Ruehie Jaiya Karri

Hiring top-tier talent is one of the most important elements of the startup puzzle and yet, it is the hardest thing to get right. Technology is advancing at the speed of light with innovations coming out of every corner, but tech startup hiring practices to employ people that actually bring about these innovations are still in the dark ages.

We are talking hyper-growth when tech startups grow faster than the expected industry growth rate.

The World Economic Forum defines hyper-growth as that phase of startup expansion, where a company maintains an average annual growth rate of at least 40% for more than one year—in simpler terms, it means your startup hit the jackpot and joined the elite league of companies whose growth is skyrocketing!

Consequently, you need to quickly scale your workforce to meet those ambitious targets and meet customer demands. Now, in light of the severe talent crunch faced by the tech industry with every organization vying for the same candidates across job roles like software engineering, developing, data science, etc., how do you aim to make your tech startup hiring strategy stand out from the rest?

Read on 🙂

Challenges of hiring for a hyper-growth startup

Tech startup hiring can be something of a ‘Rush Hour’, the movie experience. Your hiring needs are mostly unplanned, a lot of things are happening at once, and not everybody knows what’s happening!

This is underpinned by quite a few technical hiring challenges like:

1. Working at a startup is considered a risk

Studies show 9 out of 10 startups fail. Understandably, tempting talented candidates to apply for open roles at your organization can be difficult. Added incentives like competitive pay, options for flexible working, or company equity might just do the trick in catching the attention of potential candidates—our yearly Developer Survey brought to fore that 68% of experienced developers can be wooed by a good career path and compensation.

2. Your startup is new and doesn’t have a strong employer brand

Growing companies have to compete for top talent with well-established organizations, as they are relatively unknown, and do not have a strong employer brand to fall back on. You have to be extra smart and do more legwork than others to showcase why your company is a great place to work at.

3. Recruiters need to don several hats

The recruiting expertise required when hiring for an entire company is vast and distinct for each job role. Startups have a limited recruiting team; or just you— and the responsibility of hiring for roles ranging from software developers to customer success managers falls on your shoulders. You would have to familiarize yourself with several profiles for these job roles to bridge the knowledge gap to some extent.

4. Hiring fast might kill your workplace culture

The fast-paced nature of a startup leaves little time to invest in building company culture. When you’re growing quickly, outsourcing your hiring needs may seem like a safe bet but the potential hires may not be a good culture fit. The sweet spot to attracting talented candidates is when they can adapt to the hyper-growth nature of your company as well as align well with the team dynamic.

Also, read: Through The Looking Glass: Hiring For ‘Cultural Fit’ In A Remote World

The significance of actively seeking tech talent

A proactive approach to tech talent acquisition is crucial for several reasons:

1. For startups in hyper-growth phases, scaling the team quickly and efficiently is vital. Actively seeking talent ensures that the company’s growth is supported by a robust team that can handle increasing demands.
2. Passive recruitment often limits the talent pool to those actively seeking new opportunities. In contrast, actively seeking talent, especially in underrepresented groups, can diversify the workforce, fostering innovation and creativity.
3. Engaging actively with potential candidates, even before they apply for a position, helps build a strong employer brand. This proactive engagement can make the company more attractive to top talent.
4. In tech industries, where competition for skilled talent is fierce, a passive approach might result in losing out on top candidates to competitors. An active search keeps the company competitive in the talent market.
5. Actively seeking talent can fill positions faster, reducing the time and resources spent on prolonged hiring processes.
6. By actively seeking candidates, startups can find individuals whose skills and aspirations align closely with the company’s strategic objectives and culture, promoting long-term growth and stability.

Tech startup hiring tips for the hyper-growth stage

To deal with your hiring woes, you have to be intentional about your recruiting strategy. It may be tempting to “hire fast and fire fast” like plenty of tech companies’ hiring cycles that you come across but that can be hurtful in the long run.

Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur, once said, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” Finding the right people to join your team is exactly what tech companies are looking for—an uphill climb, indeed.

On that note, here are 5 tech startup hiring tips that can help you attract and retain top talent:

#1 Plan your hiring timeline

When a tech startup is expanding at a rapid rate, it can be easy to overestimate its hiring requirements. To avoid hiring too many people and then having to let go of a large number of them, you have to accurately evaluate the essential manpower your startup needs. Factor in your employee turnover rate too, before fixing on numbers that will form the foundation for your hyper-growth hiring strategy—an important first step.

The next step would be to decide which positions to fill first—for instance, if you plan to increase your revenue targets, you might need marketing folks onboard before hiring for engineering folks. Break down your hiring plan according to each quarter and the goals you need to achieve so you know which to prioritize first.

#2 Calculate your hiring costs

Now you know which positions to hire for and when to fill them. With these numbers in hand, it’s time to flesh out your recruiting budget. Calculate how much it costs to fill each position—the cost-per-hire metric, which takes into account talent acquisition software expenses, recruiters’ salaries, cost of any hiring events conducted, and so on.

Also, keep track of the time-to-hire metric. When you calculate the amount of time it takes to close a single position, you can use these findings to tweak your hiring strategy—to further reduce the time-to-hire ratio.

#3 Create candidate personas that are startup-centric

Candidates working in a startup require a certain set of skills. They need to put in long hours, take on more responsibilities than is the norm, and be open to the pace of a hyper-growth workplace. Take your time, do the research, and understand what each role requires before building candidate personas that suit all your needs. Focus on both hard and soft skills—a balance between technical knowledge and clear communication is the ideal candidate profile.

