Ask HN: What signals do you look for when hiring?
5 pointsby kathir053 hours ago5 comments
  • Peronian hour ago
    >That’s why more people are showcasing their work through portfolios. And that’s what recruiters actually look for.

    Not sure where this assumption is coming from. Most recruiters are looking for consistent work experience with reputable companies. Sure portfolios help but it's not even remotely on the same spectrum.

    >I dont know how people are coming up with such juicy and vanity metrics but mostly are noise.

    It's really not noise at all. If you actually use these ATS platforms from the hiring side, you'll see first hand how they've all doubled down on AI filtering. Candidates are directly experiencing increased difficulty in getting past the initial screening stages.

    • kathir055 minutes ago
      > Most recruiters are looking for consistent work experience with reputable companies.

      I guess you are missing the whole startup world, talents less than 5 years into the industry and hackers who grind many side projects and Generalists Maybe what you say is relevant to SMBs and enterprise hiring. Most ATS are designed for SMBs and enterprise hiring.

      I guess then Startups looking for Generalists has to mostly fallback to Google forms and HR emails for hiring.

  • rozenmdan hour ago
    A CV that tells me what you did, and what benefit it had to your employer.

    I'm only impressed by side projects if they had users and/or MRR - something serious that proves you worked on it long enough to have something to show for your efforts

    At the same time I wouldn't skip a candidate for not having a portfolio - a full time job is enough

  • rkwap3 hours ago
    I mostly look for side projects on github and past experience.
  • rvz3 hours ago
    A verifiable track record that is very hard to fake.

    This includes:

    1. Open source contributions to high-profile / major repositories (with code-review in the open with core maintainers).

    2. Side projects that are production-grade with customers and recurring revenue.

    3. Given presentations at conferences.

    At least 2 out of 3 of those. Years of experience is an additional plus.

    But those still using keyword matching, ATS scores, leetcode don't have a clue on how to hire or who to hire as all of that can be faked, gamed and cheated by LLMs in 2026.

    Instead of hiring builders, they continue to optimize for people studying for interviews and at the end of the day, I only care if you know how to make money and I prefer the former; builders over those who just study for the interview.

    • kathir052 hours ago
      These are valid points and it's pity that none of the hiring systems are designed for these high intent signals. Simple filters like 1. open-source in repos with stars > 100. 2. regularly write blogs on core hard topics 3. Attend or give presentations on hard topics would solve 90% of hiring process.

      Rather keyword matching, ATS scores, leetcode are just vanity metrics. Do you know any tool that solves for these high intent signals?

  • NimrodKramer2 hours ago
    [dead]