In depths of World War One, as the red-faced, potbellied generals dithered safely behind the lines and British losses mounted frighteningly , Churchill referred to the brave British Tommies embattled in the muddy trenches as ‘lions led by donkeys …’
There’s another aspect of this discussion of the Seattle job market and how tough it is right now.
Even during the boom and now following it, the executive corps of many tech companies was filled with people who had very little or no experience as managers and had never experienced a down market. Couple that with business plans and internal goals that had nothing to do with the longterm survival of a business, and you have a real mess.
As a hiring manager, I had hiring goals or headcount requirements I was to meet, not that I couldn’t go over, as is usually the case. I was expected to hire people, and not doing so was not perceived as prudence but lack of effort or commitment. That, as they say, is no way to run a railroad.
The people now doing the hiring as the same as were there in the boom times: the best way to get rid of any “retaliation” would be to turn them out on the street and hire professionals.
The hiring process at many tech firms seems to be a simple keyword search, with no analysis of what the applicant’s actual strengths are. Inexperience then looks more like incompetence . . . . .