Also, read: Ultimate Playbook for Better Hiring

#4 Post your jobs in startup-focused communities

Plastering your job postings on all the job boards out there will not attract the relevant candidates and is cost-intensive too. Focus your efforts on communities that are startup-centric. They consist of exactly the types of candidates you need, who are well-versed with the volatile nature of working for a startup. AngelList, VentureLoop, Startupers are a few job boards that you can target to attract the ideal candidates.

#5 Update your recruitment tech stack

Let technology do the heavy lifting for you—especially when you’re hard-pressed for time and need to hire fast. Your recruitment tech stack should consist of the latest online recruitment software like applicant tracking systems, virtual assessment tools, coding interview tools, and chatbots for better candidate experience.

• Applicant tracking systems (ATS) – An ATS helps you cut down your overall time-to-hire for job roles. An added benefit is it enables you to create and nurture a pool of passive candidates that you can call upon in the future—a useful feature when you need to close a role quickly. An ATS can be a simple tool that maintains a digital repository of candidate data to quite complex with various approval levels and AI-enhanced searches.
• Virtual assessment tools – Recruitment screening software like pre-employment assessment tests are a godsend for recruiters. You do not have to pour over thousands of resumes manually; instead, test your candidates for skills. A live coding assessment tool like HackerEarth Assessments helps you with an objective evaluation of each candidate, provides detailed reports, and instant feedback—all with minimal technical know-how!
• Coding interview tools – The same developer survey showed that 40% of developers preferred to be interviewed on intelligent interview tools that are in-built with code editors and video conferencing. For a fair and objective evaluation of the devs, coding interview tools like FaceCode are the best choice. FaceCode allows you to invite and conduct bias-free coding interviews on a collaborative, real-time code editor that also automates your interview summaries.

Also, read: How Your Tech Stack Can Help You Hire Top Talent

Hire IQ by HackerEarth is a new initiative in which we speak with recruiters, talent acquisition managers, and hiring managers from across the globe, and ask them pertinent questions on the issues that ail the tech recruiting world.

Next up in this edition is Colet Coelho, Head of Talent Acquisition, at Recruit CRM. Being Women’s History Month, we wanted to understand the diversity mandates at Recruit CRM and more importantly, as a woman in tech, what would Colet like to change for welcoming more of such awesome women into the tech recruiting space.

Settle in, and let’s get to it!

P.S. If you missed the first edition of HireIQ where we sit down with Charles Rue from IHS Markit, you can read it here 🙂

HackerEarth: A lot of recruiting jargon has made headlines in the last two years. Candidate experience, remote hiring, employee burnout, and of course the ‘Great Resignation’. If you had to pick one jargon/phrase to attach to the future of ATS platforms, what would it be and why?

Colet: If I had to pick a jargon out of the mentioned, I would pick two—candidate experience and remote hiring. The candidate experience we design reveals a great deal about who we are as an employer. Prospective workers will judge our company based on their experience with the recruiting process, and a negative applicant experience will discourage future job seekers from applying.

Although, providing an excellent candidate experience can be a problematic aspect of the remote hiring process. Enhancing the overall candidate experience in remote recruitment is a vital function of an Applicant Tracking System. ATS platforms automate hiring while streamlining this entire process.

Recommended read – Remote Work And Recruitment: An ATS Story

HackerEarth: How have your internal hiring policies changed in the last two years? Since DEI has been a priority in the tech world, have you initiated any new processes for improving inclusion at your workplace?

Colet: Our hiring policies have been pretty consistent. Since we have always been a remote functioning organization, the last two years haven’t affected our recruitment methods too much.

Our organization has a fair distribution of employees from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and locations spread across the globe. We host regular meetings with all our employees where everyone is heard and allowed to present their views forward.

To create an inclusive culture, starting at the very beginning is critical. We preach, advocate, and encourage inclusivity as an essential component of our organizational principles. We’ve started sharing it on our social media, websites, and in interviews so that any potential employee is aware of our inclusion goals.

We have also begun to streamline the recruiting process by enabling candidates from various community outreach initiatives, job fairs, and hiring consultants to participate. This guarantees that we have a varied range of abilities.

Inclusion at the workplace is pointless if people are not valued for who they are.

The pronouns that a person prefers are entirely up to them. We will begin to include a section on the pronouns employees prefer on their identity cards. In addition, we will guarantee that all of our job descriptions include gender-neutral language.

HackerEarth: As a woman in the tech recruiting space, what are some of the changes you would like to see in how companies attract talented women? How about expanding the conversation to include the non-binary community, and if yes, then how can recruiters begin to do that?

Colet: Flexibility is one of the top perks a firm can offer an employee, not just to women but also men. As a woman in the recruitment sphere, I’d like to see companies offer women more flexibility regarding where, when, and how they work.

To attract non-binary candidates, recruiters can start by allowing a range of pronouns in different areas. Leaving gender boxes unfilled or providing the opportunity to add additional gender or pronoun categories in both paper and online HR forms/platforms will encourage non-binary employees to apply as well as feel like they belong in the workplace.

HackerEarth: Data has become an important tool for recruiters today. In your opinion, what do you think are the three most important markers/data points that recruiters should be looking at when hiring? Additionally, do you think there is a data point that recruiters are overlooking?

Colet: The three most important data points that recruiters should always consider are quality of hire, cost-per-hire, and time-to-hire.

