Hiring Techs Is Easy(it’s getting them to the interview that

isn’t)

#RBCLive

Steve

Engineer who crossed over to the dark side

20+ years recruiting in tech sectors SME sourcing, engaging, recruiting,

retaining Founder & Organizer of tech user groups IN: https://www.linkedin.com

/in/stevenmlevy Twitter: @LevyRecruits Blog: http://www.recruitinginferno.com Google me: steve-levy recruiting

#RBCLive

Technical Recruiting Reads

Read this: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html

This too: http://www.fastcolabs.com/3015662/want-to-recruit-better-developers-give-them-broken-code

#RBCLive

We’re all Rockstars, right?

#RBCLive

We have a serious problem

“Not answering when I ask for more specifics about the kind of work such as tech stack or interesting classes of problems. I get this one a lot, and my goal in asking for more details is to find out if I or someone I know might be a good fit. If you refuse to say anything more than ‘uses Python’, I'm probably not going to respond back.”

#RBCLive

It’s a very serious problem

“Asking me if I'm interested in a job using a technology that appears NOWHERE on my resume AT ALL and yet clearly requires significant expertise in the technology”

#RBCLive

Oh no…it’s even worse

“Asking me to spam all my friends in exchange for an iPad in the off chance that one of them takes the job.”

#RBCLive

Far worse…

“Being entirely unwilling to provide the name of the company advertising the position”

#RBCLive

Oh dear…

“Calling me at work (or at all, for that matter). I'm way more likely to answer you via email, and I'm not sure why I get the argument, ‘No, trust me, I know how you want to be contacted’ “

#RBCLive

The Technical Mind

(it’s not that difficult to understand)

#RBCLive

Coding Wisdom For Recruiters

“When debugging, novices insert corrective code; experts remove defective code.”

[know it, use it]

(listen to how people describe their projects)

#RBCLive

Coding Wisdom For Recruiters

“Java is to JavaScript what Car is to Carpet.”

(please don’t fake what you know if you don’t know)

[know it, use it]

#RBCLive

Coding Wisdom For Recruiters

“It's hard enough to find an error in your code when you're looking for it; it's even

harder when you've assumed your code is error-free.”

(when assessing, use broken or obfuscated code testing)

[know it, use it]

#RBCLive

Coding Wisdom For Recruiters

“If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be

the process of putting them in.”

~Edsger Dijkstra

(ask for the developer’s reaction during the interview)

[know it, use it]

#RBCLive

Coding Wisdom For Recruiters

“Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent

psychopath who knows where you live.”

(ask how they work with psycho-code)

[know it, use it]

#RBCLive

Coding Wisdom For Recruiters

“There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming

language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code.”

~Flon's Law

(ask opinions about alternatives to existing stack)

[know it, use it]

#RBCLive

Coding Wisdom For Recruiters

“Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks

piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and

thousands of slaves.”

(legacy code is a reality and must be planned for)

[know it, use it]

#RBCLive

Coding Wisdom For Recruiters

“Any code of your own that you haven't looked at for six or more months might as well have been

written by someone else.”

~Eagleson's law

(making decisions based solely on code repos is folly)

[know it, use it]

#RBCLive

Coding Wisdom For Recruiters

“Good code is its own best documentation.”

(assess code with and without documentation)

[know it, use it]

#RBCLive

Engagement & Assessment

(best ingredients + best recipe + best chef = ?)

#RBCLive

Secrets to Engagement

The People are the ingredients You must know their Likes, Dislikes,

Quirks, Cultural Differences Look for tools other than the hammer –

because not everything is a nail You don’t want to lead the horse to water

– you want to make them thirsty Most of all, be knowledgeable & personal

#RBCLive

Emails and InMails

Subject: Curb Appeal First Line: Lead-Off Home Run Self-Deprecation: Yeah, Recruiters Do Suck a/b/c: The Behavioral Contract The Company: Why We’re Special Buddah: You’re Beautiful To Me How I Found You/About Me: Sourcing Cool What You Can Do Next: It’s Up To You

