I don't believe you. I literally can't get an interview, but I joined a mature startup through a subcontracting gig to make ends meet, and a month in they're asking if they can just hire me. The hiring process is broken.

You were promoted to perm employee a month in. How does that contradict my earlier statement? The broken hiring process in tech is something entirely different - it was broken 10 years ago, 20 years ago, nothing new

> You were promoted to perm employee a month in.

having to get "promoted" to even get a perm job is not 'exceptional job market'

Ten years ago and five years ago I could interview for a job and be hired. Now I can't get an interview and the only employment option came through a contracting referral from my network. I don't see how that points to hiring not being weirdly more broken than it was? I don't consider friends-of-friends as the normal interview/hiring process, well at least till now.

> Now I can't get an interview and the only employment option came through a contracting referral from my network.

The more senior you are, the more you will need to rely on network referrals. Most HR processes are designed around filling average positions and filter for it especially when the number of applicants are high. I switched jobs around 2024 and all the interviews I got was through referrals or directly reaching out to the founders. I got zero callbacks from applications to HR.

Also five years ago, we had a once in a generation pandemic that forced all retailers to go online at global level, pushed remote work to be the norm and the tech workers suddenly had access to a growing global job market. That was the exception not the norm.