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Ask HN: Why are job adverts misleading about WFH?

9 points by accengaged ↗ HN
I'm trying to find a proper list of WFH (Work from Home) jobs, specifically in Australia.

I think it's misleading to have an option for "Location" as "Work from Home" then allow ads that don't fit this description.

I've used https://seek.com.au however I'm finding that it's increasingly normal for employers to advertise their jobs as "Hybrid WFH" with some being as bad as 1-day per week out of the office.

If I wanted a "Hybrid WFH" selection, I would happily choose that.

It's like these companies think gaming the system will magically stop employees from reading job adverts.

Personally I'm just doing it out of curiosity - I've been in a WFH role for a while now and think a hybrid option might be better overall for mental / physical health but I'm still annoyed at this weird culture of false-advertising roles to find candidates.

Discuss?

9 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 42.2 ms ] thread
dakiol
In my experience these kind of companies attract either juniors or people who cannot afford to work for a 100% remote company (because they cannot pass the interview). It’s like the Nigerian prince scam: the emails are written badly on purpose because they are targeted to those people who won’t realise about the nature of the scam.
muzani
In a scam, you actually want to attract the dumb, rich people. If hiring, probably you want someone with higher IQ?

Seems more likely that they think they're offering a legitimate concession or benefit in allowing 1 day WFH.

meiraleal
It doesnt need much IQ to create CRUDs using react
dbg31415
Just keep in mind that most recruiters get paid when they place someone.

So -- at least a few years ago -- they were trying to cast a wide net and get as many interested leads for the job as possible. It's just a numbers game for them.

sjhaba
It's really a matter of "sales funnel". If they put "remote", more people will click on the job listing and they will get more applicants
langcss
I suspect the blame lies with Seek not wanting to have an embarrassing short list of full WFH jobs show up so they include hybrid.
accengaged
I think the truth is somewhere in this realm. Short list of jobs and failure of corporate to attract anyone unless they offer WFH as a perk.
fuzzfactor
>It's like these companies think gaming the system will magically stop employees from reading job adverts.

OTOH, they might want you to read loads of them until you are blue in the face and see how unlikely it is :(

illwrks
Depending on the company, if they are relatively large employer their recruitment system may be a limiting factor.

The other issue might be budget, again if the company is large budgets may be aligned to a spec or team location or hub. At this point in time a role might be 100% WFH but also for team f2f meetings/gatherings etc it might be more difficult to organise if WFH is across a large country instead of a city and its satellite towns.