The big problem is that all the issues in tech hiring have been amplified by a thousand in the last year or so. We previously had problems with unrealistic tech requirements and companies looking for unicorns, now we have almost every company operating under those same insane requirements if not more. We previously had issues with interviews asking way too much of the applicant, now they're seemingly twice as long for no apparent reason. There was previously a lot of competition for most roles, now everything has at least a few hundred applicants.
And the worst examples I've seen have been truly insane. At least one role was for a 'designer/developer', as in someone who'd both design the site and build it. Said role also required them to do the online marketing side of things too, have at least 5 years of experience with all three major JavaScript frameworks, do both the frontend and backend coding and presumably do the dev ops/server management work too. They literally wanted a single person to replace the entire tech department.
Meanwhile I also came across a job with about 15 stages in the interview process. It must have been something like a call, a chat with HR, three rounds of coding tests, a behavioural interview, a chat with the CEO, a final stage interview, etc. Yeah, I took one look at that and thought "there is no way I'm wasting time and energy on a process that ridiculous".
It is insane. But it leaves the question: why are companies doing it? They must believe it’s working for them, or they’d change it. God knows companies are motivated to hire good people. Maybe someone in HR or even a technical manager in one of these companies can answer: on what theory are these processes believed to be effective?
I suspect the answer is that so many people are looking for work, that these unicorns and incredibly desperate people willing to go through 10+ stages of interviews do actually exist in this market.
There are probably at least a few ex senior/staff level FAANG employees desperate enough for work that they're applying to these roles, and a few people with enough invested in their life that a 10 stage interview is seen as worth it to avoid losing the house.
So for these companies, the small chance they might actually get their magical unicorn engineers is enough of an incentive to shoot for the moon and see what happens.
Alternatively, the process isn't working, but they're too stubborn to admit it. I still see many of the same jobs I applied for 6 months ago hanging around on LinkedIn/Indeed/Reed/Otta/WellFound/whatever with no evidence they've filled the position. Maybe if they cut the requirements down, trimmed down the interview process, offered remote work or provided more reasonable take home tests they might actually find someone before 2028.
And the worst examples I've seen have been truly insane. At least one role was for a 'designer/developer', as in someone who'd both design the site and build it. Said role also required them to do the online marketing side of things too, have at least 5 years of experience with all three major JavaScript frameworks, do both the frontend and backend coding and presumably do the dev ops/server management work too. They literally wanted a single person to replace the entire tech department.
Meanwhile I also came across a job with about 15 stages in the interview process. It must have been something like a call, a chat with HR, three rounds of coding tests, a behavioural interview, a chat with the CEO, a final stage interview, etc. Yeah, I took one look at that and thought "there is no way I'm wasting time and energy on a process that ridiculous".