While assessing hiring quality might be subjective, it is probably one of the most critical criteria to monitor. Poor performance can indicate that you have an individual performing the wrong job, regardless of how quickly you fill a role or how much you lower the hire cost.

The cost per hire is simply the money spent on recruiting in a given year divided by the total number of hires made. The recruiting costs vary for every organization, so it’s a good idea to benchmark the typical expenditures for various jobs in your firm. The time-to-hire metric measures how fast an applicant progresses through the various phases of the recruiting process.

The total amount spent on recruitment in a given year divided by the number of recruits is the cost per hire. Again, the recruiting expenses differ from one organization to the next. Therefore, it’s good to benchmark the average expenditures for various roles inside your company.

A critical marker that recruiters occasionally tend to neglect is the source of hiring.

Knowing where your best candidates and applicants are coming from is quite helpful, especially when it comes to recruitment marketing. With this indicator, you can discover those sources and channels that bring in the most qualified candidates for your available positions.

Recommended read: The Great Resignation In The Tech Industry – How To Prevent it

HackerEarth: One of the questions we love asking tech recruiters is – when it comes to skills versus experience, what would you choose and why? What are some of your trusted markers for a skill that you would use to gauge a developer’s competency when hiring?

Colet: While I’m constantly emphasizing soft and hard skills as a recruiter, I can’t ignore the importance of work experience to evaluate a candidate. Therefore, when I search for an ideal candidate, I am looking for a combination of the right personality, soft skills, technical or hard skills, and practical industry experience.

Although, a lack of corporate experience is not an indicator of poor potential, especially when hiring youth. The ability to work in a team structure, make decisions and solve problems, communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organization, and plan, organize and prioritize work are skills I focus on evaluating when hiring.

My usual evaluation method is looking at past projects and giving real-time assignments to measure a developer’s expertise when recruiting.

HackerEarth: Let’s talk a bit about workplace culture 🙂 In the era of hybrid, how do you suggest companies can keep up employee morale and boost engagement?

Colet: I truly believe that open communication and prioritizing employee well-being are the way to maintain morale at work. Honest communication facilitates trust, and employees who have faith in their supervisors to act in their best interests are less stressed during times of transition and uncertainty. Considering employee mental health is also a critical factor in ensuring high morale, especially concerning feelings of isolation and the rising risk of burnout.

Ultimately, leaders cannot just guess or intuit what would make staff feel the most upbeat and engaged. They are the only ones who can tell you what works for them.

So I suggest that companies solicit constant input from employees through employee engagement surveys to gather personal knowledge and then develop a curated strategy that tailors efforts to people’s preferences and requirements.

HackerEarth: Recruit CRM also helps companies with sourcing. What are some non-traditional modes of sourcing you have seen your clients use in the recent past that you think have great potential? Alternatively, do you think there are untapped platforms that tech recruiters can use to their advantage?

Colet: I’ve seen clients use quite a few non-traditional methods of sourcing that have turned out to be quite the successes. For example, sourcing through social media and Boolean searches. Social networking has evolved into one of the most effective tools for hiring today. LinkedIn, Github for developers, and Behance for creatives are the most well-known professional platforms.

However, popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are valuable tools. I feel like Quora and YouTube are two such platforms that haven’t been tapped by recruiters yet but can prove to be of great help in finding potential employees.

Recommended read:Boolean Search Strings – 5 Essential Tips For Recruiters

HackerEarth: And lastly—a piece of advice for recruiters around the globe to navigate the pandemic-induced ups and downs of the recruiting business.

Colet: The last two years have been tough on recruiters. The pandemic and its consequences decimated some talent acquisition teams, piled additional pressures on others, and proved to be a historic change agent, as virtually recruiting and onboarding a remote workforce became the norm for many.

Since virtual hiring is here to stay, I would advise recruiters to focus on making virtual recruitment as streamlined and fine-tuned as possible using an ATS. In addition, a common challenge resulting from the pandemic is the difficulty in filling job openings.

The difficulty in getting applications is an excellent opportunity for some clever employer branding.

Take advantage of this chance to establish your employer brand and set your organization out of competition. Address the main worries of your present workers and future applicants by assuring them that your firm is solid and helpful.

About Colet Coelho:

Based out of Mumbai, India, Colet heads the Talent Acquisition team at Recruit CRM, aiming to bring the best talent onboard and scale the current team of 50 to over 150 in the next 2 years. Here is her LinkedIn.

Two years of the world adapting to new ways of working and the tech industry has pretty much seen it all. From working fully remote to transitioning to hybrid work models, recruiters know what kind of technology they need to streamline their hiring processes. Be it virtual coding assessment tools or online coding interview tools, the recruitment tech stack has vastly been improved to keep up with the ever-changing hiring landscape.

Consequently, there has been an explosion of tech interview tools that claim to help you at every step of the recruiting life cycle. You, as recruiters know what you need but how would you separate the wheat from the chaff—a good marketing pitch versus a functional tool that does what it claims to do?

And this is where we step in! Allow us to point out the most important elements of coding assessment tools that you need to watch out for.

6 things every online coding assessment tool should have

Choosing the right coding assessment tool may make or break your recruitment process. It is important that whatever tool you decide to run with meets all your requirements and helps simplify finding the best candidate for the job.

We did our research and here are some of the features that constitute a capable and reliable coding interview tool:

Easy integration with your existing ATS

The modern recruiter cannot manage or sift through large volumes of candidate data on a spreadsheet. That’s a recipe for disaster right there.

