Modern hiring process and how to be part of the game
On October, I gave a talk at Budapest Node.js to raise some discussion about how software developers get hired. The talk had a little bit of Node.js angle, but could be applied to other fields and technologies also. I started the presentation by defining the current state where a regular developer switches the company between 4.8 years (on average). Most likely the number is still going down and therefore, we search for a job more than our parents did.
Changing the career is not the only case when you get job interview like situation. If you're a consultant, then you're most likely interviewed multiple times while working for the same consulting company.
It's an important topic as getting a job impacts your life and can turn a direction of your career and sometimes affect personal life.
I think older generation is a little bit lost on the current way of getting hired that includes more than just looking and waiting for a job posting and then competing with the other applicants. In a company that has modern hiring processes the job posting is a last resort.
Let's check what the steps might be before job posting at Monster.com.
Employees Network and former applicants
When the agreement has been made to hire a person, it's not a public job posting that company announces first. The first thing is to send a message out via employees network and check open applications that they have received lately.
Maybe recruitment reward is promised, and suddenly people start to remember former colleagues, buddies from school, etc.. Books like "Drive: What motivates us" will squash rewarding and I do think that better motivator is the thought that someone gets a job, but that's another topic.
Company with a good reputation receives open applications that are sometimes worth of gold and therefore, contacting people is a wise decision. "We'll contact you later if things change" turns out to be a real positive surprise instead of silly cliche when the company reaches people that have applied earlier.
Takeaway for the job hunter: For the individual who is looking for a job, the connections are getting more and more valuable and expanding the search to the social media/networking services like LinkedIn instead of just Monster.com.
Increasing publicity
If employees network and former applicants don't bring suitable candidates, it's time create a job posting in the company web-site and publish an update in the social media. Maybe a tiny amount of money to the advertising (for example Twitter, Facebook) to get more targeted publicity. If you want professional, then avoid following words: ninja, rock star, superstar, guru, etc.
Takeaway for the job hunter: Get a list of companies that you're interested in and subscribe to the news feed and follow in the social media.
Expanding the network and thinking about alternatives
Still nothing? Next steps might include:
- headhunter and their networks
- host a meetup or event and let people know that you're hiring
- check if outsourcing is an option
- if you need multiple employees from the same field, then think about partnering
Take-away for the job hunter: Go to the meetups. Quite often the company who is hosting the event is also recruiting. If you want to do particular technology, then increase the priority of the meetup of that topic.
Hiring pages, newsletters and open-source
No traction? It's time to publish a job posting in a hiring pages. If you're hiring a software developer, then I would start with StackOverflow Careers. Software development newsletters also accept job postings. Cooper Press has a public pricing page. Newsletters are valuable, especially when searching for a remote worker as newsletters tend to be about specific technology/field instead of geologically limited.
Acknowledging software developers open-source contributions by checking the repositories and then contacting will make a good impression.
Takeaway for the job hunter: Be active in the open-source if possible, subscribe to newsletters and subscribe to good quality hiring pages.
Finally..
Again, if nothing happens then it's time to be desperate and send job posting to Monster.com, and most likely you'll get equally desperate applicant. You're a perfect match.