Ruehie Jaiya Karri

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Ruehie Jaiya Karri

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Always interested in the “road less traveled”, she went from being a developer to a writer - her dream career. Her writing is simple and uncomplicated, two things she strives to achieve in her life. When not writing, you’ll find her curled up on her couch watching a rom-com or reading a book. A believer of dancing away her blues and a lover of coffee, she is also super passionate about baking.
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Insights & Stories by Ruehie Jaiya Karri

From code to content, Ruehie Jaiya Karri brings a unique perspective to tech and talent assessment. Explore her articles for insightful, easy-to-read takes on hiring trends, recruitment best practices, and the ever-evolving world of technology.
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21 Tech Recruiting Tools To Scale Your Hiring

The conventional methods of recruiting can no longer keep up with the rapidly changing landscape of the tech world. With it becoming increasingly difficult to find skilled talent, recruiters have to think out of the box to attract and retain the best candidates out there.

How can that be done? Technology, of course. It is the one-stop solution for most of the challenges in the tech industry. There are automated tools for every step of the recruiting lifecycle, from sourcing to onboarding.

However, there is a lot of noise in this space, and it can be hard to tell what’s real from what’s simply a good marketing pitch. You may not need tech recruiting tools for all the stages of hiring. Depending on your requirements, do your research and choose wisely.

Tech recruiting technology tools for each stage of the hiring process

Tech recruiting tools required for each stage of the hiring lifecycle

Job aggregator tools for sourcing

Talent sourcing takes up a huge chunk of time for recruiters. Without the help of sourcing tools, it will be akin to searching for a needle in a haystack. Automated job aggregator tools make it easy to grow your talent pipeline. There are plenty of avenues like job portals, placement agencies, social media, and hiring challenges to source candidates from.

Job boards and job aggregators are fundamental to the recruiting ecosystem because direct applicants make up 48% of all hires. Let’s take a look at the key features of this recruiting tool for recruiters:

  • increases the visibility of your job postings across a wide range of job boards/portals
  • carry out an in-depth search of candidates using filters like skills, experience, location, etc. to spot the best ones
  • find resumes, contact information, online portfolios, etc., and gather the data under one profile for each candidate. These profiles can be quickly added to your pipeline and you can engage with them over a period of time
  • make a quick assessment of the candidate based on their portfolio and projects
  • All the data related to a candidate can be stored on one platform with easy accessibility to the entire HR team

Job aggregators to keep in mind:

  • Indeed is said to be the largest platform for external hires with 75% of job applications coming in and 47% of all hires in the US
  • Glassdoor has its own job board where 83% of its 64 million monthly users are currently looking for a job
  • LinkedIn provides a Job Search Tool with advanced search capabilities and can filter out results based on location, skills, industry, and recommendations

Standalone applicant tracking systems (ATS)

Using numerous job boards and portals for posting your job vacancies can quickly become exhausting if you have to do it manually. A study by GetApp shows that 86% of recruiters say using an ATS has increased the speed at which they hire candidates.

A good ATS, recruitment technology tool offers capabilities like:

  • job opening posting across multiple job boards and websites
  • automated screening of candidates, and their resumes, which also decreases 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

Offering most of the features listed above, we have some good ATS options in the mix like:

  • Lever, a San Francisco startup, focuses on diversity and metric-based recruiting
  • Naukri RMS, automates the hiring process from end-to-end
  • LinkedIn Talent Hub, allows customers to source, manage, and hire in one integrated platform

Recruitment CRM tools for engagement

Waiting for a role to open to begin scouting for skilled developers is not a good idea. Instead, build and maintain a talent pool of passive candidates. Keep them engaged with company updates and relevant content so that you know exactly whom to approach for any role when the time comes. This is where recruitment CRM tools step in. They help in:

  • building a personal connection with the candidates during the hiring process
  • keep your candidates in the know by sending timely updates at each stage of the process
  • reduce time-to-hire by eliminating manual data entry and increase productivity with collaborative hiring
  • effectively engage prospective candidates through social media
  • nurture and engage candidates who were not hired in this phase but can be given an opportunity in the future

