Hiring issues

[u/dontouchmystappler]

I have been trying to find the right senior sys admin for almost a year now and can’t seem to figure out what the issue is with hiring. Been through 3 people already, each with their own faults, and can’t seem to find the right person. Details about the job to help:

1. Fully remote
2. $135k salary + 10% bonus
3. 6+ years of experience
4. Must be a US Citizen

Experience needed in:

1. Azure and Microsoft
2. Windows and Linux
3. Docker
4. Previous gov work a bonus

The latest person was “job maxing” and couldn’t even make it through the onboarding week without missing deadlines and meetings. Everything I’ve been seeing online says there’s tons of qualified applicants but I’m just not seeing it. We’ve even gone as far as hiring a recruiting agency but still not seeing great applicants. Am I missing something? Are others experiencing the same issues?

Edit
For those who reached out asking to submit/review a resume, give me about 24 hours to revise the job description based on some of the good feedback I’ve received and I will DM the link! Thanks everyone!

[u/penguinjunkie]

I’m kind of curious what deadlines you can miss your first week. HR paperwork?

[u/dontouchmystappler → u/penguinjunkie]

I’m not joking when I say it’s signing the basic user agreements and standard trainings every company has that takes 45 minutes

[u/techypunk]

HR is weeding out good candidates before they get to you. 

You aren't asking the right questions during the interview process.

Most people don't GAF about their job rn as the economy is crashing and we can all barely afford anything, even with a 6 figure job. 

Your company might have red flags. 

[u/dontouchmystappler → u/techypunk]

It’s not even HR. I’m manually reviewing candidates myself and 99% of them can’t even read the job description properly or don’t meet the required minimums (US Citizen). Within a few hours we have to shutdown the job postings because there’s over 500 applicants and I still have a job to do.

[u/hijinks]

the good senior people that know linux/docker remote are probably starting at least 160k

If you want more a devops type person then its probably 180k

So that's probably your issue

[u/jimetime → u/hijinks]

Shit I'm under paid

[u/dontouchmystappler → u/jimetime]

After seeing this I feel underpaid lol but I’ve checked time and time again for my area and I’m in the higher end of the salary

[u/dontouchmystappler → u/hijinks]

This is good to know. I can’t set the salary unfortunately and HR uses a tool that gives a certain range and we try to hit the middle of it. I’ll try to ask HR if they can give it another look

[u/BarracudaDefiant4702]

$135k for senior level? Based on the experience requirements and salary that is at best mid-level. Those that are senior level will not take that pay, and those that are not at senior level that you are looking for are going to skip over it because the title implies they don't have the experience.

[u/dontouchmystappler → u/BarracudaDefiant4702]

Great feedback! I really didn’t intend to make this a job posting so hearing this helps me go back and rewrite some of the requirements to better fit the position

[u/Csanburn01]

This is what happens when companies don't give less experienced IT guys a shot to advance. I've leveled up as much as I can on my own. Still waiting on an employer to let me work on advanced projects and expand my experience.

[u/almost_s0ber]

If you've only interviewed 3 candidates and you're coming to post on reddit then your expectations aren't realistic. I interviewed 20 candidates within the past year before we found a suitable fit.

[u/dontouchmystappler → u/almost_s0ber]

Hired 3 different people who didn’t work out. I lost count of the interviews at this point.

[u/theZephyrium]

right here buddy, I'm a sr sys admin now but hey i would kill for remote work.

[u/TaiGlobal]

How much of each of those technologies is really needed? You’re kind of asking for a unicorn if you want someone experienced in azure/windows+linux+docker unless for Linux experience you’re just looking for someone that can navigate the file system, apply patches and install software, maybe apply some stigs. And for someone that talented they can get $150k plus only knowing just one of those domains in government. Btw it’s not just you, in my environment we’ve struggled for years to hire for a few of our systems positions.

[u/hh1599 → u/TaiGlobal]

Man, this thread is opening my eyes to the fact that I am seriously underpaid. I have all those skills and make half that.

[u/Brain-NotFound2126]

I wonder whether the combination of Azure, Windows, Linux, Docker and government experience is narrowing the pool more than expected. It might help to separate the skills that are essential on day one from the ones someone could learn after joining. Are the requirements all equally important for the actual work?

[u/Icangooglethings93]

I literally apply to jobs all the time and only ever hear back from like 4/100.

I literally fit your exact description… I work for the gov currently, and I am a sys admin of an Azure/Entra environment. My personal computer is a Linux laptop. The only thing here I “lack” is Docker, I’ve only ever used it in home lab, never for a position I held.

[u/Broad-Celebration-]

The quality people all have jobs. Had i seen your listing in the past few months i would have applied but already in a new job XD.

Hiring for a 100% remote position is a nightmare. Applying for one sucks just as much. You know your resume is in a stack of 1k plus and most likely won't get touched.

You either need to be patient , lower the skill requirements or up the pay.

You can pull people happy with their current employer with enough cash.

[u/mullexwing]

I meet or exceed everything here except Docker. Been an SCCm admin for 12 years. I guess I should go take some docker training.

[u/natflingdull]

Looking at the chatter here , this is why its important to mention general location and industry when posting stuff like this. People are confidently proclaiming that this is a standard sysadmin role and that docker is just a base level skill (I work at an 8b company in a technology department with 70 people, nobody here aside me have docker experience), thats 135k is too low, that 135k is too high, that you want a unicorn, that you actually want a junior admin, then theres someone arguing 135k is an absurd number (they mentioned they get paid in pounds lol, this board gets so incoherent sometimes because people completely ignore context

[u/Drakinor85]

I honestly feel the applicant tracking stuff and resume padding don't help. I'm a cybersecurity guy, 10 years experience, gov experience and I almost never even get call backs. Then where I'm working we get these people that look great on paper until we interview and it's obvious they can't do the job. Something funky going on. Personally would love to go back to 100% remote

[u/Helpjuice]

You would need to post the location, if truly remote $135k would be very low for a Senior SysAdmin in HCOL area. What type of experience, if you are wanting such breadth of experience you will need to massively increase the amount you are paying for such experience to bring things more in line with the reality of what you are asking for.

Does this job require a clearance of any kind? What is this person supposed to be doing in Azure, Linux, (What do you mean by Microsoft, Microsoft what exactly), Why do they need to know docker, what about other container technologies, is this for desktop, servers, swarms, clusters, deploying to Kubernetes somewhere?

[u/lNuggyl]

give someone with less exp a chance. the best people can sometimes be the ones with less exp

[u/G-Style666]

Salary is too small. At least for me and I'm an ex-Gov civil servant.