Three Keys to Securing a Developer
Hiring a software engineer or web developer in Chicago? Yeah, so is almost every organization in the city. Open source, .NET, front end—you name it. This runs from two-person startups all the way up to Fortune 500 financial, healthcare, and insurance companies.
With so much competition and demand for talented candidates, companies need to adapt to the market and incorporate certain practices. As a Technical Recruiter at Jobspring Partners, I witness the various processes different companies use to bring developers onto their teams. Based on my experience, here are a few points you have to consider in order to secure the talent you want:
Sell Your Opportunity
So, you have a candidate sitting in front of you that you like and would make a good fit for the team. Take this opportunity to sell them on why your role is their best bet, because odds are they’re also interviewing elsewhere.
Candidates tend to care about three things: technology, projects, and culture. Go into detail on how your team is utilizing modern technologies, creating complex and highly recognizable solutions, and how the culture is on par with their personality and career ambitions. Paint them a picture.
People buy into this; they respect when someone goes out of the way to sway their decision. It shows you’re passionate about the organization, helps them imagine working there, and automatically gives you a leg up on the competition.
Have Realistic Expectations
We’ve all read through job descriptions. The skills and qualifications part tend to resemble a kid’s Christmas list. What are they odds they’re going to get an Xbox 360, iPad and LED TV? The same thing holds true with companies. The candidate you secure isn’t a unicorn; he or she probably won’t have every bell and whistle you’re looking for most of the time.
This doesn’t mean you’re hiring a dud, so be flexible enough to entertain candidates that have the majority of the skill set you’re looking for as well as the ability to learn other tools and technologies on the job and from more senior level colleagues. You’d be surprised how fast people can adapt, especially if they are hungry and genuinely interested in adding new skills to their tool belt.
If you hold out for that diamond in the rough, odds are you will miss out on plenty of qualified people. Then you’re back to square one if you can’t find that perfect person.
Move Quickly
Keep this in mind from beginning to end. If there is a good resume in your inbox, call it. You want to be one of the first points of contact a good candidate encounters in his or her job search. Once you get in touch, get that person into your office ASAP–no phone screening funny business. In-person interviews provide much more value to the candidate and make you stand out amongst other companies.
After you get somebody in the door, remember that really talented people usually go off the market in fewer than 10 business days from the start of their search. If they are a “yes” after the first interview, schedule them right then and there for their second round. There’s no use going back and forth delaying things. Try to book the next interview within two-to-three days.
Do your thing in the second and third round interviews–I’d advise against any more than that–and don’t hesitate to pull the trigger. The longer you wait after a final round to make an offer, the more the “nostalgia” from the interview goes away and gives other companies the opportunity to make their move. Coming out with a quick and competitive offer makes the chances of obtaining that candidate much higher.
Companies competing for candidates might seem strange, backwards even, compared to traditional hiring standards. But I see firsthand what produces the best results, and how companies adapt in order to secure top talent. When it comes to acquiring a software engineer or web developer, there’s no place for pride. Make them want you as much as you want them and you’ll be that much more likely to have them on your team—not the competition’s.
