Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?
Speaking from the other side, I&#x27;ve hired 10 people from HN over the past 5 years, 2 within the last 6 months. These have included some of my best hires.<p>Currently, I see about 30 HN applicants per month. We interview roughly 30%. The rest are unqualified, demonstrated no understanding of or interest in what we do, and&#x2F;or were spamming their resume.<p>These get interviews:<p><pre><code>  * Strong candidates who did their homework (this is always the best)
  * Strong candidates with minimal or lightly tailored emails
  * Borderline candidates who did their homework
</code></pre>
These get polite rejections:<p><pre><code>  * Borderline candidates who did no homework
  * Unqualified candidates
</code></pre>
These get ignored:<p><pre><code>  * Candidates who send blatantly templated emails
  * Candidates who apply via &quot;email blasts&quot; (e.g., BCC all recipients; send via an email campaign tool)
</code></pre>
I prefer to see both understanding of and interest in the role. Tell me why you&#x27;re a fit and why you want to work here. A few sentences will suffice. Doing so: 1) improves the probability of an interview; and 2) for me, practically guarantees you a response.