LinkedIn Profile Optimization Checklist and Best Practices

Whether you’re building your personal brand, looking for your next opportunity, engaging in business development, or simply looking to make meaningful connections, LinkedIn is an underutilized tool that you should be leveraging.

To help you build and maximize your LinkedIn profile, I’ve put together a checklist  and a few best practices to help you stand out to recruiters and potential employers.

Here are a few best practices: 

Be Authentic: Ensure your LinkedIn profile accurately reflects your professional identity and brand.

Stay Professional: Maintain a professional tone and avoid including sensitive or controversial topics on your profile. You can be a little more creative; you have lots of options here, but consider moving the dancing videos to TikTok. 

Seek feedback from trusted colleagues or mentors to fine-tune your profile and ensure it reflects your professional journey.

Monitor messages and connection requests closely, promptly responding to inquiries from potential collaborators to foster meaningful relationships.

With authenticity first and foremost, take the opportunity to build a LinkedIn profile that showcases what makes you unique and paints the picture of who you are and where you’re headed.  

Let’s connect on Linkedin! 

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2020: A Year To Remember Or A Year To Forget?

2020… It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. 

But mostly, it was the worst of times.

Yes, I think it’s safe to say that 2020 was a year like no other. And that’s most certainly an understatement. From the lowest lows (I wondered if I’d need to change careers during the first lockdown) to the highest highs (I became a Partner at Venor and found out I have twins on the way), this year is worth a recap.

With only a few days remaining, this year may still have some surprises in store. But I think it’s an excellent time for reflection. Looking back, here are my top realizations. 

6 Things 2020 Taught Me

  1. Nova Scotia is Where It’s At

More so than any year in my entire career, I was speaking with Maritimers looking to “come home” or, perhaps more notably, professionals from across Canada and beyond who were hoping to hang their hats in Halifax/the Atlantic provinces.

Our local U-Haul and moving operations saw trucks, vans, and trailers pile up in record numbers. People are moving here. And based on the conversations I’m having, they’re staying.

Why? Maybe it’s our modest COVID numbers, economic strength, relative affordability, or quality of life. But perhaps it’s more than that. Many people are reevaluating what they want in life. Sure, nothing’s perfect. But most people would agree things are pretty good in Nova Scotia right now.

  1. Zoom Fatigue is Real

Does anyone else pine for the days of phone calls? Or is it just me? Face-to-face via video was the best we could do during the pandemic, but I’m toast after four or five video meetings. First-world problems, I know.

  1. All is Good in Tech

Thankfully, my concerns about having to switch careers were unfounded because other than playing professional sports, I don’t have a plan B. And I’m not good enough to go pro. 

The recruitment industry ebbs and flows with market demands. Thankfully, tech proved to be remarkably resilient during this pandemic. Nearly all major tech stocks saw earnings increase year-over-year as of Q3 2020. Locally, we witnessed Verafin’s exit to Nasdaq for US$2.75 billion, which was a massive milestone for the region and should result in a great spinoff for our tech ecosystem. If anything, it seems like more companies are hiring more people both here in Atlantic Canada and beyond. And we have the talent to justify it. CBRE’s recently released Scoring Tech Talent 2020 report had Halifax on its ‘Top 10’ list for Canadian tech markets. Our city scored highly with an A- in Quality of Labour. And at Venor, we saw most of our tech searches with brands whose HQs are outside the region for the first time in our history. 

Sure, tech is doing well globally. But companies are now seeing Halifax as a hotbed of talent and investing accordingly. And that’s a good thing for the local tech community and recruiters alike.

  1. Remote Networking Isn’t Working 

While everyone has done their best to replicate in-person networking events, I still feel like something is missing. Whether it’s the awkwardness of standing next to a group of people making small talk (okay, maybe I don’t miss that part) or the lack of social cues when jumping in and introducing yourself, virtual networking events are falling short for me despite everyone’s best efforts.

  1. Remote Working Is 

Personal gripes about Zoom calls and online Networking aside, having so many employees work from home during the pandemic’s height proved the remote work model. So much so that Shopify, Twitter, DropBox and others have made the permanent shift to work-from-home flexibility.

There’s also the often overlooked environmental impact of all these changes. We immediately removed thousands of cars from our strained transportation grid and reduced emissions by a measurable amount. I’m excited by the possibilities here. 

While the long-term impact remains to be seen (I could write a whole separate blog post on how the broader remote talent pool makes recruitment an even larger undertaking), it’s clear there has been a fundamental shift in work norms that’s worth noting.

  1. Diversity & Inclusion Matters

This year brought a greater focus on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It matters to employees, and it matters to companies. And people are demanding change. I’m proud to say Venor has doubled down on our inclusion and equity efforts through charitable donations to community support programs, volunteering initiatives and inclusivity and unconscious bias training.

To sum this all up…

Well, that wasn’t so bad… Things may even look pretty good now that I’ve recapped them all.

