Cutting Edge Recruiting: Hiring Developers and Engineers in Software Tech Industry

As I’m sure many of you know, hiring developers and engineers, especially in the software tech industry, can be a super time-consuming process. In fact, it now takes a whopping 41 days on average to fill a software development engineering role in the U.S., making it the sixth longest hiring cycle of any position in the world.

On top of the time involved, tech companies, both large and small, are tasked with meeting aggressive hiring goals, competing against each other for top hires and sourcing candidates from a limited talent pool. But the tech talent shortage is hurting software companies the most, especially when it comes to hiring developers and engineers. Software developers are the most in-demand tech workers, making up nearly one-third of all tech openings.

So what can tech companies do to meet the demand for top software tech talent? Check out these tips and tricks for sourcing and recruiting skilled tech workers.

• Source candidates from developer-specific sites. When recruiting for developers, the more unique your candidate pool is that you’re targeting, the better. Software developers can often be passive candidates, so sourcing from developer-specific sites like Stack Overflow, Gun.io and X-Team can be super helpful. Using these more targeted websites can help you discover new leads, find information to use in outreach and land your next software tech hire.
• Focus on work experience and soft skills. Many recruiters place a lot of focus on education when hiring, but recruiting for work experience and soft skills can be just as, if not more, helpful. Consider evaluating candidates for soft skills, like communication, temperament and collaboration, as these soft skills can tell you a lot about how candidates work with teammates. About 58% of employers said that soft skills are absolutely crucial when looking at tech candidates, while 77% said work experience is the most important.
• Use recruiting tools for better hires. You might be wondering if you have the hiring tools you need to effectively assess and hire tech talent. About two out of three recruiters lack the tools they need to understand their market and talent pool. Interviewing software can help recruiters and hiring managers fill software engineer and developer roles more quickly, ahead of competitors, by streamlining their process and decreasing their overall time-to-hire.

So there you have it! Recruiting developers and engineers can certainly be a lengthy and tedious process, especially considering that you’re often sourcing from a small pool of talent. But implementing these techniques into your hiring process will not only help you fill those roles but also hire them faster than your competition.

And if you want to learn more about why there’s such a huge demand for engineers and developers in the software tech industry and how to beat your competition to the punch when recruiting skilled workers, check out this whitepaper.

About The Author

Esteban Gomez is a marketing consultant with interviewstream. He loves learning and has a passion for traveling, having visited many countries including China, Colombia, Italy, and Peru.