Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by andrewstuart 1411 days ago
I'm a developer and a recruiter.

Here are some thing I know:

many companies - maybe most companies - are very slow. I cannot tell you how many times I have sent a great candidate to an employer, to hear in 2 weeks that they would like to interview them, despite my pestering them the whole time for feedback. You know what they say then? "Oh well, who else have you got?". They don't care.

the companies I work with who succeed in recruiting people get the entire process wrapped up within 2 to 3 days, from the moment the resume arrives in their email server, to signature on paper, candidate off the job market. When companies lament "Oh it's so hard to find people!", that's who they are competing with - a 3 day turnaround.

many companies don't even know what makes a great developer - can't define a great developer

many companies have abysmal processes for assessing people

many companies value the wrong things in potential people

many companies pay less than market rates

don't get me started on coding tests.

but ALL companies think that none of the above apply to them. all companies think they are awesome at recruiting and that they run the very best recruiting process possible.

so is it hard to recruit developers? Well yes - but not because there aren't great developers available.

will a new software tool fix it? no.

4 comments

>but ALL companies think that none of the above apply to them. all companies think they are awesome at recruiting and that they run the very best recruiting process possible.

This. I wish your comment would go to the top.

We move extremely fast on good applicants. We've gone from resume to interview to take home to offer in 24 hours. More companies need to be able to do that.
I'm in the finance industry and I often have had to push back on how fast companies want to move because I have like life happening. You can go from looking at a job posting to having an offer easily in under 5 days in this industry.
Please start on coding tests. I'm interested to read your opinion on that.