Recruitment CRM tools that need to be tried out for yourself:

  • Zoho has a cloud-based CRM platform that offers diverse solutions for building a relationship with your candidates
  • Yello provides an automated talent acquisition platform with a variety of services
  • Beamery, a London-based startup offers self-styled recruitment marketing software

Tech screening and assessment software

With scores of applications coming in, it is a huge task for recruiters to identify the ones worth talking to. Do the applicants with great resumes possess the skills that they say they have? The technical screening round is designed to filter candidates who exhibit the skills they listed on their resumes. Additionally, assessments are an effective way to test the behavioral and technical skills of developers. Coding assessment tools provide features like:

  • create highly accurate coding assessments or even custom ones based on the job role/skills/experience with minimum technical knowledge
  • make use of an extensive inbuilt library of questions across programming languages and skills with a robust proctoring system
  • set standard benchmarks for performance to shortlist candidates easily
  • sync seamlessly with your existing ATS to keep candidate information in one place

Screening tools that make the lives of recruiters easy:

  • HackerEarth Assessments helps you to objectively evaluate developers with a rich library of 13K+ questions across 80+ skills and shortlist candidates based purely on their performance
  • DevSkiller provides an automated technical screening platform that assesses candidates based on their skills
  • CodeSignal offers coding tests and assessments for hiring at scale

Coding interview tools

HackerEarth’s recent developer survey showed that 40% of developers preferred to be interviewed on interview tools that are equipped with code editors and video conferencing. For a fair and objective screening and evaluation of the applicants, coding interview tools are the best choice. They offer features such as:

  • conduct structured interviews with standard evaluation parameters
  • have real-time code editors with built-in compilers (doing away with whiteboards)
  • allow pair-programming
  • have AI-powered functionalities
  • provide real-time feedback and automated summary of each interview
  • enable blind interviewing to combat bias in the process

Coding interview tools that come with most of the functionalities given above:

  • FaceCode allows you to invite and conduct coding interviews on a collaborative, real-time code editor that also automates your interview summaries
  • CoderPad offers an intuitive programming interface that enables you to leave the whiteboard behind
  • CodeBunk provides an online real-time editor and compiler for interviewing developers

Background check tech recruiting tools

You are ready to roll out the offer letter as the selected candidate has excelled in all the rounds of interviews. It is advisable to conduct a background check before that to avoid making a bad hire as well as for additional security purposes. Some advanced features of such tools include:

  • an applicant’s ID verification, credit check, drug screening, and social media check
  • an applicant’s civil court records, motor vehicle records, and fingerprints for a more detailed verification
  • recruiters can create custom screening packages according to job role or department

This helps create a fuller picture of the candidate to deem whether they will be a good fit for the company. Some useful tools to try out include:

  • GoodHire provides an easy employee background check experience with its pre-bundled and custom-designed packages
  • Sterling helps create safer environments for your employees with its myriad background check services
  • Verified First enables accelerated background screening of candidates with its platform

Onboarding and core HR management software

Onboarding tools

Recruitment doesn’t end once the candidate signs the offer letter. There’s still the matter of onboarding. You are given one shot to make a great first impression on your new joiner and you do not want them to be blinded by paperwork.

With nearly 58% of organizations focusing their onboarding programs on lengthy processes and paperwork, only 12% of employees feel that their organization does a great job of onboarding. This is a wake-up call for organizations to switch to suitable tools for onboarding.

Now, let’s help make onboarding enjoyable for you and the candidate with the latest tech recruiting tools in the market. They have automated capabilities to:

  • help new hires self-onboard themselves with a checklist of tasks
  • finish filling out paperwork like offer letters, tax forms, and company NDAs ahead of time
  • customize the onboarding workflows like creating email addresses, allocating company devices, etc. for different candidates
  • introduce them to the rest of the team with welcome emails

HR management tools

Now that you have onboarded your new joiners, the next step is to ensure they have an easy and hassle-free employee experience. An integrated HR management tool allows you to manage the entire employee lifecycle from a single platform.

