Hiring Technical People

Hiring Tip #6: Attract Suitable Candidates

March 27th, 2003

In one of my presentations this week at the Software Development conference, someone asked, “How do I attract suitable candidates? I can attract lots of candidates, but how do I get the most appropriate people to respond to my open req?”In this economy, that’s hard. Even so, you have some options:

1. Use your personal network (see Hiring Tip #4).
2. Use your employees’ personal network. If you have great people working for you, chances are good they know other great people. Ask your employees help you.
3. Write the ad in a way that people who actually read the ad will screen themselves in or out. There’s still no guarantee that people will read the ad, but if you write it and say which functional skills, which qualities, preferences, and non-technical skills, and the kinds of domain expertise you need, you have a better chance at attracting the most suitable candidates.
4. If you have the money, don’t post the ad publicly; use a contract recruiter. (Recruiters screen candidates for you.)

Candidates will still respond the way they want to, but the more effort you put into creating an ad that works for you, the more likely you’ll deal with more suitable candidates.

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