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is built to solve just that. Work with a tool that offers effortless integration with an ATS, where you can sync all candidate data in one place. It acts as a centralized repository of candidate data—keeps track of resumes and saves all received applications even if they were not hired.

Your ATS helps you effectively screen applications by setting filters instead of doing it manually. It can also ensure that the candidates are all on the same page by sending them real-time updates about their progress at each stage of the interview. Your hiring team can easily check the status of any selected candidate directly from the ATS.

You can create and send assessment invites from the ATS itself and do away with switching between multiple platforms.

Recommended read – Remote Work And Recruitment: An ATS Story

Rich library of questions

Any good online assessment tool will offer a wide array of programming languages, and frameworks as well as tests for both modern and legacy coding skills. You should be able to test for all developer roles whether it is frontend or backend. It should consist of a range of programming languages and frameworks for all coding job roles such as iOS developer, Android developer, web developer, data scientist, and so on.

Automated invigilation with proctor settings

When hiring remotely, it is not possible to closely monitor candidates during the tests. This is where automation takes over. A capable coding assessment tool provides automated invigilation with proctor settings. Proctoring allows you to observe candidates through video during the test and protect the quality of the assessment.

The automated assessment tool should also report tab switching, prevent copy-pasting code, and eliminate candidate impersonation with the help of image processing.

Recommended read: 3 Things To Know About Remote Proctoring

Assessments created for individual roles

What a hiring manager looks for in a candidate varies from role to role. The platform should enable you to build your custom coding assessments as per your requirements. You should have the choice of creating different types of questions like MCQs, project-type, or subjective questions that simulate on-the-job problems with the help of custom data sets and test cases.

Recommended read: 4 Ways To Create Tests With HackerEarth

Grading based on standard evaluation parameters

It’s always advisable to conduct structured interviews to ensure that the hiring process is fair and impartial. One way to do this is by evaluating every candidate against standardized parameters to keep the assessment objective. Scoring reports that are automatically generated at the end of the assessment make it simple and quick for you to identify who goes on to the next round and who doesn’t.

Not only does it cut bias out of the equation but also lets you update the candidate in real-time and ensure that they are kept in the loop at every step of the hiring lifecycle.

Automated performance reports

Any coding test platform supplies in-depth analytics and insights into a candidate’s capabilities with summarized, auto-generated performance reports. You can identify top performers in an instant and screen them further based on work experience and other relevant criteria. This helps you make data-driven decisions in collaboration with your team as all candidate performance data is available on the dashboard.

Top 5 Online Assessment Tool

Choosing the right online assessment tool can streamline your hiring process, ensuring you find the best candidates for your technical roles. Here are the top five coding assessment tools that stand out for their features and effectiveness:

HackerEarth:

HackerEarth combines coding challenges, hackathons, and real-world projects to assess candidates’ skills. It’s known for its user-friendly interface and detailed analytics, making it easy to identify top talent.

HackerRank:

Known for its extensive library of coding challenges and competitive coding environments, HackerRank, the online assessment tool is ideal for assessing a wide range of programming skills and languages. It offers robust reporting and benchmarking capabilities.

Codility:

This online assessment tool excels in evaluating candidates’ coding skills through real-world tasks and coding scenarios. Codility’s automated grading and anti-cheating measures ensure a fair and efficient assessment process.

LeetCode:

Popular among developers, LeetCode provides a vast repository of coding problems that cover various topics and difficulty levels. It’s excellent for both preparing candidates and assessing their problem-solving skills.

CodeSignal:

With a focus on providing a comprehensive evaluation, CodeSignal offers coding tests, technical interviews, and custom assessments. Its advanced coding environment supports a wide range of programming languages and frameworks.

HackerEarth, the best coding assessment tool for your organization

Online Coding assessment toool enable you to assess a candidate’s technical skills objectively. It helps recruiters zero in on the right talent from among a vast talent pool, quickly. Do your research wisely and choose the best coding assessment tool that fits all your needs.

As we discussed before, a good tool is simple to use, has an enormous question bank, uses a combination of knowledge and application-based techniques such as MCQs and simulators to measure job-relevant skills, and provides data-rich insights into a candidate’s performance.

Here’s why we think HackerEarth Assessments is a great option for a coding assessment tool:

• A rich library of 13,000+ questions across 80+ programming skills helps you to create highly specific coding assessments with zero technical understanding.
• Creation of your assessment for any job role or expected skill in under 5 minutes or based on job descriptions, with the option to build custom questions.
• The choice of designing various types of questions like MCQs or project-type questions that simulate real-time problems.
• Seamless integration with popular ATSs like LinkedIn Talent Hub, Lever, Workable, JazzHR, and more, which means you can sync all your candidate data with your ATS.
• Instantly invite candidates to take the assessment you created on our platform. See at what stage each candidate is in throughout the hiring lifecycle, and avail performance reports, all from your ATS—without switching between multiple tools.
• Robust proctoring efforts with the choice to customize the stringency, data-rich insights on each candidate’s performance, and built-in PII (Personal Identifiable Information) feature that mitigates bias in the process to offer an objective, accurate, and impartial screening process.
• Auto scoring based on standardized evaluation parameters to ensure each candidate is assessed fairly.
• Provides actionable insights into a candidate’s skills with summarized, automated performance reports.

Go on, take HackerEarth for a spin and see for yourself if everything we claimed checks out! Remember, you only know the difference between a tool that’s good on paper and a tool that can provide good results when you actually test it out.

Keep the top features of a coding assessment tool in mind while making your decision, to find the perfect fit for your recruitment tech stack!