  • has self-service options for availing leaves, travel reimbursements, and timesheet entry
  • takes care of performance management and employee engagement
  • provides payroll and tax filing services
  • encourages internal collaboration among employees
  • maintains a database of existing employees’ profiles

Tools that offer services for the complete employee lifecycle:

  • BambooHR takes care of onboarding, compensation of employees, and building culture at the workplace with its integrated platform
  • Leapsome enables companies to carry out performance management, personalized development, onboarding new hires and so much more
  • Darwinbox provides an end-to-end HRMS Suite and provides services for all stages of the employee lifecycle

Your employees are the foundation of your company. Therefore, the onus falls on you, as recruiters, to give them the best possible experience. Armed with this toolkit of tech recruiting tools, you can simplify your entire hiring process and keep your employees happy, at the same time.

FAQs on tech recruiting tools for recruiters:

#1 How can tech recruiting tools benefit my hiring process?

Tech recruiting tools can save time and increase efficiency in the recruitment process. Additionally, they also provide valuable data and insights into the recruitment process, helping businesses make informed decisions about their hiring needs and strategies.

#2 What is the difference between an applicant tracking system (ATS) and a recruiting tool?

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a specific type of recruiting tool that is designed to manage and track resumes and job applications. While all ATSs are recruiting tools, not all recruiting tools are ATSs.

#3 How can I integrate tech recruiting tools into my existing recruitment process?

Integrating tech recruiting tools into your existing recruitment process can vary depending on the tool you choose and your current recruitment process. Some tools offer seamless integration with other HR and recruitment software, while others may require more manual setup and configuration. Be sure to consider the level of integration offered by each platform when choosing a tech recruiting tool.

#4 How to use social media as a recruiting tool?

Using social media as a recruiting tool can be an effective way to reach and engage with potential candidates. Here are some tips on how to use social media effectively for recruiting:

  • Choose the right platforms: Consider which platforms your target audience is using and focus your efforts on those. For example, LinkedIn is ideal for professional networking and job postings, while Instagram and Snapchat can be useful for reaching younger candidates.
  • Create a company profile: Establish a company profile on the social media platforms you’ve chosen and make sure it’s professional, up-to-date, and provides a good representation of your company culture.
  • Post job opportunities: Regularly post job opportunities on your social media profiles and encourage your followers to share the opportunities with their networks.
  • Engage with your followers: Respond to comments and messages, and share content that your followers might find interesting or relevant to the job.
  • Utilize employee advocacy: Encourage your employees to share your job postings and company culture on their personal social media accounts. This can help expand your reach and increase the credibility of your company.
  • Measure your success: Use analytics tools to track the success of your social media recruiting efforts, including the number of job views, applications, and hires generated from each platform.
  • Keep it professional: Remember to maintain a professional tone and image when using social media for recruiting. Avoid making any discriminatory comments or posting anything that could damage the reputation of your company.

#5 What tools do tech recruiters use?

There are several tools and platforms that can be used in tech recruitment to make the hiring process more efficient and effective. Some of the important ones are:

  • Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS): An ATS is a software tool that helps to streamline the recruitment process by automating many of the tasks involved, such as tracking resumes, scheduling interviews, and generating reports.
  • Job boards: Recruiters use job boards like Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn to post job openings and search for potential candidates.
  • Video conferencing software: With the increasing trend of remote work, video conferencing software such as Zoom, Skype, or Google Meet has become an indispensable tool for conducting virtual interviews.
  • Employee Referral Programs: Such programs encourage current employees to refer friends, family members, or acquaintances who they think would be a good fit for the company.
  • Pre-employment assessment tools: Employ pre-employment assessments to determine a candidate’s skills, personality, and work style, which can be useful in making hiring decisions.
  • Social media: Use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to connect with potential candidates and promote job openings.
  • Chatbots: Integrate chatbots into a company’s website or career page to assist with frequently asked questions, schedule interviews, and collect candidate information.

