Companies’ struggle to get the best IT talent and hire the best developers is becoming increasingly fiercer. The demand for developers is very high and in many countries, the amount demanded simply exceeds the number of unemployed people in the area. This is why companies, in general, must fill their vacancies by taking the professional out of the company where they are currently working. In addition to this, as in any other profession, there are professionals with “more fingers for the piano” than others and, therefore, it is important to ensure that the person to be incorporated is a contribution and that they fit the team with which they are going to work. It is therefore key to know how to recognize the best developers and also convince them to work with you.
Here are 5 tips to help you get there:
Do not rush and get it right
Probably the biggest mistake companies make is to start looking in a hurry. In a few cases it may be that there is a good reason for this to happen, but most of the time it is just bad planning. The result is that a few are evaluated and the “least bad” is chosen. This also happens when the IT manager or recruiter is so busy that they do not have time to evaluate enough candidates and get it right. Nothing is more dangerous than this since bad hiring will be much (but VERY) more expensive than the hours spent getting a good number of candidates and evaluating them well. Plan ahead, make sure you dedicate the time and effort the process requires and do not hire the first one that seems acceptable, evaluate enough candidates and evaluate them well, and then choose the best one.
Evaluate the particular competencies of a developer
If you followed step one correctly, you now have a good number of candidates to start working with and enough time to evaluate them properly. Now you must make sure that your evaluation process is correct. If you managed to receive a good number of CVs then you should optimize your process to quickly screen the least promising candidates. This is very important because the more optimized your evaluation process is, the more likely you will be able to get the time (yours and others involved) that is required for a successful process. Usually, the first step is to review the CVs to validate the years of experience and knowledge, followed by a technical evaluation of the CVs filtered.
If you followed step one correctly, you now have a good number of candidates to start working with and enough time to evaluate them properly. Now you must make sure that your evaluation process is correct. If you managed to receive a good number of CVs then you should optimize your process to quickly screen the least promising candidates. This is very important because the more optimized your evaluation process is, the more likely you will be able to get the time (yours and others involved) that is required for a successful process. Usually, the first step is to review the CVs to validate the years of experience and knowledge, followed by a technical evaluation of the CVs filtered.
With the 20% who passed the first stage, you can do a control test in the office, in addition to a personality test that helps in subsequent interviews. Hence, the technical interview should focus on scenarios and how the candidate would resolve them. Here also, if it is the usual case where senior members of the technical team do the interview, it is possible to do an initial analysis of the fit in the team and the culture of the company. This can be incorporated into the company’s regular process, with the usual more traditional interviews.
The most important is to pre-filter quickly, evaluate the practical programming competencies and logical reasoning skills that are the greatest predictors of future performance for a developer and focus on promising candidates for the rest of the process.
“Cultural fit”, “diversity”, and “rockstars”
Following the steps above you now have some good candidates to consider. For the final decision, your intellectual capacity and programming skills may not be the only factor. It is demonstrated that diversity helps to form more effective teams. People with different backgrounds (I know… perhaps abuse of English expressions), experiences and personality to find different solutions to different problems. The cultural fit is very important, especially when the company has a very strong culture that you want to maintain. Finally, there is the subject of “rockstars”. Those developers with impressive capabilities, who could work at Nasa… and they know it. It is not bad to have a rockstar, but there are a few things to keep in mind. The first thing is that a team cannot consist of 100% rockstars. In any development project, there are exciting tasks and other routine ones. Someone has to do those routine tasks, which are important, but maybe a rockstar is not motivated to do them for a long time. Rockstars also tend to be higher maintenance, which can drain resources and energy from teammates and bosses. Finally, rockstars sometimes tend not to work well with other rockstars as they tend to be very stubborn about the right way to do something (the right way for a rockstar is their way of doing things).
Here it is a question not only of looking for talent but of forming a team that works, that works well, with people that adjust to the culture of the company and the team.
You are a candidate company for the developer who is selecting where to work.
The selection process should not be seen solely as a selection activity. During the process, the candidate must be fascinated and seduced. They will also make a decision, they will probably already have a good job and you have to convince them to come and work with us. It is important to know what the candidate is looking for and to be able to give him good reasons to choose our company. If you are recruiting for a big company, then the brand and prestige of the company, as well as access to training, large projects, first-rate colleagues, etc., are strong arguments (but you have to see the specific value offer that you want to “sell” to the candidate).
If you recruit for a small company, the ability to take on many responsibilities (which sometimes is difficult in big companies as everyone sees a very small piece at all), learn many things, the possibility to grow if the company grows, entrepreneurial spirit, etc. are good points to emphasize. Once again, we need to know what the candidate is looking for and what points make our company attractive.
We developers (I am also) like to learn the latest technologies and create innovative things, so you have to see how the company can deliver this to the candidate if it accepts our offer.
The passion
The best developers tend to love programming. They are passionate about it, they love it, and would do it for free because they like it (but do not you dare propose this, please). During the interview, try to see that passion in the candidate’s eyes. See how they get excited when they tell you about the incredible code they wrote in their previous job and how they solved a problem with the technology they master.
Bonus Track: The best developers usually have friends or acquaintances who are just as good (and who would even love to work together) so once you have the first good developers on your team, ask them to refer you to others (just as good as they are) and I assure you that you will have excellent candidates for your next process.