A techie's humorous anecdote about how he landed his friend a job at
Dell in the early 2000s has sparked a wave of nostalgia and disbelief
online. Jack Forge, a user on X (formerly Twitter), shared the story of
how he simply told his manager that his friend was "cool and liked to
party." To his astonishment, the manager asked him to share his friend's
resume, and within three days, his friend was hired and sitting at a
desk.
"Tech hiring in the 2000s was crazy. I once got a friend
hired at Dell by telling my manager that he was cool and liked to party.
My manager asked me to bring in a CV, and we got him on board. The guy
was hired and at a desk within 3 days," he posted.
The post
quickly went viral, amassing over 3 lakh views and prompting a flurry of
responses from users who shared their experiences with the hiring
process in the early 2000s.
Many
commented on how drastically the job market has changed since then,
with one user noting that current hiring practices often involve
multiple rounds of interviews, cover letters, and assessments. Others
shared their own stories of landing jobs through unconventional means,
such as showing up for an interview and being the only candidate
present.
"I was hired in 1999
because I owned a black T-shirt, LOL. It wasn't so easy, but I had
built a website in 1998, which made me some sort of web expert," one
user wrote.
"I
remember putting my resume on MonsterBoard in 2000 after having been in
the Dominican Republic for over a year. I submitted it, closed up, and
walked downstairs to have tea with my girlfriend and my mom, and the
phone rang. I was invited for an interview at Endemol (the biggest media
company in Holland at that time) and was hired on the spot, LMFAO. I
worked there for 5 years doing all kinds of awesome stuff. Good times,"
another stated.
"Just
from the last week, I passed 5 stages of interviews, including 2 soft
skills verifications and 3 technical assessments (questions, live coding
on HackerRank, system design). I was denied. Even a consultant told me
he was surprised because he hadn't had anyone pass all these stages
recently. It looked to him like the company I was applying to had just
found someone else on their own," a third individual wrote.
https://www.ndtv.com/jobs/tech-hiring-in-2000s-...
Now tell a real story that you know. I will go now,
One of my friend had a telecon scheduled it on 7AM in the morning around 2005. Fresh graduates at that time hunting for a job in Bengaluru. On the scheduled day when the phone rang the guy was in toilet, his room mate picked up the phone and said the same in sleepy voice. The interviewer wanted a small chitchat to pass the time meanwhile and asked the room mate about his qualifications, the interviewer felt he is indeed a match to some job. With a brief interview of 10-15 minitues he passed the telecon, the guy didn't even know whether it was a dream or real in that sleepy mood and in a day they had one more small round of interview , ta-da he got the job. Of course my friend too got .
If my memory serves correctly its Cypress Semiconductors
1999 with half empty stomach reached a metro, lived with 1000 rs a month, worked in sw company free, earned good will, learned and sharpened skills, did one forest department project in vb5.0 and tried outside to get 7.5k job a month. While leaving this company, they gave me 1.5k as token of my labor work , that was promised every month otherwise, to me. Used to getup at 4.30am change 3 buses and to reach office by 7am ( 9 am office but reach early to learn more on free computer and free software at office), but always find it locked as the office boy was not yet arrived. He used to come around 7.20am, scold me in his typical style sweep and clean office, yet earn 3000rs every month. After that he used to go for breakfast, whilst i open my curd rice box.
yeah! My effort did not go waste, now earned, but saw this office boy in a good restaurant as waiter, recognized and called me sir which i could not believe. Thats all due to SW.
---By anonymous..
1999 with half empty stomach reached a metro, lived with 1000 rs a month, worked in sw company free, earned good will, learned and sharpened skills, did one forest department project in vb5.0 and tried outside to get 7.5k job a month. While leaving this company, they gave me 1.5k as token of my labor work , that was promised every month otherwise, to me. Used to getup at 4.30am change 3 buses and to reach office by 7am ( 9 am office but reach early to learn more on free computer and free software at office), but always find it locked as the office boy was not yet arrived. He used to come around 7.20am, scold me in his typical style sweep and clean office, yet earn 3000rs every month. After that he used to go for breakfast, whilst i open my curd rice box.
yeah! My effort did not go waste, now earned, but saw this office boy in a good restaurant as waiter, recognized and called me sir which i could not believe. Thats all due to SW.
---By anonymous..
Even in the 9-5, subtract the time they spent in the washroom answering nature's calls or grooming themselves, breakfasts / tea-coffee breaks twice a day, an hour long lunch, going for a walk after lunch, flipping their thumbs through Insta and double tapping at stuff even without reading / seeing it properly while at their desks, WhatsApp chats / video calls, old fashioned voice calls to/from friends and family, browsing shopping sites or simply catching up with their favourite blogs, listening to music while working and, of course, socializing with coworkers. After all that, I wonder if they are even "working" for half of their 9-5 job.