HackerEarth and Lever Join Forces To Step Up The Tech Hiring Process

HackerEarth proudly announces the newest addition to its ever-growing list of ATS integrations - Lever! The Lever ATS is scalable, intuitive, and has a clean design. It is easy to use and when combined with the HackerEarth Assessments platform, your tech hiring has the potential to be revolutionary.

Benefits of the integration

HackerEarth and Lever

If your company is already a user of Lever’s ATS, then you can make the most of HackerEarth’s assessments on its platform. When integrated -
  • Lever users can directly send HackerEarth Assessments invites to their candidates at various stages of the job hiring lifecycle. Once the candidate completes the assessment, their score, and a report containing performance data are linked back into Lever.
  • This eliminates the constant shifting between your ATS and HackerEarth’s platform, allowing you to view all your hiring data from one dashboard. Recruiters can now screen candidates faster using HackerEarth, while all members of the hiring team can stay abreast of the progress, by viewing it on the Lever Dashboard.
  • Hiring managers will have all candidate information at their fingertips, while candidates will be impressed with real-time feedback from their recruiters.
  • One feature that is unique to Lever is the option to send more than one assessment to evaluate a particular candidate. If the recruiter/hiring manager chooses to retest the candidate (on a different level of assessment or skill set), the integration allows you to do that.

Getting started

In a nutshell, the integration with Lever allows recruiters to manage the screening workflow faster without having to switch between apps. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started. If you have any more queries on how to use this new feature, we got you! Write to us at support@hackerearth.com.

You can also find other ATS platforms that HackerEarth integrates with on our website.

Allow us to streamline your tech recruitment. Sign up for a 14-day free trial today.

Building Future-Ready Tech Teams

For the third year in a row, there is a massive increase in the skills gap across industries, with nearly 80% of organizations saying that their teams lack the necessary skills; as stated by the Global Knowledge IT Skills and Salary report. The ever-increasing skills gap is the bane of IT leaders who aim to build future-ready tech teams. The age of digital disruption dictates the requirements of the current and future workforce and the existing workforce is unprepared to address the emerging trends and developments of the future.

Hiring their way out of this problem is not an option, say recruiters. There is a dire need for upskilled personnel and every organization needs to identify and provide ample opportunities for its employees to grow and upskill themselves.

Flexible, scalable, and innovative teams are the future of tech. The sooner companies throw traditional practices out of the window the better. Future-proofing teams dictates the success of any organization and ensures it stays relevant, in 2021.

Digital transformation and innovation are happening at such a rapid pace. Companies are feeling the pressure too, which is why they must be building future-proofed teams and ever-ready workforces. Ensuring your team can scale with the changing times, will ensure your teams are agile, scalable, and ready for any market or industry demands. The onus is on business leaders to give their teams the skills they need to keep up and stay ahead. Future-proofing is a team-sport, meaning everyone can, and should, play an active role in learning, growing, and innovating. From taking online courses to attending virtual events like hackathons and conferences, there is an abundance of opportunities available to ensure companies always continue to stay ahead of the curve.
– Brian H. Hough, Founder of Airblock Technologies

Traits of a future-ready workforce

  • A finely balanced workforce consisting of both people and technology.
  • Tech teams that are characterized by continual learning integrated with their flow of work.
  • Future-ready tech teams have a repertoire of skills that will come into use 5-10 years from now.

The ability of organizations to address the skills-gap challenge by assessing the current lack of skills, and predicting skills needed for the future will help them in future-proofing their tech teams. Although it’s hard to accurately predict future demands; due to the fast-paced advancements in technology, there is a set of skills that will never go out of style.

Soft skills. They are overwhelmingly hard to find and the pressing need for these soft skills is tied to employees’ abilities to learn and adapt to change. This agility is becoming increasingly important – perhaps even more than functional or technical skills.

“Communication is the key in every company. It is even more important in the remote company of the future. Remote companies need 10x the process early on, and it pays out later though. A very underrated skill is communicating your progress and status with the rest of your teammates and keeping your project management system tight.”
– Radoslav Stankov, Head of Engineering at Product Hunt

Characteristics of a future-ready tech team

Building the future requires more than just technology; It requires a combination of agility, insight and flexibility. Such teams are open to new ideas, willing to abandon outdated practices, and adapt to emerging technologies.

