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Tips for Hiring a Great Software Developer

August 12, 2021 Business, Career

When it comes to recruiting the right talent, tech talent is often the most difficult to find. They are hard to extract, so many companies want to hire them, and even the companies who have some IT tech professionals want a lot more. This makes finding the right tech talent a high recruiting priority and a big challenge at that. 

With this in mind, you may wonder how you are going to stand a chance at attracting the right software developers, the ones who are so highly sought after all the time. While there is not just one lever to pull that will drive the software developers in the door, having a good strategy in place will make you more successful. 

Some of the simple steps that you can use to make your business more appealing to software developers and to bring more in include: 

1. Build an Employer Brand

Software developers are contacted several times a week by recruiters with new jobs that promise them the moon and back. That is a ton of options coming at them and you can easily get stuck in the crowd. If you want to make sure that the talent will even take a look at you, you need to create a strong employer brand

There are a few different steps that you can try to help create that employer brand so software developers will want to work with you. these include:

  • Optimize the career page
  • Write high-quality job descriptions
  • Create great content on social media

The last one will make it easier for talent to start following you on their own. Then, when you do have a job opening come available, they may be more willing to put in their resume. 

2. Know Where to Look for Talent

The key to finding the right software developer is to know where to look. You may need to use a variety of different reports to help figure out where the best talent pool is going to be located. You do not want to put all your effort into getting a software developer and find out you are looking in the wrong place. 

Once you know where your talent pools are, you can use targeted sponsored updates and other tools to help focus the employing branding. You can put all those efforts into recruiting in the areas that make the most sense for your business. 

3. Use Personalized E-Mails to Make Contact

Personalized emails and other similar tools are great ways for a recruiter to reach out to prospects to start an introduction and to get the ball rolling. This has proven to be very effective when hiring software developers as well. 

The key to emails is to make them personalized and to center it around the needs of your candidate. Do not put all of the focus just on you. The candidate knows that you need them and they can look up any information they want about your company. You need to focus on why working with you is the best option out there. 

These emails can be so important to helping you to get ahead and making sure that you get the attention of your prospects. Writing the right type of email is going to make all of the difference in the world so take a look at examples to make it a bit easier. 

4. Use the Interviews to Your Advantage

Once you get a candidate in the door for an interview, you need to make every second count. This is your chance to figure out if the candidate not only has the right skills for the job but whether they will fit into the culture and can handle the expectations that you have for it as well. 

To complete the interview well, it is often best to do a structured interview process. This can sometimes start with a work sample, including a developing test, to help see how the candidate works. 

You should go in with a list of the different questions you want to ask and some of the characteristics of the developer that you would like to see present in the interview to make sure you are getting the right person. 

While technical skills in the candidate will be important, you also need to look at some of the soft skills. You need them to be able to do the job while also fitting in with the company culture to consider that as well. 

5. Remember the Candidates are Interviewing You Too

It is easy to get into the habit of only thinking about whether the candidate fits into your company. You must also remember that all candidates are going to be looking to see whether you are the right fit for them too. 

Most software developers will talk to more than one company when they look for a new job. This means that you have a lot of competition, even if you can bring the developer in for an interview. You need to create an interview process that will be welcoming and can help the candidate feel like they belong. 

Also, allow time for questions from the candidate. You will spend some time thoroughly explaining the goals and the functions of the position that is opened, but also let them ask questions if something is unclear. 

Choosing the Right Software Developer

As you work through this process, you will be able to find the perfect developer for all of your needs. Hopefully, you can find someone who will fit into your company and can do the work as well. Once they are on board, you can even discuss whether they know others who are interested in a job, saving time on finding the right talent for your company. 

A good software developer is worth their weight in gold and can provide you with the assistance you need throughout the whole company. Follow the steps above and you will be able to find the right developer for your needs.