The 1k karma minimum for commenting without a comment becoming pending is preventing a lot of companies from appearing in the 'Who is hiring' comments section.
This shouldn't be an issue. Pending comments are now only enabled on a per-thread bases, if a moderator specifically turns them on: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7484304
As far as I can tell (checking the page and checking /pending) there are no pending comments right now.
The comment pending applies to all users; the 1k limit is for endorsing.