Please don't spam people looking for employment. It's just cruel
Jobseekers posting their contact details on Hacker News hiring threads report being flooded with increasingly aggressive, often AI-generated spam and scams, including dubious “recruiting platforms,” fake interview-support tools, and schemes that attempt to co‑opt their identities or devices. Commenters argue that modern scraping and LLMs have made it trivial and cheap to target vulnerable, unemployed people at scale, while offering little genuine opportunity in return. Alongside practical tips like using throwaway emails and stronger filtering, many highlight the emotional toll of long-term job hunting and stress that real prospects now come far more from personal networks and referrals than from public job boards.
Spam targeting HN hiring threads
- Multiple posters report a surge of unsolicited emails after posting in “Who wants to be hired?” (and, to a lesser extent, “Who is hiring?”).
- Messages range from obvious scams to “platforms,” “hackathons,” or “interview support” tools masquerading as opportunities.
- Many note that leads from these threads are now mostly spam; some have stopped posting entirely or use disposable email addresses.
LLM- and automation-driven outreach
- Many believe recent spam is generated or assisted by LLMs: style is semi-personalized, references specific skills or thread posts, and scales easily.
- Some tools/recruiters explicitly present themselves as AI agents; several users auto-mark any “AI recruiter” as spam.
- There’s concern that AI drastically lowers the cost of spam while also being used defensively for filtering, leading to “bots talking to bots.”
Scams and high-risk schemes
- Reports of offers where a “developer” wants to piggyback on someone’s identity, laptop, or Upwork account for a revenue split, often tied to sanctioned or low-trust jurisdictions.
- Fears of malware, ransomware, backdoors, money laundering, and sanctions violations (e.g., North Korea–linked schemes).
- Other predatory patterns: fake jobs requiring payment, bug-bounty extortion attempts, or contests that double as unpaid work and IP grabs.
Recruiters, the job market, and desperation
- Many complain about traditional recruiters: vague roles, withheld company names, funneling everything into calls, and being perceived as low-value intermediaries.
- Some defend recruiters as useful filters and negotiators when good, stressing contract structures and aligned incentives.
- Several posts describe long-term unemployment, financial precarity, and how spam or scams emotionally compound an already stressful search.
Coping strategies and proposed solutions
- Tactics include: unique or hidden emails, strict filters (e.g., Gmail tabs or custom rules), GDPR requests, and simply treating promotions as trash.
- Suggestions for tools: LLM-based “answering machines” to interrogate suspicious senders, better HN protections, or deliberate poisoning/honeypots for scrapers.
- Consensus: spam and scams won’t stop; individuals must harden their own processes and lean more on referrals and offline networking.