2020 was a tough year for many of us. However, despite its challenges, I’m left feeling overwhelmed by all the things I have to be thankful for. We’re seeing amazing things happening in Atlantic Canada, in our tech community, and with COVID-19 vaccines. Good things are developing, and I’m excited to see what happens next.

So, here’s to the lessons of 2020—and wishing you an even better 2021. Hopefully, there are no murder hornets.

Meet Smarter, Not Longer: 5 Tips to Maximize Networking

Just the other day, I arranged for two leaders to meet. I told both of them that they only had 15 minutes to cover everything they needed to. No problem! They hit it out of the park and accomplished everything they wanted. I wasn’t too surprised. Precision with one’s time is a common trait in highly successful people. Unfortunately, I can’t always say the same for many networking professionals. A lot of people still make the mistake of requesting an hour of someone’s time, or even worse, a coffee with no plan and no set end time. 

I’ve always been a fan of Stephen Covey and his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of my favourite tips from him is to always ‘start a meeting with the ending in mind’. For me, that means placing the most crucial topic at the beginning of any meeting I have. If there are other agenda items, they’re bonus topics and included more for info rather than lengthy discussion. 

Nailing that elevator ride

I remember an incredibly successful (and busy) business leader in Manhattan who offered any networkers a ‘one-sentence opportunity.’ His attitude was, “Give me your best sentence and then I’ll decide if we take 15 minutes.” Oh, and in case you’re wondering, run-on sentences weren’t allowed either—he would just leave. While it may sound a bit extreme, I love this approach and the discipline it requires. 

I’m always amazed by just how many business professionals aren’t equipped for focused conversation. You know, that ‘elevator pitch’ scenario where you happen to cross paths with someone who could change the course of your professional life. When that happens (because it will), you need to be ready to have answers ready for the following three questions…  

1. What do you do/what’s your business?

2. What’s one thing that would transform your business?

3. How can I help you and why should I?

How to Maximize Time Spent Networking 

Business isn’t dating. Let’s determine the tangible outcome and whether we’re the right people to meet in the first place before setting up a meeting. And just to be clear, I’m not questioning the value of those spontaneous conversations that coffee chats or networking luncheons offer. Those types of ‘creative collisions’ are lovely, and I seek them out. However, knowing those interactions are different than a deliberate meeting request is essential. 

Even with these random networking opportunities, when I ask someone, “What do you need?” or “If I had a magic wand and could grant you one business wish, what would it be?” , many are stunned and offer blank stares. Come on! Your ‘Big Rocks’ are the most critical business priorities you have. So, if you don’t know them or can’t articulate them, why should I care? Here are some ways to help ensure you’re ready…

5 habits to start today:

1. Reflect, use a journal, write out what are big, tangible outcomes you want to achieve.

2. Practice articulating your pitch on close friends or colleagues and ask for their honest feedback.

3. Be ready when meeting influential leaders to ‘start with the end in mind ‘and tell them your Big Rock.

4. When requesting a call or meeting, ask for 14 or 18 minutes. Tell the other person you know how valuable their time is and you can cover what is important in this time.

5. If someone wants to talk longer, view it as an indication that they see value in what you have covered and are consciously deciding they’re okay with extending the time slot.

God willing, we each get 168 hours a week until the week we do not. In living a deliberate best life, I want to maximize mine and greatly appreciate those who do the same. So, with that in mind, I’ll leave you with this quote that sums things up nicely…

“A man who dares to waste one hour of life has not discovered the value of life.” – Charles Darwin

3 Reasons Your Tech Job Postings Aren’t Working and How to Fix It

USD 28.68 billion. That’s how much the online recruitment market was valued at last year. And while there’s no arguing COVID-19 has impacted the labour market in significant ways (employment levels, on the whole, decreased by 15% between February and April 2020), the software & tech sectors have remained resilient with 96% of technology leaders in Canada expecting to maintain or increase their team headcount.

More tech jobs mean more tech job postings. But are hiring managers reaping the rewards of all those postings? Well, to be honest… no. Here are three ways your job postings hold you back, plus some suggestions for what you can do to fix it.

Why tech job postings alone don’t work

1. They tap into a limited talent pool

If I had to use an analogy for my advice, it would be something like, “don’t jump into the shallow end of the pool headfirst,” because that’s exactly what you’re doing by relying on job postings alone to attract top tech talent. 

What’s so bad about job postings? Nothing, except that almost 80% of developers are open to hearing about new career options, yet only 17% of developer job seekers are actively applying. So, when you rely on job postings for your recruitment push, you’re tapping into a minuscule subset of the tech talent pool. 

How to fix it

My advice? Start hustling. If the right tech candidates aren’t coming to you, you need to get out there and find them. LinkedIn, Indeed and other readily accessible talent databases have changed the game in recruitment. Complete candidate profiles are available across the web—oftentimes for free. Talent acquisition professionals should be familiar with search techniques that turn up niche talent, and it’s easier than ever to immerse yourself in an online community for recruitment. 