From AI specialists to full-stack developers, having a diverse talent pool ensures the team can tackle a variety of challenges.

With an emphasis on upskilling and reskilling, these teams are always on the lookout for the next big thing in tech.

Siloed methods are a thing of the past. Future-ready teams prioritize collaboration. Rather than react, these teams anticipate challenges and work on solutions before issues escalate.

The importance of soft skills in building a future-ready tech team

Soft skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. They are often referred to as interpersonal skills or people skills. Soft skills are just as important as hard skills, or technical skills, in the workplace. In fact, many employers believe that soft skills are even more important than hard skills, especially for tech teams.

There are many reasons why soft skills are so important for tech teams. First, tech teams need to be able to collaborate effectively to solve complex problems. This requires strong communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. Second, tech teams need to be able to adapt to change quickly. The technology landscape is constantly evolving, so tech teams need to be able to learn new things and adapt to new situations. This requires strong adaptability, resilience, and creativity skills.

Here are some specific examples of soft skills that are important for tech teams:

  • Communication: Tech teams need to be able to communicate effectively with each other, as well as with other stakeholders, such as product managers, designers, and customers. This includes being able to clearly articulate ideas. That could be verbally and in writing, or utilizing relevant technology like call center software as appropriate.
  • Teamwork: Tech teams need to be able to work together effectively to achieve common goals. This requires being able to collaborate, share ideas, and give and receive feedback.
  • Problem-solving: Tech teams need to be able to identify and solve problems effectively. This requires being able to think critically, creatively, and methodically.
  • Adaptability: Tech teams need to be able to adapt to change quickly. This requires being able to learn new things, unlearn old things, and adapt to new situations.
  • Resilience: Tech teams need to be able to bounce back from setbacks and failures. This requires being able to persevere, learn from mistakes, and stay motivated.
  • Creativity: Tech teams need to be able to think creatively to solve problems and develop new solutions. This requires being able to come up with new ideas and think outside the box.

Employers are increasingly looking for tech candidates with strong soft skills. In fact, a study by LinkedIn found that 92% of recruiters believe that soft skills are just as important as hard skills, if not more important.

Here are some tips for building a future-ready tech team with strong soft skills:

  • Hire for soft skills as well as hard skills. When interviewing candidates, be sure to assess their soft skills as well as their hard skills. Look for candidates who are good communicators, team players, and problem solvers.
  • Provide training and development opportunities for soft skills. Just like hard skills, soft skills can be learned and developed. Offer your team members training and development opportunities in areas such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.
  • Create a culture that values soft skills. Make sure that your team members know that soft skills are valued in your organization. This could involve recognizing and rewarding team members for demonstrating strong soft skills, or incorporating soft skills development into your performance review process.

By investing in soft skills, you can build a future-ready tech team that is well-equipped to succeed in the rapidly changing technology landscape.

How can you identify and address the challenges of building future-ready tech teams?

Future-proofing activities have led companies to ideate newer strategies and morph their team structures to meet real-time disruptions and demands. Three important areas that need attention are:

The organizational skills gap

The skills gap refers to the mismatch between the skills that employers are looking for in employees, and the skills those employees possess. Persistent skills shortage affects the business objectives of a company, and a stop-gap solution is not the answer. It is difficult to pinpoint any one reason for this. However, a few well-informed guesses would include a lack of qualified applicants and a lack of learning investment in existing employees. Acknowledging that tech teams are falling behind, and identifying the wide skills gap across the organization is the first step.

Learning and development programs

Nearly 39% of decision-makers attributed skills gaps to a lack of training investment two years ago. In 2021, 74% of organizations say reskilling their workforce is crucial to their success over the next 12–18 months. Organizations need to step up and provide suitable learning and development opportunities for their employees, which have the potential to transform market volatility into growth. Forward-thinking companies also encourage and enable employees to apply their skills and interests in different ways.