FAQs about Coding Assessment Tools

Q: What are coding assessment tools?
A: Coding assessment tools are software platforms that help employers evaluate the coding skills of potential hires through various challenges, tasks, and tests.

Q: How do coding assessment tools work?
A: These tools provide a range of coding challenges and scenarios that candidates must solve. They often include automated grading and performance analytics to streamline the evaluation process.

Q: What should I look for in a coding assessment tool?
A: Key features to consider include the variety of coding challenges, language support, ease of use, anti-cheating measures, and detailed reporting capabilities.

Q: Can coding assessment tools prevent cheating?
A: Yes, many tools include anti-cheating measures such as webcam proctoring, plagiarism detection, and controlled coding environments to ensure the integrity of the assessments.

Q: Are coding assessment tools only for recruitment?
A: No, they can also be used for employee development, training, and identifying areas for improvement within your current team.

Are you worried about the great resignation in tech? This is a problem that is affecting businesses all over the world. But don’t worry, there are things that you can do to prevent it from happening in your organization. In this blog post, we will discuss the great employee resignation and look at some tips on how to avoid it.

First of all, let’s first understand what exactly is the Great Resignation –

The tech industry benefits from an abundance of fresh talent supply annually. However, more than 4 million people in the US alone quit their jobs in 2021- a record number, and this mass exodus isn’t unique to America. One survey found that 41% (or 11 out 15) global workers were considering their exit during 2021 according to Microsoft’s data – which means it could very well continue in 2022 as well. In another study, 39 out of 50 countries surveyed saw higher rates of employee resignations.

So what’s the reason for this Great Resignation?

Well, there isn’t any single particular factor but research shows that it is largely due to “workplace frustration“. This can have a lot of different sources and meanings, but in most cases, it mostly includes workplace culture and environment and being overworked. It could also be due to low compensation or because of negative relationships with co-workers and/or management. And let’s not forget about job dissatisfaction! LinkedIn published a study where they found out that 79% of millennials confessed to being unhappy at their jobs.

What do the statistics say?

A 2021 study by Bankrate showed that 52% of employers noticed a greater number of employee resignations within six months of joining. Moreover, 89% were concerned with how this would impact their business and 28% claimed that they had already lost some clients due to this problem.

When asked which generation is most likely to quit their jobs, more than half (55%) of the respondents said Generation Y or millennials. And if you thought that’s bad enough, more than one-third (35%) believe that employee retention will be even worse in 2022!

How the Great Resignation affected the tech industry

The Great Resignation significantly impacted the tech industry, reshaping how companies approach talent management and acquisition. Tech professionals, enjoying a market flush with opportunities, have become more selective about their employment choices. The reasons for this shift are multifaceted:

• Seeking Better Work-Life Balance: Many tech professionals have started prioritizing roles that offer flexibility, remote work options, and a better balance between personal life and work.
• Demand for Higher Compensation: With the tech industry booming, skilled professionals are aware of their market value and are seeking higher compensation and benefits.
• Career Advancement Opportunities: Tech professionals are looking for roles that offer clear pathways for career advancement and skill development.
• Cultural Fit and Values: There is an increasing emphasis on finding companies whose values align with their own, especially regarding innovation, diversity, and corporate responsibility.
• Impact of Pandemic: The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many to reassess their career goals and seek jobs that provide more security and satisfaction.

This shift requires tech companies to reevaluate their talent acquisition strategies, focusing more on employee engagement, retention programs, and creating an attractive company culture to combat the high turnover rates.

Here is how you can avoid the Great Resignation at your company

Put an emphasis on employee well being

To combat the high rates of burnout-fueled employee resignations at your company, giving workers time off and expecting them to take it when they need it isn’t enough. Travel options remain limited so people may feel there’s no excuse for using their vacation days while others might believe that the work culture encourages always being present (despite new findings of how this can affect health).

Employees need the time to focus on their mental and emotional well-being. Many workers face a lack of fulfillment regardless of whether they are paid fairly or have tasks to perform. Organizations that provide employees with opportunities to be creative, build social connections at work, or do work on passion projects within the organization will see happier workers who are more committed.

Recommended read: 7 Employee Engagement Strategies For WFH Tech Teams

Hybrid and flexible work options

While many employees prefer being in the office, a lot of them work remotely as a result of personal commitments and circumstances. While remote working allows employees to be productive even when they’re not in the office, some people prefer interacting with their co-workers in person.

The past 16 months are proof that remote (or at least hybrid) working is the future! A recent survey shows 39% of the workers would consider quitting if employers weren’t flexible about remote positions. Among millennials (aged 18–34) this figure sits higher still at 49%. The trend towards virtual teams paired up nicely via technology means less time spent commuting each day which also helps improve company productivity overall.

Retaining talent in roles that can’t be performed from afar is becoming increasingly difficult. Some companies are looking for new amenities to offer their employees, hoping this will help create a sense of balance and preserve stability within the workplace.

The need has become so urgent because workers who spend all day commuting every week may find themselves with little free time when they arrive at home after work – unless there’s another meeting or conference call during what would traditionally qualify as “free” hours.

Recommended read: 4 Things The Pandemic Taught Us About Diverse Tech Teams

Reward loyalty

To attract the best workers, employers should offer competitive compensation packages. You have to pay people enough so they don’t think about money when deciding if working for your company is worth it. Try giving out one-time bonuses as well as student loan repayment assistance and work-from-home options. Employees love to feel appreciated by their bosses, so take the time to show appreciation via bonuses, promotions, or even just a simple email.