Are you looking for top talent in software development, specifically? Join Github, explore trending topics and find out who has the talent to join your team or check out virtual tech event listings and meet with them there. The potential to connect with top talent is greater than ever before.

2. They waste a TON of time (yours and your candidates)

On average, it takes 128 applicants to fill a role. That’s a lot of time spent dealing with unqualified candidates, not to mention all the time-sucking administrative duties hiring managers get tasked with. When you cost out internal employee wages, companies on average spend approximately $4,000 per candidate on interviewing, scheduling, and assessment to decide if someone is right for a job. 

The candidate’s experience can be equally frustrating. The average open position receives more than 150 resumes, while over 45% of candidates never hear anything from the employer after applying. Not even a “Thanks for taking the time to apply.” This should not be the case, and can hurt your employer brand. In an uber competitive hiring landscape, you need every advantage you can get.

How to fix it

Job postings and job descriptions are still useful in almost any search, and candidates will expect to read about what the tech stack is and what the duties of the role are. 

So what’s the solution? The focus falls on distribution. Posting in niche community groups, deliberately sending through your company’s professional networks OR good, old-fashioned headhunting. When you cut out the white noise, build your referral network and engage in direct outreach as a part of your recruitment strategy, you’ll deal with fewer overall candidates but more who are a better fit. In turn, they receive more attention during the process and will come out of it feeling more optimistic about their experience and your brand. The tech community is more interconnected than you may think, and turning applicants into advocates for your company can make a measurable impact on your future recruitment success. 

3. They don’t paint a realistic picture

Job postings, at their best, can outline distinctive qualities about a job, a company, and it’s culture. But more often than not, the job titles are vague or unclear, the post is a laundry list of credentials or certifications which may or may not be relevant to the job, and doesn’t offer candidates a clear sense of who they will be working with or what they will be doing. As a result, the average conversion rate of career website visitors to applicants last year was 18%. 

How to fix it

Live dialogue can get to the heart of the matter much faster. It gives you the ability to say, “Here’s what we’re really looking for,” and to have an honest conversation about the role, its benefits and compensation, the wider team and what makes your company a great place to work. 

The long list of generic “nice to haves” in your job posting probably doesn’t help your recruitment unless you are fielding hundreds of qualified applicants. And this just isn’t the case in the competitive tech hiring landscape. Your postings should reflect your company’s culture and identity. Ask your current employees or top performers, why did you come work for us? Why did you stay? Use this data to create an employee value proposition and use it to sell the job and the company, but recognize that the most valuable part of the process arises from engaging candidates in conversation.

Does this mean that the traditional job posting is dead? No, but organizations are refocusing their hiring process and moving away from a reactive “post and pray” approach. Facilitating constructive dialogue with select candidates about the role and organization will be the standard moving forward. 

To sum things all up

If you want to attract top tech talent, assessing your current recruiting strategy from start to finish and closing any gaps that pose challenges for potential candidates is key. Doing so will help strengthen the way applicants navigate your recruitment process and offer a positive candidate experience, resulting in better hires. That sounds like a win-win for companies and candidates alike.

Four Keys to Recruiting During COVID-19

Well, I didn’t see this coming. My last blog series, How to Hire Software Development Talent in a Boom Economy, didn’t have the legs I expected it to…

COVID-19 changed everything. And hiring managers across tech, manufacturing, professional services and more are experiencing a reality that’s totally different from the one we faced in 2019. 

So what’s changed? How can you be successful in hiring talented individuals for your team? With the unprecedented flood of laid-off / furloughed people in Canada, 7.3 million Canadians applied for federal aid through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit according to Service Canada, is hiring easier than ever? (Hint… it’s not)

Here are four key takeaways.

Landing Niche Talent is Even More Challenging

It feels like the general perception right now is that the market is flooded with active job seekers due to COVID-19. That may be the case… but not for many roles in knowledge-based sectors.

Let’s look at a recent search we took on at Venor. We partnered with a Halifax-based startup on a search for a Software Architect. Through advertising the job posting on Linkedin and our personal social channels we received a fair amount of interest. But when you dig into the data, a different story appears.

We had 41 applicants inbound for the opportunity. Only two of those were in Atlantic Canada (a requirement for this role), and none of the candidates with eligibility to work in the country met the skills criteria for the role. For a similar role, pre-COVID, we actually received MORE applicants with a better fit for the opportunity.

While most of our success in recruitment comes from targeted outreach through our firm’s professional networks vs. general advertising, there’s a trend. If anything, response rates from job seekers and candidates are down, and the talent pool is risk-averse right now.

Recruiting for key roles is still possible in the current climate (and essential for some teams) but it’s taking more effort and more care to land the best people. With that said, it’s important to invest in having more dialogue with candidates, offer more insight into the company’s direction and stability during/after the pandemic, and be more transparent with job seekers during the hiring process to build trust.

