Need to hire great developers?

You are not the only one.

And this is what makes hiring developers so problematic.  

There is a shortage of developers.

9 in 10 respondents said they find it challenging to find and hire technical talent, according to Indeed’s survey.

What is the secret of that 10 % of recruiters who don’t struggle with hiring developers?

What is the secret to hiring great developers?

The secret to hiring great developers is actually quite simple: Understand your potential candidates.

It might seem obvious, but most recruiters and HR professionals don’t actually understand developers. Consequently, they face serious problems when they try to find, attract and hire developers.

So how to understand developers better?

There are 5 ways to improve your understanding of developers:

#1: Improve your knowledge of tech roles

If you don’t have a background in the tech industry, it might be hard for you to understand what are you actually looking for.

Which position requires which skills?

What is the difference between a Data scientist, Front End Developer, Back End Developer and Business Intelligence Analyst?

New programming languages are merging constantly and all these roles are developing fast.

This is why you need to stay in the loop and keep abreast with all these fast changes in tech industry.

How to do it?

Check out our cheat sheet of the most important skills for different tech roles. It will help you identify the right skills for tech roles.

#2: Improve your knowledge of your target population

If you want to hire great developers, you need to improve your knowledge about your target population. This is important because you need to have a clear and realistic picture of your potential candidate.

A candidate persona is defined as your ideal candidate. But if you stick with literal meaning of candidate persona, you might found yourself chasing mythical purple squirrels.

You’ve probably heard stories of recruiters who are asked to find a developer with 5 years of experience in programming language that exists for only four years!

In other words, your candidate persona needs to be realistic representation of candidates that actually exist.

#3: Learn developers’ secret wants and needs

The only way to attract developers and have them consider a new role is by offering them something better than what they have at their current position.

This is why you need to know exactly what motivates developers. In other words, you need to get to know their secret wants and needs.

To do that, you need to build a meaningful relationship with your candidates and earn their trust.

It is the only way to find out what is really important and what can make a difference for a certain person.

How to do it?

Put yourself in your candidates' shoes and make your recruitment practice candidate-centric. Personalize your selection process.

Also, make sure you check out the Stack Overflow’s Global Survey for fresh insights from 100,000+ developers around the world. According to this survey, developers care most about the compensation and care the least about cool benefits such as free meals, gym at the office, etc.

#4: Learn how to speak in their language

No, this does not mean that you need to learn a programming language.

However, if you want to attract developers’ attention and capture their interest, you need to earn their respect. To do that, you need to know what you're talking about.

If you don’t understand the basics of programming, developers won’t believe that you can make a reasonable assessment if they are really a great fit for a role.

This is why you need to learn at least the most important technical terms used by developers.