Preparation is the key to improving response rate in dev recruiting
Top developers have long stopped responding to general “Rockstar developers wanted!” -Spam emails. Personalized messages are key to increasing your response rate to top candidates. You need to know what to use in your communications and when to use it. Your response rate improves by investing more time preparing upfront. This article shows a few steps so that you can prepare yourself even better for the target candidate.
More than a job description
Before you begin your search, you need to be sure of what you have to offer. Why? It helps you to specialize your search for qualified and interested talent. A high-performing software developer must be given a convincing argument as to why he should consider your company.
But what interests candidates? In addition to basic information about the company, its products, remuneration and location, there are three things that are important to many programmers. However, these points are not reflected in most job descriptions, which are unfortunately often terribly written and only focused on requirements.
Work and technology
What would the future developer build or develop in your company? What are the classic projects that the new developer would work on? What specific problems are solved? How is your job different from others? How can the new task affect the company, the industry, or even the world? Which parts of the work can you refer to (examples on the internet, research results, projects, etc.)? What is your company's technology stack?
The team and tech culture
What is the background of the future colleagues? Where did the team work in the past (big tech brands, financial services, start-ups)? What training does the team have (are they all graduates of technical courses or are they self-taught)? Which projects were implemented together? Is the culture more open and collaborative and are the spaces open plan? What percentage of the time do programmers spend creating software and how much in meetings? Is the focus in product development more on iteration or major releases?
The learning and career opportunities
What would future developers learn in your development department over the next few months? What are examples of new technologies and methods that the team has learned over the past year? Are developers encouraged to be “heads down, headphones on” coders, or are general problem solvers sought? Are there career opportunities at the technical level, or do you have to take on personnel responsibility?
If you provide just a third of the information for developers, you're ahead of most IT recruiters. In this way, you specifically address those candidates who feel motivated on the basis of their working methods, team values and career opportunities.
Where does the candidate want to go?
If your approach as an IT recruiter is essentially only focused on keyword matching (resume with the job posting), you are unlikely to get a response from good, passive developers. Of course, you need to make sure the candidate has all the relevant expertise, and Keywords can certainly help with that. The best IT recruiters also know what really motivates the candidate.
A good recruiter knows in advance what role a potential candidate is interested in. So, how do you find out where the candidate wants to develop? Some conclusions can be drawn from online profiles of the ideal candidate.
Technology interest
On tech sites like GitHub or Stack Overflow you can see what the candidate is really interested in. For example, which technologies and tech communities the candidate is enthusiastic about and which problems they would like to solve. Many developers work on side projects that are not related to your current job. Knowing this, they can start a conversation that is more focused on the candidate's passion than the job at hand.
Career interests
Now that you have a sense of what projects candidates are interested in, you'll better understand what kind of company excites them. You can learn more about career interests on blogs and other websites. Which companies have the candidates worked for before, how long have they usually been with an employer, how have they progressed in their careers, do they prefer a corporate or a startup and which companies do they follow.
Personal interests
You can use Twitter, Meetup or Facebook to find out about the candidates' personal preferences and hobbies. What inspires programmers is often found on personal blogs. Is the candidate passionate about a specific video game, quoting Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, following a specific comic? All of this information can be used to personalize your approach. Common interests can be highlighted.
Conclusion
Once you learn what candidates are interested in, you can personalize your message and stand out from the crowd of recruiters bombarding developers with "I, I, I" messages.