All Eyes Are Online

While many of us (me included) miss the connections made while running into people at in-person networking events or catching up with old acquaintances that you happened to see at a coworking space, the shift that we are seeing from in-person interactions to online has brought opportunities as well.

On the recruitment front, employees no longer stumble into jobs without doing online research – a quick Google search can quickly paint a picture of your company, for better or for worse. A well-established online brand, whether it’s your personal Linkedin profile or well-crafted Careers page on your company’s website, is now more powerful than ever. Consumers (or job seekers) will seek out information and educate themselves on products and companies. So, if you want to stand out when recruiting, make sure you are joining online communities that your target audience cares about, contribute to the conversation, explore trending topics and find out who has the talent to join your team. Is your prospective candidate pool on Linkedin, Instagram and/or niche Slack communities? Wherever they are, you should be too.

In the absence of in-person events like job fairs and corporate dinners, you can communicate your message with an effective content marketing strategy focused on your employer brand. Little things that can go a long way are pieces highlighting workplace events, employee profiles, and the creation of blog posts that outline your culture and people. This content will give prospective candidates insight into your company and, hopefully, attract the right people.

Of course, having proper SEO, a well-designed website and an engaged social following are all important here as well.

Refine The Why

Organizations across industries are shifting to offer work-from-home flexibility wherever possible. First Twitter, and now a bit closer to home with Shopify, there is a wave of organizations that are going work-from-home / digital-first even post-pandemic. 

This will result in shifts in employee benefits packages too. Perhaps current in-office perks like slides and ping pong tables will turn into home office improvement bonuses or subscription deliveries? Regardless, if you’re recruiting employees who will be working remotely for the foreseeable future, you should be thinking about revamping your employee value proposition according to this new reality.

If you check out Shopify’s website, they offer a “Home office allowance to kit out your crib”. These kinds of perks will resonate with employees who might not get to indulge in the in-office offerings.

Invest in Onboarding

Orientation and onboarding. Most of us have heard the saying before “You only have one shot to make a positive first impression”. It’s crucial to retain top talent once you have invested in bringing them onto your team, especially considering the complexities of hiring during COVID-19. 

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for 3 years if they experienced great onboarding. It’s clear that having a strong onboarding and orientation plan is a powerful opportunity for employers to integrate and inspire new employees. So, how can you steer your process in the right direction when either all or some of your team is not in the office?

These are just a few examples, but the upfront investment in onboarding is worth it.

What’s the overall takeaway here? Recruiting during COVID has created a few challenges, to say the least. It’s also created some new opportunities as well. As some companies start their return to working out of offices, hiring processes will continue to evolve. However, the importance of digital-first recruitment, shifting employee value props, the importance of onboarding will remain as keys to landing elusive, sought-after talent.

3 Keys to Successful Onboarding

Day #1 – I showed up for work, nobody knew who I was or why I was there. I brushed some paper off a table and sat down. Next up, I drove to the Apple store to pick up my computer. Day 1 complete. My first impressions of this company? I’ll leave it to you, the readers on this one…

Orientation and onboarding. Most of us have heard the saying before “You only have one shot to make a positive first impression”. Yet, stories like the one above (yes, this happened to me) are still far too common. When you go through a recruitment push, costs add up in terms of both time spent and resources exhausted. It’s crucial to retain top talent once you have invested in bringing them onto your team. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for 3 years if they experienced great onboarding. It’s clear that having a strong onboarding and orientation plan is a powerful opportunity for employers to integrate and inspire new employees. There are compelling numbers and evidence to support this. So, how can you steer your process in the right direction?

UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE

Before crafting an orientation process, organizations should determine what they want to accomplish. Orientation is oftentimes confused with training, but they each have distinct goals and should be approached differently. Training is about learning HOW to do a job. Employee onboarding and orientation are about integration with the job and the company. True integration requires employees to overcome basic anxieties and barriers to connect with their peers, as well as understand company goals and culture. This includes a high-level understanding of strategic direction and company norms but moves toward more granular details.

“How productive in your job can you be if you don’t know where the washrooms are?”

Keeping purpose in mind, here are some basic items that should be touched upon in the development of your orientation process:

This list is not all-encompassing by any stretch. However, small details and basic information can go a long way to easing initial unease and barriers for a new hire, allowing them to focus on getting ramped up and ready to contribute to their role.

The best way to effectively and efficiently move an employee through this integration period is to consider employee experience.

MAKE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION A GOOD ONE

Companies lose 25% of all new employees in the first year. First impressions are long lasting and create a lens which new employees view the rest of their experience with the company through. The investment that a company makes in cost per hire is substantial and you want to give new hires a positive initial experience. So, what can you do?

