How Tech Companies Recruit

HOW TECH COMPANIES HANDLE RECRUITING AND MANAGING STAFF

If it’s difficult finding talented people to fill open positions, you might start to wonder how other companies do it, especially the great ones. How do tech giants like Apple, Facebook, Google, and IBM find and keep talented employees? Staff.com says that with a little bit of research, you can find answers like extensive and rigorous interviews. Traditional tools like resumes and on-site tests are also used by these companies, but they don’t really give us that much to work with.

So, it makes sense that tech leaders use a well-rounded plan to find and hire new employees. They don’t depend on just one thing. Instead, they see the hiring process as a set of connected parts that make up a whole that is important. You probably don’t have time to interview employees for four hours, and an on-site test might not be relevant to the job you’re hiring for. However, you can use three methods from these companies to hire people:

1. Put the hiring process first.

This first tip might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how many companies don’t put enough value on their recruiting efforts. Businesses all over the world start the hiring process off on the wrong foot because they don’t have enough money or don’t have tools that work well.

The biggest companies in the world don’t just think about hiring when they need to. They know that the way people look for jobs has changed, as well as the specific things they look for. People want more than just money these days. They want their work to be as satisfying as the rest of their lives. This is called “work life balance”. If they think a job won’t give them that satisfaction, they will be more likely to look for work somewhere else.

From a business’s point of view, this means that recruiting can’t be done in a passive way. It needs to be active and interesting, as well as a top priority. Google, for example, knows it can’t afford to lose the interest of smart tech workers, so it puts recruitment at the top of its list of priorities. A piece from Bock’s book that was published in The Globe and Mail says that the company spends twice as much on recruiting as other companies in its league.

Your company might not have enough money to spend that much, but there are other ways to put recruiting first. Invest in tools that make the process easier for both the people doing the hiring on the inside and the people applying from the outside. Hire a third party that is dedicated to giving candidates a great experience. Even small businesses can compete with the big recruiters with the help of a service that knows what it is doing. This takes pressure off their own resources and keeps them in line with the law.

2. Make candidates love your business

Bock said the same thing: Google makes candidates fall in love with them.

“Candidates should be happy to see your job listing.”

“You want them to have a great time, have their concerns addressed, and feel like they just had the best day of their lives,” he wrote in Wired.

Bock was talking about the interview, but this is true throughout the whole hiring process. When people find your job listing, they should be excited. They should be eager to fill out the application, check on its status, gather documents for a background check, and come in for an interview.

3. Invite people who aren’t in HR

HR managers don’t do all of the hiring at tech companies. They are looking for people to join certain teams, so they involve the people already on those teams in the process. For example, candidates are interviewed by the people who will work with and for them, as well as by the people who would be their managers. These may be the most important tests, since direct teams work best when new hires fit in easily, and only they can tell how well a candidate will fit in.

If you’re hiring for a certain department, have members of that team look over the job description and the people you’ve chosen. They don’t have to do all the hiring, be involved in the entire process or look at every resume, but their thoughts will be very helpful. For instance, these people can make sure that the job description is correct and makes you want to apply. If your current staff won’t apply for the job based on how you describe it, you can be sure that good candidates won’t either.

Each and every business wants to hire great people, but they can only do that if they put the right amount of focus on recruiting. Use these suggestions from the best tech companies in your organization and see the difference.

What are the benefits of a recruitment plan?

• It aligns recruitment efforts with company goals: The recruitment plan helps direct the work of the recruitment team by focusing on attracting and hiring people in the areas most needed by the company — for example, looking for candidates in new locations if the company plans to expand into new geographical areas.

• It helps establish a flexible budget for the plan: A budget can be determined to support the recruitment strategy and provide backup support if additional money is required — for example, upgrading the process with a new applicant tracking system (ATS).

• Refines and improves hiring practices: A repeatable process for attracting, interviewing and rating candidates can help identify top candidates more quickly, reduce bias and be adjusted over time.

• Saves time: A refined and uniform recruitment process identifies key components to ensure the right tools are in place for recruiters to use for every new job posting.

• Builds and targets a talent pipeline: Recruiters will better understand the areas of the company that will be growing and the types of skills required, as well as select the most worthwhile networking events and sponsorships that help build the targeted talent pipeline.