portfolio of companies that are hiring, and are incentivized to push your profile through since they get paid commission on successful hires (IIUC).

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three_s-works@reddit

Everyone says this but how the fuck do you find these people?

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spitfire4@reddit

Yeah like chikamakaleyley said, I'll generally reply to any interesting ones from LinkedIn outreaches, and jump on a call to see if they have any interesting companies in their portfolio that match my criteria. And if the inbound ones were dry, I'd probably try and search on LI and just keep emailing/messaging them.

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three_s-works@reddit

Yeah i guess my profile is shit because that’s never happened to me

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spitfire4@reddit

They probably do basic keyword search and so on. It’s not really a representative of a good profile, just randomness. You can flip it and reach out to them instead - I’m sure many would be happy to work with you.

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chikamakaleyley@reddit

i get a lot of DMs in LinkedIn from recruiters trying to fill new open contract roles i'm a bit more careful here; you have to try to hash out which of these contacts are reliable - a lot of them ask for contact info/resume right away and i try to defer til we at least have a call to discuss the position. I'll only give them my info/resume if I feel like it might be a good fit. Even then - this is only to submit you to the hiring manager - the hiring manager is receiving these submissions from any number of third party recruiters for the same role, and from that the HM creates their shortlist to proceed with the first official phone screen. But yeah like u/spitfire4 mentions, the recruiters in this case usually will provide as much support as they can to prepare you for those interviews. That's how I have the contract I'm on now - they're a bit more in tune with what to expect from the assessment, and certain things the hiring team is looking for, because their previous candidates will fail in those areas. You're basically like a race horse, and they're betting all their money that you'll win 1st.

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events_occur@reddit

The problem with external recruiters that they are almost always recruiting for like seed stage and series A/B companies which OP explicitly stated they don't want.

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abrandis@reddit

This is changing , the days of external recruiters for regular middle class folks is closing .. why becuSe recruiters don't want to work with someone that only makes low six figures (less than $150k) they want to focus on mid ($250+ ) to high six figure positions and talent .

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bananafart420@reddit

i have 5 scheduled for tomorrow. NYC

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ConflictedHairyGuy@reddit (OP)

how

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events_occur@reddit

10 yoe here. Echoing your experience. I've sent out 100 apps in NYC over the last 2 months - literally nothing, not even automatic rejections. To me that indicates a few things: 1. Huge application volume. Every job posting likely has 500-1000 applicants. Total SWE jobs are likely down 2. I think we're finally seeing the AI ratchet hit our jobs. Big tech is not only in perpetual hiring freeze, they're actively running mandates to thin out the workforce each year. I left a FAANG company in early 2025, and back then they were only using github copilot. Now my ex colleagues say they have access to every single AI tool. Ultimately this means way fewer jobs for way too many applicants. Speaking of NYC specifically, there is virtually zero big tech hiring here and the only ones hiring seem to be janky startups that want you to be code monkey managing AI agents working 70 hours a week (literally my current job). The industry is definitely in the lurch of a major upheaval. A lot of people are going to lose their jobs and simply never find another one and have to leave tech for something else.

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serial_crusher@reddit

20 YOE tech lead. Current job hunt, I sent about 25-30 resumes in November, targeted to companies I was actually interested in. 3 of them replied for phone screens (one I have a referral from a family member who works at the company, but not in engineering); the others either ghosted or sent automated ATS rejections. Of the 3 screens, I dropped out of one early on. Just got an offer from the place where I have a referral, and am in the final stages with the other. I think it's hard to break through the initial barrier, but once you're through the competition isn't that stiff, I don't think. When my team was hiring last year, we got thousands of applicants but the vast majority of them were AI-generated phonies. I imagine a lot of companies are dealing with that. I tried my best to look at every resume, but each time HR re-posted the job there were literally thousands coming in on the first couple days. It really was too much volume to deal with and I know some good candidates probably got overlooked in those early stages as a result. TBH it's weird that you're not getting callbacks from referrals though. My biggest question when looking at resumes was whether they're a real human or not, so I would have immediately moved any referrals to round 1.

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ConflictedHairyGuy@reddit (OP)

I really appreciate this answer. I'd love to DM you to have a brief chat (only if you have the time) but reddit is not allowing me.

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SwoopingIsBad@reddit

11 YOE in the Midwest. It has picked up recently. In the last month, I've been reached out to by 3 recruiters with relevant positions and got a call back for another that I applied to. All of those got scheduled for phone screens with 2 now moving on to further rounds.

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wazacraft@reddit

I'm seeing the same - I'm in process with two companies right now after not getting phone screens even with internal referrals. In both of those cases internal recruiters reached out to me; obviously this is just anecdotal, but I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about market improvements.

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ConflictedHairyGuy@reddit (OP)

I'm worshipping you!

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ConflictedHairyGuy@reddit (OP)

thanks for the optimism

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diablo1128@reddit

My applications to jobs fall on deaf ears these days. I have 15 YOE working at private non-tech companies in non-tech cities on safety critical medial devices, think dialysis machines. I don't need to work in this industry specifically, but I generally apply to companies that need my general skills. That is to say C and C++ code in an embedded environment or working on a physical device. I like to think I'm a good candidate as I've lead teams of 20 SWEs on multi-year projects that has received FDA approval for a clinical study. I have my name on patents and have done everything from daily coding to working on company level initiatives like standardizing processes across the company. At the end of the day I'm probably a shitty candidate on paper and that's why companies I apply to don't care to reach back out to me for an interview. I figure it's a why hire me for you company as an generalist when there are probably 1000 candidates that know modern C++ and has done exactly what you are looking for at previous jobs.

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Beneficial_Map6129@reddit

I think it’s because web devs are a pretty basic commodity now, even more so than backend CRUD app devs, even before the AI boom, and especially now with AI. Those are the first jobs to get outsourced and they wouldn’t look to pay NYC prices either That’s just my hunch

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ConflictedHairyGuy@reddit (OP)

I mean with the rate of outsourcing and the gains that AI is making, how will any job that is on a computer survive

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Beneficial_Map6129@reddit

Quant and AI modeling are extremely complex and if you knew anything about how LLMs work, you’d understand that its extremely unlikely these jobs will get automated even 20 years from now unlike web dev which is basically just copy/paste at this point

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PixelPhoenixForce@reddit

half of the country can code react app nowadays