Try kicking things off with a welcome lunch joined by close team members on day 1, and make sure to do what you can to make a new employee feel truly welcomed. For a specific industry example, look at Facebook. The social media giant has a hyper-focus on the first 45 minutes of the employees first day. This involves getting devices and systems set up right – from an employee’s PC to their phones and having a workstation set up properly – and a focus on practical aspects of the job role, like how to set up a meeting or where the printer is. Whether you’re a small mom and pop shop or a global enterprise, something as simple as a tidy workstation with some company swag and a card signed off by teammates can go a long way.

Another key to making your first impression a positive one is realizing that onboarding starts before day 1, from the moment a new employee signs off on their offer, their experience as a member of your organization begins. Make sure to keep channels of communication open prior to the official start date, and when possible, allow a new hire to look through company resources if they wish to do so. I’ve worked with countless people over the years who want to dive into their work and show up highly prepared for their new role. Let newly signed employees know that you’re excited to bring them on and keep them engaged. Some companies will schedule regular check-ins before a new hire’s first day, while others will send surprise gift baskets or more. Its cliché, but you only have one chance to make a first impression.

TAILOR YOUR ORIENTATION EXPERIENCE

Every organization is different. Some startups run extremely lean and have limited resources, while large enterprises might have a massive e-learning platform to help facilitate things with teams dedicated to making onboarding a success. Successfully hiring and onboarding employees at scale are no small task. Regardless, there is no cookie-cutter solution for employee onboarding. While larger organizations might have more materials to assist in the process, startups and SMBs can balance the playing field by creating a more personal orientation experience.

Traditionally, onboarding had been an HR lead initiative. Long classroom-style sessions, with an emphasis on paperwork and policy review. While policy and day-1 documents are important, this process can demand a lot of time from hiring managers, HR or whoever is responsible for overseeing orientation. Furthermore, it doesn’t exactly set the employee experience off on the right track. A way to tackle this is through “crowd-sourcing” your orientation. Personally, I have worked with SMEs and leveraged the size of a smaller operation for a highly personalized experience. Regardless of the position within the company, new hires would sit down with marketing, connect with a software developer, learn about sales, and get a product demo or a market research presentation among other things.

“Through a multifaceted process, employees get a holistic view of the organization, and most importantly they get to form connections with coworkers.”

Orientation creates the foundation of an employee’s experience with the company. If you are wondering where to start, consider creating modules that could be delivered to newcomers by employees across the organization who have an expertise or knowledge in a certain area or domain. Reach out to team members and let them run with it. For example, if you’re a whiz with the in-house CRM, you could be a good match to help develop and deliver a 15-minute information/training session on using the system to new employees. If one of the goals of orientation is to connect newcomers to your team, why not share the duties of orientation across functions and take collective ownership of the process? This kind of distributed model is effective for organizations big and small.

Orientation is an often discussed, but an overlooked part of the employee experience. By focusing on the purpose and end goal of integration, creating an experience suited to your organization and being mindful of the importance of the first impression you can create a process that will drive tangible business outcomes. Better retention, productivity and quicker ramp up are all attainable by investing in having a strong orientation and onboarding experience.

The Recruitment Landscape Has Changed, So Why Haven’t Our Methods?

If anything is clear, it’s this – the rapid development of technology has fundamentally shifted the way we live and the way we work.  Mobile devices, big data, AI, and robotics are evolving at a pace that we’ve never seen before and many companies are playing catch up. In fact, companies around the world are finding themselves being disrupted by this change.  

According to Deloitte’s 2017 Global Human Capital report “…only 12 percent of the Fortune 500 companies from 1955 are still in business, and last year alone, 26 percent fell off the list.” So the message seems clear; change with the times or risk falling off the map entirely. If the argument for changing with the times seems so persuasive, why do we seem to cling to seemingly “old school” tactics in recruitment? For every company that’s pushing boundaries with progressive hiring practices like Facebook, Google and Shopify, there seems to be another hundred that are relying on posting a dry, laundry-list-like job description and hope for the best. What can you do to reinvent your hiring process and keep pace with the best talent?

Recruit Like a Marketer

Marketing has changed with technology, and recruitment pros can learn a number of lessons from its approach. At a high level, you need to ensure your messaging is attracting candidates rather than turning them away, you’re leveraging all forms of social media and, most importantly, build an employer brand. Both active and passive job seekers are increasingly turning to social media and it’s important to be highly visible during a recruitment push. You want to be top of mind when an “A player” starts thinking about a potential career move. Another piece that allows you to reach a relevant audience is employer branded content. Inbound Marketing has grown in relevance as consumers (or job seekers) have become empowered to seek out information and educate themselves on products and companies.

On the recruitment front, employees no longer stumble into jobs without doing their research – a quick Google search can quickly paint a picture about your company, for better or for worse. However, you can control the message with an effective content marketing strategy focused on your employer brand. Little things that can go a long way are pieces highlighting cool workplace events, employee profiles, and the creation of blog posts that outline your culture and people. This content will give prospective candidates insight into your company and, hopefully, sell to the right people.

