Top all-time · #3120
Nick Corcodilos
Personal blog · asktheheadhunter.comcareer
Nick Corcodilos writes Ask The Headhunter®, a personal blog at asktheheadhunter.com about career. Since 2008, 25 different Hacker News readers have linked it 52 times, most often “Exit Interview, Stage Right”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-27, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (24) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Nick Corcodilos's long-running job-hunting site, with advice on interviews, recruiters, salary disclosure and exit interviews. HN readers cite specific older articles as classic, evergreen guidance.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 24 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Headhunter Nick Corcodilos gives you an insider's edge on job search, hiring, resumes, interviews, recruiters, salary, and much more.
Most-linked posts?
- Exit Interview, Stage Right3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2010-04-27
- /3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-12-15
- Death by Lethal Reputation – The Demise of an Employer2 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2010-04-24
- /2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2013-08-14
- /hasalary.htm2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-11-29
What Hacker News says?
Ah the notorious "exit interview"? Steer well well clear of them too! http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/haexit.htm
Comment linking /haexit.htm
on “Fired? Speak No Evil”Submitted Ghosting: Job candidates turn tables on employers as a story · 49 points
HN discussionAn oldie but goodie: http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/hasalary.htm There was a better one, which I can't find now.
Comment linking /hasalary.htm
on “I regularly hire women for 65% to 75% of what males make”Submitted Everything You Know About Job Hunting Is Wrong as a story · 19 points
HN discussionI haven't interviewed in a long time, though I read interviewing advice from Nick Corcodilos at AskTheHeadhunter and it seems to make sense. The basic idea is to take control of the interview and start doing the work right there in the interview, just like if you were on your first day of the job. Yes, this takes all sorts of social skills and preparation, but it sure would make you stand out from the crowd of softw…
Comment linking /basics5.htm
on “How the Valley treats experienced people”Submitted B.S. on the jobs numbers euphoria as a story · 17 points
HN discussion>Acting shady hurts your brand. The Ladders has a long history of actually being shady, viz. "Liars at the Ladders" http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/newsletter/oe20090120.htm
Comment linking /newsletter/oe20090120.htm
on “The slippery slope”Submitted M.I.T. Calls B.S. On Skills Gap as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThis seems to be another example of the trend to AI based hiring, where the candidate interacts with zero humans until they have invested a huge amount of time and energy[0]. Good on you for telling them off. [0] https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/15129/before-you-risk-your-...
Comment linking /15129/before-you-risk-your-references
on “My startup failed, then I found out I was unemployable”Submitted Death by Lethal Reputation – The Demise of an Employer as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSounds a bit like the Death by Lethal Reputation example Nick "Ask the Headhuner" Corcodilos wrote up: http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/halethalrep.htm Google could eventually reach that point....
Comment linking /halethalrep.htm
on “No, I still don't want to work for Google”Submitted The Single Best Interview Question And The Best Answer as a story · 2 points
HN discussionReminds me of the approach of http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/ (if you ignore the 90' web style) is pretty interesting: find out where you want to wokr find out the problems they have show them you can solve the problems profitably
Comment linking /
on “What Developers Should Know About Job Searching and Negotiation”Submitted Negotiate a better job offer by saying YES as a story · 1 points
HN discussionCoincidentally, the most recent Ask the Headhunter article [1] is "The Single Best Interview Question... And The Best Answer". Hint: It isn't about your hobby project. [1] http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/habestinterviewquestion.htm
Comment linking /habestinterviewquestion.htm
on “How I ended up conducting successful tech interviews with just 1 question”Submitted Exit Interview, Stage Right as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThe best advice I've seen on how to structure an interview came from Nick Corcodilos of Ask the Headhunter [1] fame, from his book Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job [2]. If you want to show someone you can do the job (or see if they can do the job), do the job, or as close as you can get to it in an interview setting. Anything will be selecting for indicators that will be more or less correlated with job perf…
