Field Notes
Short, honest dispatches on hiring engineers — comp, process, and what the market is actually doing — from 19 years inside the searches. Written by Jason Stomel, founder of Cadre.
September 7, 2026
Founders should source their first candidates personally — the rejections teach what a job description can't. But eventually the question changes: what are the next ten hours teaching that the last ten didn't? A back-of-envelope on what a hire actually costs in founder time.
September 2, 2026
Most recruiting firms don't publish their submit-to-interview rate. HR benchmarks call 46% average and one-in-three 'healthy.' Here's what the number really measures — and why we publish ours.
July 7, 2026
An engineer flips Open to Work and has 27 first-call requests by Friday. Here's the filter they're running — and a thirty-second test that tells you whether you pass.
June 23, 2026
Some teams ban AI in interviews entirely; others say use as much as you want. There's no consensus yet — but there is a clear shift, and LeetCode isn't the separator anymore.