Have you ever interviewed a star candidate who was right for your company, but the timing was off? Keep them warm with a drip campaign featuring your employer branded content sent at prescheduled intervals. Again, technology allows us to automate more processes, increase touch points and attract the right people.

Get Ready to Hunt

Gone are the days when you had to wait for candidates to come to you. LinkedIn, Indeed and other readily accessible talent databases have changed the game in recruitment. Complete candidate profiles are available, for free, across the web. Are the right candidates not coming to you? Go out and find them. Talent acquisition professionals should be familiar with search techniques that turn up niche talent. It’s easier than ever to immerse yourself in a community for the purposes of recruitment thanks to technology. Are you looking for top talent in software development? Join Github, explore trending topics and find out who has the talent to join your team. Check out your local events calendar online and go meet with them in person. The potential to connect with top talent is greater than ever before.

Test Your Messaging

Your job postings should reflect your company’s culture and identity. Ask your current employees or top performers – why did you come work for us? Why did you stay? Use this data to create an employee value proposition and use it to sell the job and the company. But don’t stop there. If you are hiring at a high enough volume, split testing different value propositions or sourcing methods is easier than ever now due to technology. This functionality is built-in to a number of applicant tracking systems and should be leveraged to make sure your message is attracting the right people in the right places. Once you have enough historical data, you can take this to the next level- what methods of recruitment are leading to top performing candidates based on their KPIs? Organizations are becoming increasingly data driven, and technology is necessary for a competitive edge.

Realistically, we’re just scratching the surface here. As technology evolves and as the war for talent becomes increasingly competitive, new and more advanced methods of recruitment will follow. It’s essential for high performing organizations to reflect on their talent acquisition efforts and ensure that they don’t fall behind.

What do you think about the changes in recruitment? Please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter!

How to Hire Software Development Talent in a Boom Economy — Part Two: Identifying and Engaging Top Tier Developers

This the second post in a two-part blog series on how to hire great tech talent… read Part One on Trusting the (Right) Process here.

So, your product team is growing and you need a new backend developer to fill a key role in your organization. You know what you need, but where do you start looking?

Well, the process of finding and hiring the elite few begins long before the interview itself. And an involved, systematic approach to properly identifying potentially qualified candidates is the key unlock. 

According to a recent report from CBRE, there are over six million highly skilled workers throughout North America comprising the tech talent pool that is leading global innovation. But the market demand for dev talent is outstripping supply at a dramatic rate. Organizations are having to expand the scope of their search efforts, looking high and low to uncover specialized talent that will help them grow.

You can have the best selection process in the world, but you need to have good candidates that are interested in joining your team. At Venor, 2019 was our busiest year in tech recruitment. Here’s some of our tips to the trade that will help you find that elusive top-tier dev talent.

Great People Know Great People

Without a doubt, the single best source of qualified candidates is personal networking. “Great people know great people” is a cliche that I throw around often, but it’s true. Study after study shows that professional and personal referrals dominate as the most productive source for recruitment, accounting for almost 1 in 4 hires.

Nothing trumps a meaningful relationship. Your chances of getting in front of someone and pitching them a job go up significantly when they know and trust you, whether you have directly worked with them before or know them through other avenues. Why the high rate of success? Because recommendations from real-life connections warm up the candidate, hence the phrase “warm introductions”. These soften the way for you by starting the relationship off on the right foot. 

“As a recruiter or hiring manager, focusing on communities/groups that developers are involved in and care about can pay huge dividends.” 

So take the time to get out to industry networking events, tech meetups. The initial legwork will pay off over time when you build a network through relationships. Employee advocacy programs, referral incentives and anything else you can do to tap into a trusted network of developer talent is the first place you need to start before commencing any search.

The Science of Sourcing 

Trusted referrals are #1. Sometimes though, we need to step outside our own personal/professional circles to find someone with a niche skillset or to diversify the talent pool. 

By trade, developers are tapped into technology and many have a well established online presence across various social media channels, Linkedin included. But that doesn’t mean you can be overly reliant on one source.

While Linkedin is a key recruiting tool, being involved in other online dev communities (Github, Stackoverflow, dev specific Slack groups) can dramatically increase your access to talent. These websites/apps also give you insight into the technical challenges/projects that developers have worked on and want to showcase. It’s a great way to identify who to reach out to. 

Despite all these great online resources, you still need to know your market. Incomplete profiles or unresponsive candidates who are inundated with messages from recruiters and hiring managers are the norms. Some developers even disable the ability to receive inmails or will go as far as removing their Linkedin profile altogether to avoid being spammed.  

The best recruiters can figure out a candidate’s tech stack, the nature of their work/projects, and how to contact them even if that info is not readily listed on their Linkedin or Github profile. This info is gleaned from triangulating information from multiple sources including first-hand conversations with industry peers and heavy research conducted over a sustained period of time. So be sure to put in the time to understand the market and your potential sources of talent so you can land that identify tough to find tech talent. 