Focus on the big picture

While there are endless reasons why people choose to resign, lack of opportunities for growth or advancement is a major one. Make sure you regularly discuss career paths with employees and help them grow within your company. You also need to have a smooth and memorable onboarding process so the new hires feel like they’re part of something great from day one! No matter how many perks you offer, if they don’t feel welcome and a part of the team, your company will almost always have to deal with a high resignation rate.

Recommended read: 7 Ways To Reduce Burnout In Your Tech Teams

Provide opportunities for growth

Employers should create retention strategies to keep top talent around by pretending their best employees just handed in resignations and asking themselves what they could do that would change the person’s mind. Forward-thinking organizations have been doing interviews like this since last month—with each employee advising on where things can be improved or future opportunities offered up.

Care for your employees as well as their families

To retain their employees, employers should make provisions for the physical as well as mental well-being of the employees and their dependents. This can include but is not limited to, medical insurance, discounts on gym memberships, access to a network of mental health resources, maternity and paternity leaves, etc. They can also help parents of small children by providing child care assistance programs or paid time off (PTO).

Be sure to review your company’s policies

Hiring and onboarding processes can make or break your business. It is not only important to go over all of the policies and processes related to hiring and onboarding but also to follow through with them without exception.

You also need to create an environment where these talented individuals feel comfortable speaking up about issues in the workplace. Finally, once the employees are hired, employers need to ensure they have ongoing training programs so that employees can learn and upskill throughout their time at your company.

Recommended read: A Note On Our New Leave Policies

Analyze the blind spots within your system

Look at metrics such as compensation, time spent between promotions (i.e., number of years), location(s) of the company, function/size pay increases over one’s career path, etc. to identify problems that might be causing your employees to quit.

When trying new ideas or programs keep an open mind and remember that there will always come those within our organizations who aren’t happy no matter where they work!

Retain your top talent with HackerEarth

Here is how you can keep your top talent using HackerEarth:

Continuous assessments

• Skill Evaluation: HackerEarth enables managers to continuously keep assessing employee skills and team members’ skill development. This helps employers address potential problem areas with the help of specific metrics.
• Learning and Development: Keeping employees up to date with the latest technologies and trends is a must. HackerEarth’s learning and development assessment tool helps employers stay ahead of the curve and improve the overall productivity of their workforce.
• Employee Engagement: Employee participation is key to overall organizational success. HackerEarth’s gamification tools help employers engage their talent with real-time feedback, on-the-go assessments as well as Hackathons – reducing overall employee resignations.
• Competency Mapping: Competency mapping is the foundation for any successful organization. HackerEarth’s unique competency mapping tool helps employers in identifying, developing, and retaining talent by optimizing every hiring decision that gives great ROI.

HackerEarth is a platform that connects organizations with skilled developers and helps them participate in major hackathons. This is done by providing access to qualified talent without the need for any bandwidth or environmental drain, as well as hosting challenges specifically designed for a virtual space!

HackerEarth virtual hackathons:

When it comes to assessing employee skills by running a successful hackathon, there is no better place than HackerEarth. HackerEarth has the experience and knowledge needed for all phases of conducting these events at scale across different industries.

• HackerEarth is the only curated hiring company that guarantees you’ll get all of your engagement needs without any bandwidth drain.
• With the HackerEarth platform, you can manage your virtual hackathons or hiring challenges from anywhere in the world and even at scale.
• Working with HackerEarth means working in one of the largest communities for qualified developers.

The great employee resignation in technology is a growing problem that has been affecting businesses all over the world. Luckily, there are things you can do to prevent it from happening in your business. Follow the steps above to stop the Great Resignation from affecting your organization.

The great resignation has been on the minds of many IT organizations and their business leaders ever since nearly 4 million people quit their jobs back in November 2021. Consequently, hiring talented tech talent has become a lot harder than before.

Will 2022 break away from this trend wonder recruiters across the globe. Instead of waiting for the tide to turn, why not step up your game—invest in a recruitment tech stack that turns heads and helps you attract the very best talent out there?

The right recruiting software mix will help you streamline your entire recruiting life cycle, create a strong brand recall, and have potential candidates be excited about working with your company! On that note, let’s look at what tech stacks are and how do you choose one that caters to all your needs.

What is a recruitment tech stack?

A tech stack is a collection of technologies that are used to create a product or service. A recruitment tech stack would consist of a set of automated tools and technologies for every step of the hiring process—right from sourcing to onboarding. Your tech stack should have strong built-in analytics, seamless integrations with other apps, and be mobile-friendly.

We are talking sourcing tools, applicant tracking systems, screening and assessment software, engagement tools, coding interview platforms, automated background checks, onboarding software, and so on.

However, your recruitment strategy might not require all of these tools. There is no silver bullet that works best for everyone. The modern recruiter is always trying out new technologies to see what combination of resources suits their ever-changing needs.

Having said that, to stay relevant in this post-pandemic world, you need to prepare your recruitment tech stacks for the new normal, which is mostly remote. Be equipped to conduct fully remote hiring drives and successfully hire candidates without ever meeting them.

Recommended read: Boolean Search Strings – 5 Essential Tips For Recruiters

How tech stacks matter in technical recruiting

There are multiple benefits to having technology be the frontrunner of your recruiting strategies. A tech-enabled recruitment experience goes a long way in attracting and retaining top tech talent.