L&D programs are the need of the hour when it comes to closing the skills chasm. Internal upskilling of teams is an effective way to future-proof your workforce and provide an improved employee experience and higher employee retention.

Check out HackerEarth’s Learning and Development platform here.

Leveraging technology

This one is a no-brainer. Technology, being one of the major reasons for the skills gap challenge, is also key to bridging it, and enabling rapid up- and re-skilling. Equipping employees with the right digital tools to work with today, and encouraging the use of the newest technologies and tools to keep up with the trends of tomorrow must be a part of any project plan to build future-ready tech teams. For example, using the best QR code generator allows teams to easily share information, track progress, and distribute training materials, making it easier for teams to access resources and stay aligned with project goals.

No crystal ball can predict what the future of work is going to look like. What should we do?
1. Join the community – Facebook Groups, conferences, webinars, etc. – Don’t just watch/read, contribute! It’ll force you to branch out and learn new things to create the content.
2. Demo 2 products every month – this will keep you on the front end of the technology evolution. Even if you have no budget and don’t need anything, always be exploring what’s out there.
3. A/B test and iterate – if things are going “well” – give yourself a pat on the back, and then iterate to find an even better way to do it – and continue doing this, forever. You will NEVER find “the right” way to do things, only better ways. And there are ALWAYS better ways.”
– Mike Cohen, Founder of Wayne Technologies

Future trends: Implementing remote and hybrid work models

The COVID pandemic has left us with some truths. We know that with remote work becoming the norm, decentralized teams spread across time zones will become even more common.

With location no longer a barrier, companies will tap into global talent, bringing diverse perspectives and skills.

Such teams will need certain processes in place to ensure business continuity. For instance:

  • Tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams can keep everyone connected, ensuring seamless communication.
  • Virtual stand-ups or weekly meetings can help teams stay aligned with company goals.
  • Instead of micromanaging, leaders should trust their team, focusing on output rather than hours spent.
  • Ensuring that remote team members don’t feel left out should be a priority for HR managers. Virtual team-building activities can foster camaraderie.
  • Understand that everyone has different peak productivity times and home situations can also go a long way in bettering the work-life balance.

Future tech teams might also regularly collaborate with AI tools or even AI “team members” to enhance productivity. Instead of rigid roles, team members might switch hats based on the project’s demands, promoting holistic skill development.

There is no doubt that companies will need to shift their current hiring practices and adopt remote and virtual-friendly processes to hire for this scenario. The right set of assessment and interviewing tools will help tech leaders identify talent fit from the early stages. Developers, too, will also need to be adaptable and willing to learn new skills in order to succeed in this new environment.

If you chase all the trends not only will you not keep up but you’ll likely lose sight of your core priorities. Technology should equip and enable you to serve your customers more effectively and expand the value you create for them. Technology isn’t self-justifying and you shouldn’t follow just any new trend. “Future-proofing” requires a deep understanding of your potential futures! What is your market, where do you have product/market fit, and what are your core competencies as a company? Focusing on the core drivers for your business will enable you to select a set of innovative technologies to keep an eye on and through that focus do a much better job avoiding change fatigue and avoid getting distracted with the latest shiny “innovation.”
– Steve O’Brien, President of Staffing at Job.com

Organizations that invest in their current and future workforces invest in themselves. The key to truly succeed is to constantly experiment, fail, learn, grow—and not be afraid to start the process anew when the world invariably changes again.

10 Must-Read Recruitment Books for 2023

This article has been updated on April 3rd, 2023.

There’s no such thing as finding the right time to catch up on your reading, is there? If you want to, you will.

Agreed not everyone is a bibliophile. But there are many of us who find the answers we seek in books from wonderful authors. Perhaps, reading is also an acknowledgment of willingness and humility, accepting that there is so much you don’t know.

Most people who aspire to become better, be it in their personal or work lives, look toward books that introduce them to a plethora of ideas and possibilities.

