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For talent as in demand as elite engineers, your's or your team's network is critical. Following that, paying a recruitment firm is runner up, but its a big step down from network (and a big step up in cost). During the early days of my previous company (which currently has a ~30 person engineering team), the founding team scoured our networks, reached out to people personally, and did everything we could to share the inspiration we felt about the company. That plus fair compensation, allowed us to bring on some awesome people. The good news is elite talent tends to know other elite talent, and if they love the company, they become natural evangelists. A generous referral bonus also helps, however means nothing if your people don't already love your company. The end result is this attracts more talent! Occasionally we'd supplement this with recruiters, but our network was 5x more efficient, and wayyyy less expensive even with referral bonuses we paid to employees. I'm in the process of starting my next company, and while I'm not hiring engineers for another 6+ months, I'm meeting with everyone in my network and anyone they recommend to let them know about the company. People are already excited, and it's also just plain fun to meet smart people and catch up with friends. From there, I keep people in the loop and also try to support them in their endeavours. This leads to a lot of 'serendipity', where your company is top of mind for people as they plan their next move, which hopefully aligns with when you're hiring. Now compare that to a random job post or inmail message on LinkedIn. |