Reaching Out the Right Way  

Once you’ve honed in on candidates with the right skills and abilities, it’s important to engage them in a way that will resonate. According to Glassdoor, ninety percent of global professionals are interested in hearing about new job opportunities, but as a recruiter or hiring manager, you will see nowhere near a 90 percent cold outreach response rate. And when you do reach out to top talent for new roles, it’s far more likely that the candidates you source will need persuading to become interested in your role. So how do you increase your odds here? 

Consider your first impressions. If your cold call gets a cold shoulder, you will have limited success convincing talented technical talent to join your team. Cold outreach results in a lower response rate than referrals as noted earlier in this post, but there’s still a number of tricks to the trade. 

Did you know that 44% of developers said they hate being contacted about new job opportunities over the phone? While it’s key to engage candidates in conversation regarding the role, your outreach methods should take these stats into consideration. The numbers show that email is generally preferred as a first touchpoint by candidates. 

Personalized outreach is key to grabbing these candidates’ attention. Making sure your outreach is tailored specifically to your target talent and that it clearly demonstrates why you reached out to them, will dramatically affect both your response rate and the receptiveness of a highly sought after software engineer. Top-tier dev talent is often overloaded with messages and calls, so you’ll need to stand out if you want a response. 

Some ways to accomplish this are:

The key here is to understand your target profile, what they are interested in, and refine your value proposition. Why do people want to work with your team? Is it the tech stack / technical challenges, purpose-driven mission, remote flexibility, corporate stability, startup upside, or just straight up compensation? Understand your audience, find out why they would want to work for you, and make sure to get that message across the right way. 

When you’ve done all this? Follow up plays an important role when the candidate doesn’t initially respond. Messages get lost in the shuffle, you may have reached out at a bad time or, quite simply, they might need a reminder to reply.

What we’re seeing at Venor, is organizations that are reinventing their hiring process – moving it away from an administrative task used to screen out applicants towards using it to sell the candidate on the role and organization. It’s more important than ever to show a genuine interest in candidates by asking meaningful questions that clarify things you’ve learned about them from a resume or social profile, rather than asking them to repeat the information contained therein.

Tapping into top talent requires an understanding of candidates’ motivations, and the ability to authentically illustrate how an opportunity fits what they’re looking for. The tech talent pool, from developers through to DevOps, have many opportunities to consider and will only continue investing their time in your process if you treat them like a valued candidate.

Yes, this takes a ton of time. But it will pay off when you make the right hire.

—

If you’ve missed Part One, click here: Trust the (Right) Process: How to Hire Software Developers in a Boom Economy. 

Nick Misener is a Senior Consultant with Venor, a relationship-centric search firm and talent partner. He specializes in recruiting top talent for Information Technology companies throughout Atlantic Canada and beyond. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter!

Sources:

https://www.toptal.com/freelance/in-search-of-the-elite-few-finding-and-hiring-the-best-developers-in-the-industry

https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/4-tips-for-hiring-the-elusive-software-engineer-infographic/

http://www.stripe.com/reports/developer-coefficient-2018

https://www.cbre.us/research-and-reports/Scoring-Tech-Talent-in-North-America-2019

https://www.wired.com/2015/04/hire-like-google/

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.172.1733&rep=rep1&type=pdf

How to Hire Software Development Talent in a Boom Economy — Part One: Trust the (Right) Process

With tech unemployment approaching <2% in many regions, landing top talent in software development has become more challenging than ever. Having specialized in this space as a recruiter for a number of years now, I’ve seen the changing dynamics of the market. Demand is outstripping supply and emerging tech in big data, AI, blockchain and cloud development continues to expand the scope of skills required by organizations across the globe. There is a new market reality at play – software engineers have more suitors and multiple options readily available, should they decide to make a move in their careers. 

Hiring software development talent is a tough ask at the best of times, involving the assessment of hard technical skills, problem-solving ability and the oh so subjective “will they fit with the team” criteria. Competition for that talent is now steeper than ever before. From an organizational perspective, it’s clear that having the right talent in place is essential. If your dev team can’t execute on your product roadmap, growth will stall and other functions in the business will be held back. In fact, during a 2018 poll of executive leaders in tech, 60% of respondents suggested that access to, or scarcity of, software development talent was the biggest challenge facing them in their business. It’s clear that companies need to step up their game in order to acquire top software engineering talent. 

So how do you increase your odds? 

At Venor, we’re tasked with tackling this problem on a daily basis and have worked with everyone from early-stage startups through to prominent global brands. What have we learned? 

Well, there’s no silver bullet but there ARE universal best practices that we’ve used to get a leg up on the competition and find great talent. Here’s what you need to know:

Testing Trouble?

Have you heard of Google’s famous whiteboard test? It’s the hiring practice that Google swore by for years, that has inspired countless startups, scale-ups, and large enterprises to have developers complete a code or pseudocode challenge on a whiteboard during an in-person interview. I’ve seen similar tests, quiz or puzzle type questions, and other eccentric evaluation methods used on a fairly regular basis. 

