Recruiting dev talent

In previous posts, I've written about retaining developers and one important thing to look for when hiring developers.  But what are you doing to recruit dev talent?  Maybe it's time to replace someone who's left.  Or your want to add to your team because the business is growing.  Perhaps you've had to let a poor performer go.  Whatever the case, what do you do when the time comes to hire?  Do you have a pile of old resumes you've saved from searches past?  Do you call a headhunter and start reading the resumes they throw your way?  Do you have an active recruiting lifestyle with a candidate pool veritably on tap?


Headhunters are good.  Very good sometimes.  In fact, I'm working with a couple right now as part of my opportunity search and I am very pleased to have the use of their talents and connections.  However, you need to help yourself too. Your headhunter(s) won't know everyone.  You need to be building some buzz out there on your own so people start to seek you out.  You don't need to be Groupon of Facebook to attract talent, you just need to work at it.


Your firm's web site should have an Open Positions section.  You should have a Life At Our Firm piece too.  Include as much as you can about what makes your company a great place to work.  Things like technology examples and how the firm gives back to the community through donations and/or charitable works should be featured prominently.  Also include as much as you can about the great benefits your firm offers to its employees.  If your office space looks cool, by all means, include some pictures.  When considering your place of business as a possible destination, prospective employees will check out your site.  Make sure you put your best foot forward.


Internal referrals are a great source of talent acquisition.  If your team is fully motivated and involved, they shouldn't hesitate to recommend your firm to their friends and likely candidates.  The firm would do well to have a referral bonus program in place to encourage this behavior.  A referral bonus would probably be a lot cheaper than a headhunter's fee, and I dare say you'll get candidates more likely to stick too.  The key here is having employees that are happy enough to want to recommend your firm.  If you aren't getting any internal referrals to your open positions, I bet you have a morale problem.


Attend college job fairs.  A lot of them.  You should know the campus job / placement people at several schools.  Don't restrict yourself to local schools.  Think bigger.  Go a little further.  Get out there and sell your firm.


Develop a recruiting lifestyle.  You've got to invest up front to have a talent pool on tap.  It takes effort and, yes, some money.  Attend industry events and keep the world aware of what a great place to work your firm is.  Network.  All the time.  It might even behoove you to have an internal recruiter who's job is to be on top of this stuff.  Not a part time HR generalist.  They won't have enough time to devote to recruiting to do it right.  Invest.


These are just a few ideas for shortening your recruiting cycle next time you need to hire.  I'm sure there are more and probably better ideas out there.  How does your firm do it?


Thanks for reading.




Shameless plug:
I have spent the past thirteen years writing code and managing teams of software engineers in the financial services industry. To learn more, look me up on LinkedIn.