• Saves time and improves efficiency in the overall hiring process.
• Keeps large volumes of candidate data organized and ensures nothing gets lost.
• Creates a pleasant candidate experience.
• Keeps your talent pool warm and nurtured.
• Eliminates bias in hiring decisions.
• Better communication between candidates and recruiters.

A carefully curated recruitment tech stack can slash your time-to-hire and cost-per-hire metrics by a significant amount. Let’s look at the most important elements of a tech stack next, to better your hiring processes.

Recommended read: 21 Tech Recruiting Tools To Scale Your Hiring

4 must-haves in your tech stack

Here are some technologies to keep in mind when building your tech stack:

#1 Applicant tracking systems

The first thing you need to think about is an applicant tracking system. By investing in the right ATS you’ll be able to reduce your overall time to fill roles. You’ll also be able to create and nurture a pool of passive candidates that you can call upon in the future.

An ATS can go from simple (collating all the candidate information) to quite complex (with various approval levels and AI-enhanced searches). An ATS is also more secure than a spreadsheet or email.

A good ATS has features like:

• job posting across multiple job boards and websites
• automated screening of candidates’ resumes, which also lowers human bias and errors
• database assistance where you can store all applicants’ information
• view the status of each candidate throughout the interview process
• send out assessment invites from the ATS itself to the selected candidates and prepare a performance report in real-time
• initiate offer letters directly from the ATS, get them signed by the candidates, and save the documents digitally on the cloud

#2 Automated employee referral programs

Investing in an ATS has multiple benefits as seen above but the real advantage is you can set up a robust employee referral program with it. Studies show referral hires stay at a company for longer on average with 47% staying longer than 3 years.

Employee referral programs promote company culture and build better-engaged tech teams. Leverage existing data in your ATS to reach a wider audience.

Here’s how:

• Implement auto-posting where you send job openings to your internal employees on an ongoing basis
• Automatically use the data in your ATS to suggest the right people to your connections
• Keep track of where the referred candidate is in the hiring cycle and send updates to the referrer
• Link your ATS to your payroll system, so any referral bonus can go straight into your employee’s salary
• Assess the success of your employee referral program and tweak accordingly—number of shares via email or social, number of referred candidates, number of successful hires, and the quality of those hires

#3 Chatbots for better candidate experience

Adding a chatbot to your careers site or investing in an ATS that comes with one takes your candidate experience to the next level. Chatbots can bring your website to life where candidates can strike up a conversation with the bot to clear any basic queries and frequently asked questions.

You can also leverage natural language processing and train your bots to pre-screen candidates, answer candidate queries, and schedule interviews. Some even offer candidates the ability to check the status of their applications.

This vastly decreases the burden on recruiters and frees up time for them to take on other important tasks.

#4 Screening and virtual assessment tools

Virtual assessment tools are how you can better hire candidates for jobs, reduce employee turnover, and improve the quality of hire at your organization. These coding tests are where you get to see if what the candidate mentioned in their resume pans out.

A live coding assessment tool helps you with an objective evaluation of each candidate, provides detailed reports, and instant feedback—all with minimal technical know-how!

HackerEarth Assessments offers plenty of useful features. Here’s how HackerEarth does it:

• Provides a rich library of 13,000+ questions across 80+ programming skills to create highly accurate assessments
• Enables you to create your own assessment for any role in under 5 minutes or based on job descriptions, with the option to devise custom questions
• Gives you the choice of creating different types of questions like MCQs, subjective questions, or project-type questions that simulate on-the-job problems
• Allows seamless integration with popular ATSs like LinkedIn Talent Hub, Lever, Workable, and more, which means you can sync all your candidate data with your ATS
• Sends out invitations for candidates to take the assessment you created on our platform. You can also see at what stage each candidate is in throughout the hiring process, and avail performance reports, all from your ATS—without swapping between multiple apps
• Provides deeper insights into a candidate’s capabilities with summarized, automated performance reports

The use of AI in recruitment continues to spread and it is expected that the modern recruiter is savvy with the latest recruiting technologies and strategies. In 2022, change the way you hire and build great tech teams—and the first step is to start with building your dream recruitment tech stack!

Before we get into how to make your proctoring experience fool-proof and hassle-free, let us take a look at what remote proctoring is. Remote proctoring is a way in which candidates can appear for tests remotely, from any location of their choosing, instead of arriving at a traditional test center.

Instead of an in-person invigilator as in traditional tests, a person or remote interview software proctors the test virtually from another location.

Employees for the remote online proctored exams are trained to monitor students/candidates virtually, watching them work from their homes or other locations. The exams are monitored through video and audio surveillance. When done properly, online remote proctoring creates controlled and safe conditions to take examinations, while providing candidates and employers with more flexibility, and the ability to assess several candidates at once.

What is Remote Proctoring?

Remote proctoring is a method of overseeing exams conducted online to prevent cheating and ensure academic integrity. It uses technology such as webcams, microphones, and screen monitoring software to observe and record test-takers during their assessments. Proctors can monitor live or review recordings to identify any suspicious behavior. This method allows institutions to conduct secure exams for remote students, offering flexibility without compromising exam security. Remote proctoring systems can also employ advanced features like AI to detect unusual activities, making the process more efficient and reliable. This solution is particularly useful for online education and certification programs.

How Does Remote Proctoring Work?

Remote proctoring, a cutting-edge digital solution, brings the rigorous oversight of traditional exam settings into the digital realm. Here’s a basic breakdown of how it operates:

Initial setup: Candidates must typically download specific software or access a secured platform.

