Ask HN: Why don't companies make applicants pay a fee to apply to a job?
5 points by doomroot 6 months ago | 31 comments- dave4420 6 months agoIn the UK, most letting fees charged to tenants were banned a few years ago, because it was felt that letting agents were acting abusively. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tenant-fees-act
If I had to pay a fee to apply for a job, I’d assume that it was a scam and that there was no job on offer.
- pavel_lishin 6 months ago> Would that be a net positive or negative for employees?
In what world would this be a net positive for employees?
- vunderba 6 months agoIn the same world where algorithmic HFT could be nerfed by charging a token transaction fee - this would likely kill 99% of automated resume application systems... assuming that it could be implemented fairly/properly which is by no means a certainty.
- doomroot 6 months agoIf it guaranteed that you got a phone screen, I imagine a lot of SWEs would take that deal.
- dave4420 6 months agoBut then it means the only people who apply will be the sort of people who tend not to even get phone screens… is that really who you want to be spending your time interviewing?
- Juliate 6 months agoGiven how poor an experience most phone screens are… not going to pay for that, ever.
- dave4420 6 months ago
- theoreticalmal 6 months agoThe “AI generated resume shotgun applied to every company that uses AI to parse the resume” pipeline could be broken. Separate the wheat from the chaff
- lbhdc 6 months agoI would totally pay for this if there were a real advantage (fewer applicants, guaranteed face to face screening, etc).
- andrei_says_ 6 months agoAnd if it got refunded if not getting the job.
- andrei_says_ 6 months ago
- vunderba 6 months ago
- Ekaros 6 months agoSo how would you ensure that companies don't just make this revenue generator? As to me that would be very effective way. Get people apply string them around a bit with LLM. And then collect the fee. Have some actual hires bypass the whole thing.
- ossm1db 6 months agocompanies would post ghost jobs to collect a fee. it would be widely abused.
- bdangubic 6 months agoif company needs this type of income source they will likely be on the verge of bankrupcy anyways :)
- dyingkneepad 6 months agoPeople would create companies that do nothing else besides posting job offers and collecting fees.
- csomar 6 months agoThese things do actually exist if you have ever been or dealt with the UAE job market.
- csomar 6 months ago
- krapp 6 months agoAmazon is a multi-billion dollar global behemoth but they still stole tips from their drivers. Capitalists gonna capitalize.
- bdangubic 6 months agohmmm... you may be right here but there not sure if number of amazon delivery drivers is comparable to number of people applying for jobs (I am assuming here we are talking "white-collar" jobs)... but you just may be right here :)
- bdangubic 6 months ago
- dyingkneepad 6 months ago
- bdangubic 6 months ago
- tacostakohashi 6 months agoI think it would be interesting / beneficial to have recruiters that work for / get paid by the candidate, much like a real estate buyer's agent.
It gets awkward and weird applying for multiple jobs through different recruiters that all work for the employers, and they all want you to be exclusive with them and sell their employers/jobs hard and trash talk any other options you have, and tough keeping track of all the different jobs / applications.
It seems like it would be nice to have one recruiter that manages your whole job hunt, lets you choose the best option, and gets paid no matter which job you end up choosing so they're not motivated to push you towards particular jobs.
- wryoak 6 months agoWell isn’t part of the issue that people are using automation to mass apply? If so, they’ll just redirect their money from compute cycles toward application fees and we’ll be in the same situation.
- doomroot 6 months ago$50 is a common application fee for a rental apartment in a city in the US. I would imagine no one would be interested in paying $5k to apply to 100 jobs.
- doomroot 6 months ago
- jethronethro 6 months agoMaybe because they'd receive few, if any, job applications?
- MultifokalHirn 6 months agoI think you should ask this to people in person. Their responses will tell you a lot more than what you are willing to hear through the computer screen.
- theoreticalmal 6 months agoApplying for a job in person de facto means you have skin in the game: you spent your time and energy to go down and apply. I think the point of the application fee is to get applicant’s skin in the game
- dave4420 6 months agoIn what way do people who need a new job not have skin in the game?
- dave4420 6 months ago
- theoreticalmal 6 months ago
- palata 6 months agoTry to contact people and say "I am a headhunter, if you pay me <that much> I will get you an interview" and tell me how many people are willing to pay.
And that's just a headhunter. Now what message do you send, as a company, if you try to get money from applications?
I definitely will never pay a company to apply. I would rather not work for them.
- dakiol 6 months agoAs applicant, I would pay if:
- it guarantees less competition
- I’m guaranteed to get an interview. I’m not paying to get directly a No as an answer
- it guarantees the company is actually hiring for that role
Unfortunately, I don’t see how one can enforce anything on companies unless it comes via regulations
- timcambrant 6 months agoI would pay a monthly fee for the reverse, setting up a paywall for companies to interview me; by which I mean paying a recruiter actively sell me on the job market and set up interviews with matching companies only after I passed an initial screening. But given my horrible experience from even the most expensive recruiters and their unfocused shotgun approach, this product will probably never exist.
- Quinzel 6 months agoI think this is a terrible idea.
You could have a really great candidate who for what ever reason, couldn’t afford to apply then and there, and the company would then miss out on amazing talent.
It would be a net negative for employers and prospective employees. Who would want to apply for a job at a company that charges you to submit the application? What service are applicants paying for?
Absolute nonsense.
- theoreticalmal 6 months agoWhat’s the overlap of “really great candidates” and “people who can’t afford $X application fee”? If the fee is a couple hundred, sure. But $20? What percent of bona fide job seekers who are good fits can’t afford $20?
- CM30 6 months agoAnyone that doesn't get hired at the first company they apply for? $20 isn't much if it's a single application, but I suspect most employees need many hundreds of applications to find a company that'll hire them. Even more so with fake jobs, and fake jobs incentivised to be such due to the idea mentioned in this post.
$20 may not be much, but $200 or $2000 might be, especially if the candidate was recently homeless, has been laid off for a while, is from a poorer background in general or has other things to pay for. That great candidate might be a great candidate for your job, but may also be one for many others, and see those as a better deal.
- CM30 6 months ago
- theoreticalmal 6 months ago
- quintes 6 months agoNegative bro. Imagine fake jobs ads become a huge revenue stream
Seek au terms: 29. You may not ask or require any candidate to pay a fee, charge, cost or any money whatsoever in connection with the hiring process for any job advertised on our websites and apps (including to apply) whether such fee, charge, cost or money is asked or required of the candidate in the job advertisement itself or in any communication with the candidate that takes place as a result of a job advertisement placed on our websites and apps
- notAgreed 6 months ago[dead]
- notAgreed 6 months ago[flagged]
- doomroot 6 months agoYou probably mass apply to jobs you aren’t remotely qualified for.
- doomroot 6 months ago