As John Coleman says in his HBR article,

“deep, broad reading habits are often a defining characteristic of our greatest leaders and can catalyze insight, innovation, empathy, and personal effectiveness.”

Do you have these recruitment books on your bookshelf?

We put this reading list together, after speaking with several recruiters/hiring managers and doing our own research, and hopefully, it will make your life exponentially more fulfilling!

Read on…

#1—Recruiting Sucks… But It Doesn’t Have To: Breaking Through the Myths That Got Us Here by Steve Lowisz

Recruiting Sucks by Steve Lowisz

Recruiting developers should be a rewarding experience, not a challenging one. Why do recruiters/hiring managers feel that most tech interview experiences are bad? Maybe it’s time to rethink the entire recruiting process, identify gaps, and hire the best of the best. This is exactly what Steve Lowisz swears by.

In his book, he urges recruiters to leave traditional recruiting practices behind them and be better marketers to attract top talent. He also debunks 7 myths that are associated with and hinder recruiting a high-quality workforce.

Get your copy here.

#2—Social Media Recruitment: How to Successfully Integrate Social Media into Recruitment Strategy by Andy Headworth

Social Media Recruitment by Andy Headworth

With the pandemic shuttering offices, remote work has come to the forefront. Companies are changing the way they work while their employees remain scattered across geographies. Recruitment strategies need to be tweaked to attract and hire talent from a remote perspective. This is where social media steps in.

Social Media Recruitment deals with choosing suitable platforms, devising social media strategies, creating content that caters to a global audience, and building strong brand recall. Leveraging social media to improve your hiring efforts is a useful tactic to have in your corner, believes Andy Headworth.

Find the book here.

#3—High-Tech High-Touch Recruiting: How to Attract and Retain the Best Talent By Improving the Candidate Experience by Barbara Bruno

High-Tech High Touch Recruiting by Barbara Bruno

Hiring great candidates is only half the battle; engaging and retaining them to become long-term employees is the end goal. In her latest book, Barbara Bruno blends “high-tech” hiring tools with “high-touch” relationship-based recruiting methods to provide a better candidate experience.

She gives pointers on how to enhance the human aspect of recruiting while utilizing new technology to source candidates.

Get your copy here.

#4—Hire Right, Fire Right: A Leader’s Guide to Finding and Keeping Your Best People by Roxi Bahar Hewertson

Hire Right Fire Right by Roxi Hewertson

Every recruiter/HR professional knows the importance of firing an employee when required. It is just as important as hiring right. In this book, Roxi Bahar Hewertson gives leaders the tools to hire top talent and fire someone at the right time, cleanly and gracefully. She tackles a sensitive subject that is not usually talked about in recruitment books.

Hire Right, Fire Right demonstrates how to weed out mismatched hires and how to handle the loss of great talent. From increasing their company’s hiring success rate, employee retention rates, and even lowering the risk of lawsuits and damage to your organization’s reputation, decision-makers are fully armed to make the right hiring decisions with this book.

Get your copy here.

#5—Hiring for Diversity: A Complete Guide by Gerardus Blokdyk

Hiring For Diversity by Gerard Blokdyk

If you want your company to head towards a future where technology is inclusive and built with everyone in mind, you need a workforce that is inclusive, diverse, and representative of the market that your tech company hopes to reach.

Fostering a D&I culture at the workplace is no piece of cake, which is why Hiring for Diversity comes equipped with design strategies and recent advances to improve your diversity hiring efforts. It also teaches you to set diversity goals appropriately and achieve them through the right initiatives.

Find the book here.

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

#6—The Robot-Proof Recruiter: A Survival Guide for Recruitment and Sourcing Professionals by Katrina Collier

Robot-Proof Recruiter by Katrina Collier

Technology is known to be a recruiter’s best friend. However, with the plethora of automated screening tools, online assessments, and other remote interviewing software, some aspects have begun to get lost in translation. The human factor is being taken over by automated practices, and candidates are supremely dissatisfied with the recruitment process where they often feel like numbers rather than people.