#RBCLive

Curb Appeal

Research your target group Humor works…sometimes Controversial issues? Specific problem to be solved? The power of the ellipse…

#RBCLive

Lead-Off Home Run

Don’t go the “Pick me! Pick me!” route If you can, make it short and sweet Continue the pace of the Subject line Have fun…show your personality

#RBCLive

Yeah, Recruiters Do Suck

They know why you’re reaching out to them so you might as well be in on the game

They’ve already trashed 246 crappy emails and InMails this week – so they’re really good at it

#RBCLive

The Behavioral Contract

So (a) I won’t contact you anymore unless you want me to, (b) I’ll go away if you tell me to, and (c) I’ll help any friend of yours who might have a need to change jobs or find a job - even if they aren’t in software development. Not all recruiters are {add your favorite curse word here}.

#RBCLive

Why We’re special

One line preferred unless you really have a story to tell that ties into why you’re contacting them

You know those novels about your company that proceed the “meat” of your job description? No. Just NO.

Be honest

#RBCLive

You’re Beautiful To Me

There are many reasons why this person will be receiving your email – tell them why

Be prepared to go into more detail when they respond – because the good ones will ask

“Our API Layer is heavy node.js. Since you’re one of its 500+ authors, I’m reaching out to you because others who use node.js probably look up to you”

#RBCLive

Sourcing Cool

Demystify the blackhole and show them “yours”

“Then I read some of your Tweets and checked to see if Googling ‘FIRST LAST’ forum produced posts of yours (you seem to like vaadin.com); I know it looks like cyberstalking but in the recruiting world it’s called ‘research’ “

“In case you dislike recruiters, feel free to Google me without () – (steve-levy recruiting), and see for yourself that I'm not like ‘them’ “

#RBCLive

It’s Up To You

Give them the power for the “next move” “Feel free to ping me if you need more

info (here's something I wrote about our layers), relay this email on to those whom you think might be interested (perhaps coming off contract or pissed off that they’re not doing the things they were promised in their current role), or I suppose ignore me if this email creeped you out.”

#RBCLive

What’s Missing?

Anything about a job – why try to sell if you haven’t yet engaged???

Lying

#RBCLive

What Techies Want

They want you to be honest; never fake it They want to know the real job not the

tasks They want to know the entire stack They want to discuss your problems – not

get grilled about contrived CS 101 material

They want a real mentor They want to be heard once on the job They want to have an impact – that’s

mine

#RBCLive

Technical Assessment Mistakes

The 7-10 years problem Trusting self-assessment as a Rockstar Not asking to write the “right” code “Hire but not for my team” Ignoring spelling errors Not focusing on technical and people

skills Fear of hiring someone better

#RBCLive

Putting Assessment Together

A/B Testing Your Process. How do you know that it works? Or are you simply cutting & pasting from a previous job?

How We Really Work. Scrum, Agile, Waterfall, Paired, TDD, BDD, Design Patterns: Do you assess they way you really work?

How Our Best Developers Work. Is this built into your assessment process?

Community Matters. Do you really care that many want to be part of something even larger than the company?

#RBCLive

Putting Assessment Together

360 Relationships. Are you building all relationships into your process?

Great Code. How do you define and “score” great code? “We’ll know it when we see it”?

What They Really Want To Do. Do you care about what excites them? How can your company help them achieve this goal?

Use Humor. “If you had just boarded a plane and discovered that your team of programmers had been responsible for the flight control software, would you immediately disembark?”

#RBCLive

Recent History of Assessment

3SourcingAevy

Dice OpenwebEnteloGild

TalentbinHackathons

Code Challenges

#RBCLive

Code Testing Today

It has to be real life to be “predictive” Hire for performance: Hire skill, not school Code Challenges differentiate good from

great developers Hackathons are the new career fairs Since great programmers live

everywhere, you need to engage them everywhere

#RBCLive

Your Assessment Process

What one thing would you like to improve?

#RBCLive

Questions?

You can download the recording at http://www.recruitingwebinars.com/

If you prefer, email your questions to me:

levy.steve@gmail.com