Comment linking /articles.htm
on “How I ended up conducting successful tech interviews with just 1 question”Submitted The right way to get coached as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSounds a bit like Ask the Headhunter's classic "Death by Lethal Reputation" essay: http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/halethalrep.htm
Comment linking /halethalrep.htm
on “Recruiters are, by and large, a waste of your time”Submitted Deadly Job-Hunting Assumption #1: They know I want the job as a story · 1 points
HN discussionYes, I learned this back in the day from the classic "ask the headhunter" series. Since then I've simply stated job/salary requirements to jump-ship and it hasn't been a problem. http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/hasalary.htm
Comment linking /hasalary.htm
on “Do Not Disclose Your Salary to Recruiters”I doubt it hurts to create a standard free LinkedIn account, it's still useful for networking, putting a resume on the web (well, there's advantages and disadvantages to that), etc. But I agree with Nick Corcodilos, which is almost a tautology, he's by far the best author I've ever found on these subjects. One of the best things you can do for yourself in the long run is to read the appropriate stuff on his http://w…
Comment linking /
on “Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?”Couldn’t agree more. A long time ago somebody recommended Nick Corcodilos‘ book, “Ask The Headhunter“, and it changed the way I thought about job hunting. There’s a lot of great resouces on his site: https://www.asktheheadhunter.com
Comment linking /
on “CV Compiler is a robot that fixes your resume to make you more competitive”The very idea of a website that encourages people to anonymously critique employers is ludicrous and irresponsible. I think its use is widespread because it makes money. That fact impresses HR executives and the public, leading them all to base business decisions on admittedly untrustworthy information. Just think about it: Any disgruntled employee or job applicant can trash a company publicly. An HR department can…
Comment linking /7453/can-i-trust-glassdoor-reviews
on “Glassdoor and its effect on workplace culture”the costs are roughly $4000 per employee per year. That's maybe 15% of their salary, probably less. You think that top software engineering graduates in New York City make $26k per year? Recalibrate! Recalibrate! I think the number you're looking for is "less than 4%". Remember that the office-construction expenses can be massaged by accountants to reduce taxes on them, and that an employee's (e.g.) $80k salary cost…
Comment linking /basics2.htm
on “Joel on Software: The new Fog Creek Office”This may have been covered already, but... The purpose of a resume is not to get you hired. The point of a resume is to catch someone's attention for long enough to keep you in the race, or get to the next step. A successful resume is one that will be NOT discarded by HR drones or automated resume scanning software. A successful resume will get you a phone screening or an in-person interview. If your resume is, as y…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent?”I didn't see that discussion previously, but it sounds like a potential example of "Death by Lethal Reputation" as detailed by the Ask the Headhunter guy: http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/halethalrep.htm And it really sucks; while I didn't go to it for CS, I attended one of the best 4 schools in the world for that, and while interviewing as I've done in times past, would never dream of assuming a fellow alum who got…
Comment linking /halethalrep.htm
on “A focus on elite schools ignores the issues most college students face”More than a decade and a half old now, Ask the Headhunter's "Death by Lethal Reputation" is an evergreen essay: https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/halethalrep.htm
Comment linking /halethalrep.htm
on “What do I do when my boss is sabotaging interviews?”Plus one for reading Nick (the author of 'Ask the Headhunter': http://asktheheadhunter.com/ The site has been 'online since 1995' and looks like it, but has a wealth of advice for taking control of your destiny when looking for a new job. This is my favorite piece on how to interview: http://asktheheadhunter.com/basics5.htm
Comment linking /basics5.htm
on “How To Find Unadvertised Jobs”From what little I saw, Sheryl Handler indeed had no business skills. My experience was trying to be the 1st or 2nd person to fill a particular job. I had a great interview process (except for Danny, a friend, initially giving me a hard time for not being in school ($$$)) ... and then nothing. So long, that it was more than a month later, when I'd accepted and started another job, that they contacted me to proceed.…
Comment linking /halethalrep.htm
on “The Rise and Fall of Thinking Machines (1995)”
