5 Mistakes Companies Make When Recruiting Software Engineers

Face it -- hiring technical talent is tough no matter what company you're at. There’s an over-abundance of jobs for a very finite number of engineers. With such stiff competition, it’s important to ensure your recruitment process isn’t turning off the engineers you need to take your company to the next level. Here are five mistakes to avoid to improve your talent acquisition efforts in a crowded market: 1. Reckless recruiting Recruiters face pressure to quickly close requisitions and build out candidate pipelines, but tight deadlines don't excuse reckless recruiting. Reckless recruiting is sending out messaging blasts without having any idea what the person on the other end actually does or wants. Plugging in a search string and hitting every single person that comes up is lazy, inefficient and shows prospects that you don’t actually value their time or care about applicant quality. Taking the time to do your research makes all the difference. 2. Checklists vs. raw skills This starts with the software engineer job description and continues all the way through the interview process. If you find yourself disqualifying talent because they don’t fit perfectly in an ideal experience range or because they don’t have a certain technological skill you’re missing out on a lot of great talent. Job descriptions that read like a laundry list of technologies are not appealing to apply to. They immediately give the impression of rigid management and a stern culture. Descriptions that focus on describing goals, the importance of the role and the team culture are going to be ones that interest the candidate enough to apply. It’s also important to consider how well you are engaging candidates. Asking bland questions about experience with X, Y and Z technology to check off a box are not going to tell you much -- plus, that’s what a resume is for. Asking questions about the types of problems they’ve solved and assessing critical thinking will go much farther when it comes to learning about the candidate and engaging them. 3. Selling a job instead of an opportunity There are plenty of jobs out there, and the truly talented engineers are going to want more than just a job. They want to do work that is going to inspire, challenge and truly interest them. Making sure your messaging shows the impact they can have in the organization and beyond is crucial. With the flood of messages that engineers get every day, don’t waste their time by telling them about your requirements and blindly asking for a referral at the end of the email. Give them something good to chew on and you just might be lucky enough to have them come back to you when they are ready to look. Never forget that recruiting is a long-term play, so you can't just focus on the now. 4. Bringing your bag of tricks to interviews Judging technical talent is a tricky process. You want to be able to assess how much they’ll be able to contribute to your team while still respecting their time and dignity. Throwing these tough hires nothing but curveballs is not going to solve any problems. Brain teasers, non-practical questions and trivia are not going to help you evaluate how qualified talent is. Even worse, this is an easy way to turn off talent. Always consider that with as many options as engineers have, they’re evaluating you every bit as much as you are evaluating them. While there’s no "one size fits all" solution in regards to questions you should be asking in an interview, as long as you’re assessing their ability to problem solve, making sure they’re a culture fit for your team and ensuring they’re engaged, you’re on the right track. 5. Silence is not golden This is something that extends universally across all job seekers, but can be especially impactful with engineering talent. Any engineer that’s interviewing with your company is usually speaking to a few others as well -- that’s just the nature of the game. With the constant contact they’re getting from recruiters, they are actively aware they have other options. Leaving a candidate hanging leaves a bad impression that reflects poorly on your company and your culture. With the ever-increasing importance of employer branding, this is a battle that you can’t afford to lose. Instead, be sure to communicate with your candidates every step of the way -- an easy way to lose a candidate during the process if an offer is made by another company and you have no idea because of lack of communication.