“Estimate how many gas stations there are in Nova Scotia.”

“How many golf balls would fit inside Fredericton’s City Hall?”

Laszlo Bock, Google’s former VP of People Operations, found they have little if any ability to predict how candidates will perform in a job.

One of the world’s largest tech companies decided to look critically at recruitment practices. Google evaluated at their hiring data and, as it turns out, the fact that a candidate could complete these tests had little to no bearing on whether or not they would be a great employee. Guess who no longer issues whiteboard quizzes or puzzle-style questions during their interview process? Google.

I’m all for outside-the-box thinking and validating fit through appropriate candidate assessment, but it’s so essential that each stage in your process provides a valuable outcome vs being “process for process’ sake”.

Here are some key considerations:

This is not to be misconstrued. Well-structured coding tests can certainly be useful for assessing specific programming skills; but developing a product is a combination of ability in programming, engineering, architecture, and teamwork. Coding is an essential skill, but it’s important to look at your process and check the numbers. Can you justify the purpose of each stage in your hiring process? Are you capturing the potential opportunity cost? 

“We’re in a war for talent, and missing out on the best person because of a draconian process or arbitrary testing can be a tough pill to swallow.”

Another key to remember is that companies need to sell their opportunity to top-end software developers. Ensuring that candidates are bought in and excited about the opportunity will increase your odds of them staying engaged in the hiring process and their willingness to jump through process-related “hoops”. This likely includes taking the time early on in your process to personally connect with candidates and outline the vision and upside of the opportunity and why they could be a good fit for the role. The level of selling required at this stage depends on a number of factors:

1. The candidate (are they an applicant or did you seek them out?)

2. The company (what’s your employer brand/reputation? Are you a fortune 500 leader or an early-stage startup?)

3. The job (is this a step up in career, title, responsibility and/or compensation?)

There’s some significant legwork required here to “court” candidates, but when someone is sold on the opportunity, testing such as realistic programming tasks or pair programming that measure job-related skills will be better received by candidates – which is key. When candidates are given a sample test of work, similar to that which they would do in the job, it ranks highly in terms of predicting success at 29% effectiveness (vs. the 14% of an unstructured interview), as per John Hunter and Frank Schmidt’s comprehensive review of validity in selection methods.

TLDR; testing helps IF it’s rolled out the right way, otherwise it can hurt your cause.

Speeding Up Selection

While we’re talking process, additional consideration needs to be paid to the speed and efficiency of your recruitment efforts. “Time kills all deals” is a sales cliche that is appropriate and accurately applied in recruitment. If a truly great developer becomes available, all of the strategies and decisions should be aligned towards completing the process in the shortest time possible. 

You can still be thorough and have a multistage selection process, but taking two or three months to make an offer will lower your success rate dramatically. I have seen this countless times:

A top software developer interviews with company XYZ. The company’s VP of Engineering likes the candidate and the candidate likes the company. Terms seem to be in alignment. Company XYZ determines it wants to speak to a few other candidates to be sure of their decision. Two weeks pass allowing them to meet other talent, and company XYZ circles back to their original candidate with a strong offer. The problem is, the original candidate has already accepted another offer with a competing company. This is the market reality for hiring developers – it’s fast-moving and extremely competitive.  

With the current unemployment rate, some companies will even implement a one-interview process and get an offer out that day. While the one-interview process carries a measure of risk (i.e. making the wrong hire), companies can win top talent simply by moving their process forward faster than their competitors. If a candidate is considering competing job opportunities, the first hiring team to extend an employment offer has a distinct advantage.

Of course, companies have a delicate balance to strike between meticulously screening job seekers and hiring good people as quickly as possible. If slower hiring processes result in better hires, those delays can be good for the business long term. If not, they can be wasteful and there is the risk of losing top candidates to other, faster-moving organizations. 

The key takeaway is clear. If you ensure each stage of the hiring process is purposeful and move things along at a faster cadence than your competition, then your success in hiring will ramp up accordingly.

Read on for the follow-up post on How to Hire Software Development Talent in a Boom Economy – Part Two: Identifying and Engaging Top Tier Developers.

Nick Misener is a Senior Consultant with Venor, a relationship-centric search firm and talent partner. He specializes in recruiting top talent for Information Technology companies throughout Atlantic Canada and beyond. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter!

Sources:

https://www.toptal.com/freelance/in-search-of-the-elite-few-finding-and-hiring-the-best-developers-in-the-industry

https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/4-tips-for-hiring-the-elusive-software-engineer-infographic/

http://www.stripe.com/reports/developer-coefficient-2018

https://www.cbre.us/research-and-reports/Scoring-Tech-Talent-in-North-America-2019

https://www.wired.com/2015/04/hire-like-google/

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.172.1733&rep=rep1&type=pdf