Identity verification: Before starting the test, candidates may be asked to show a government-issued ID to the camera, answer security questions, or even give a biometric sample (like a fingerprint or facial scan).

Environment scan: Using their webcam, candidates might be instructed to pan around their room to ensure no unauthorized materials are present.

Continuous monitoring: Throughout the assessment, software or live proctors monitor candidates using their webcam and microphone. Any suspicious activity, like looking away frequently or talking, can be flagged.

Review and reporting: Once completed, any anomalies or suspicious events are compiled and reported for review.

Types of Remote Proctoring

Online remote proctoring can be of 3 types:

1. Live:
   Live remote proctoring is a form of proctoring in which a qualified person monitors the candidate as they take an exam through live audio and video feeds. These proctors are trained to ensure authenticity, looking for any red flags such as suspicious eyes or facial movements.
2. Recorded:
   As the name suggests, with recorded proctoring, the candidate is recorded while taking the test and the recordings are then played back to look for suspicious behavior. This form of proctoring has an advantage in that there’s no need to schedule appointments since the tests can be taken anytime as convenient for the candidate.
3. Automated:
   This form of proctoring is the most advanced and requires no manual intervention whatsoever. With the help of AI, the remote proctoring software will detect any unusual movements or malpractices during the exam.

Some drawbacks and challenges of remote proctoring are –

• Complex technology requirements and stable internet connection might not be possible for test-takers in remote areas
• Heightened student anxiety especially in those who are not comfortable with technology and prefer traditional test-taking methods
• Scheduling and booking restrictions

3 Things To Know About Proctoring Remotely

1. The online proctoring market is projected to reach US$ 1,187.57 million by 2027

As remote hiring grows, proctoring has a vital role in ensuring the credibility and authenticity of the tech assessment process. The remote proctoring market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. The increasing demand for remote hiring platforms since the pandemic has skyrocketed its market share – the Global Online Proctoring Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.4% over the next few years. The market is estimated to be worth around $1200 million by 2027.

2. The USA has the largest sales region for Online Exam Proctoring in the world

Today, the USA has the largest sales region of remote proctoring in the world. While remote proctoring has been used for years in other countries to enhance security and prevent cheating in tests, its popularity has increased throughout the United States since the 2000s.

The United States is the key developer of online exam proctoring platforms. In 2019, the US market size was valued at $114 million USD and it’s expected to reach almost $323 million by 2025!

3. AI has transformed the online proctoring market

The future of online proctoring is AI-powered. By harnessing the power of AI, you can ensure exam integrity and security by leveraging machine learning technologies. This is because artificial intelligence solutions are most suitable for addressing identity concerns as well as privacy issues in an efficient and secure way without compromising anyone’s rights or freedom. Here is how AI proctoring works-

1. API-based facial recognition can verify the candidate’s identity and prevent any misconduct
2. The audio facility allows the software to record all sound throughout the exam, including talking and background noise
3. Eye movement detection is also used as a security measure in AI-powered proctoring software
4. The facial detection capabilities ensure that there is no case of candidate switching during the course of the exam

Future of Remote Proctoring

As digital transformation continues to reshape education and hiring, remote proctoring stands at an interesting juncture. In the future, we might see virtual reality or augmented reality environments for more interactive and immersive test settings. As AI evolves, the accuracy of anomaly detection will likely improve, making automated proctoring even more reliable.

We can anticipate more features that cater to candidates with disabilities, ensuring that proctored assessments are inclusive. As more institutions and companies adopt remote proctoring, we might see the emergence of global standards and best practices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is remote proctoring secure?

Yes, when implemented with trusted platforms and adhering to data protection standards, it’s a secure method to oversee exams.

Can remote proctoring detect cheating?

While it significantly reduces the chances of cheating through monitoring and environment scanning, no system can claim 100% cheat-proof status.

Do candidates need special equipment?

Typically, a computer with a webcam and microphone, a stable internet connection, and sometimes, specific software are required.

How are privacy concerns addressed?

Reputable proctoring services comply with data protection regulations, ensuring that personal data is collected with consent, stored securely, and used only for the intended purpose.

Make your online assessments cheat-proof with HackerEarth

HackerEarth’s remote assessments platform has built-in proctoring features that ensure exam integrity without compromising privacy and security. Here is how HackerEarth does it:

1. Random webcam snapshots:
   Randomized webcam snapshots are a great way to catch any type of malpractice attempt, like peering into another screen or verbal communication with someone in the room.
2. Custom timers :
   Timers are a great way to keep the candidates focused and discourage them from wasting time or cheating.
3. Plagiarism Checker:
   Our system automatically investigates each candidate’s code against all other applicant submissions for the same test and can track unusual similarities. You don’t need any human intervention – just sit back while this advanced software does its job and looks out for any plagiarized content that has been flagged.

Important add ons:

• To protect against cheating, you can limit access to certain IP addresses
• The Copy and Paste feature in the code editor can be disabled
• Upon leaving the test environment, the candidate will be automatically logged out
• Negative marking could be used during the MCQ questions
• Candidates can be restricted to full-screen mode for the entire assessment
• Built-in mobile phone detection plus automatic impersonation detection to ensure authenticity

Recommended read: What Recruiters Forecast For Tech Hiring In 2022

If you are looking for a more convenient and secure testing experience, remote proctoring may be the right choice for you. While remote proctoring may have some hiccups in its early days, it is now a viable and secure option for test-takers. With the right technology such as HackerEarth in place, remote proctoring can be the future of online testing.