Katrina Collier explains how to stand out and recruit successfully in a world of tech overload. The Robot-Proof Recruiter is an indispensable guide for recruiters to gain the trust of any candidate and be the one that candidates want to talk to.

Find the book here.

#7—Hiring Success: How Visionary CEOs Compete for the Best Talent by Jerome Ternynck

Hiring Success by JeromeTernynck

Future-proofing tech teams is the way forward in 2021. To keep up with the trends in the market, companies need to adapt quickly and design hiring strategies that are aligned with these changes.

Jerome Ternynck distills the 30 years he’s spent creating future-ready tech teams in this popular book, which describes several recruiting strategies that CEOs can make use of when hiring.

Get your copy of this book here.

#8—The Talent Fix: A Leader’s Guide to Recruiting Great Talent by Tim Sackett

Talent Fix by Tim Sackett

The Talent Fix outlines a unique recruiting model for talent acquisition leaders and practitioners. It is a practical book, which provides scalable real-world examples of how organizations are successfully recruiting today.

Building and retaining a great talent pool is what companies dream of, and this book shows you exactly how to go about it.

Find the book here.

#9—Recruit Rockstars: The 10 Step Playbook to Find the Winners and Ignite Your Business by Jeff Hyman

Recruit Rockstars by Jeff Hyman

This is the go-to book for recruiters looking to make hiring less instinct-driven and more skill-based, recruit talent with limitless potential, and understand the essential elements of an effective hiring campaign.

Follow Jeff Hyman’s 10-step approach for hiring the right talent for every role. In other words, hire rockstars and star performers effortlessly, every single time.

Find the book here.

#10—The Art of Sustainable Performance: A Model for Recruiting, Selection, and Professional Development by Bas Kodden

 Art of Sustainable Performance by Bas Kodden

Published in 2020, this book approaches recruitment and selection of candidates in a distinctly new light. Bas Kodden stresses the importance of key performance indicators as being the secret sauce to building successful teams.

This book ensures that recruiters and HR professionals will find a practical, innovative, and fruitful model to adopt for their recruiting strategies.

Get your copy here.

What’s on your reading list?

There are plenty of great books on talent acquisition and recruiting out there. These are just a few that have caught our attention. Did we miss a must-have on your reading list for 2023? We want to know! Tell us what books you think should go on this list in the comments section.

SUBSCRIBE to the HackerEarth blog and enrich your monthly reading with our free e-newsletter – Fresh, insightful, and awesome articles like these straight into your inbox from around the tech recruiting world!

(Part 2) Essential Questions To Ask When Interviewing Developers In 2021

The first part of this blog stresses the importance of asking the right technical interview questions to assess a candidate’s coding skills. But that alone is not enough. If you want to hire the crème de la crème of the developer talent out there, you have to look for a well-rounded candidate.

Honest communication, empathy, and passion for their work are equally important as a candidate’s technical knowledge. Soft skills are like the cherry on top. They set the best of the candidates apart from the rest.

Re-examine how you are vetting your candidates. Identify the gaps in your interviews. Once you start addressing these gaps, you find developers who have the potential to be great. And those are exactly the kind of people that you want to work with!

Let’s get to it, shall we?

Hire great developers

What constitutes a good interview question?

An ideal interview should reveal a candidate’s personality along with their technical knowledge. To formulate a comprehensive list of questions, keep in mind three important characteristics.

  • Questions are open-ended – questions like, “What are some of the programming languages you’re comfortable with,” instead of “Do you know this particular programming language” makes the candidate feel like they’re in control. It is also a chance to let them reply to your question in their own words.
  • They address the behavioral aspects of a candidate – ensure you have a few questions on your list that allow a candidate to describe a situation. A situation where a client was unhappy or a time when the developer learned a new technology. Such questions help you assess if the candidate is a good fit for the team.
  • There is no right or wrong answer – it is important to have a structured interview process in place. But this does not mean you have a list of standard answers in mind that you’re looking for. How candidates approach your questions shows you whether they have the makings of a successful candidate. Focus on that rather than on the actual answer itself.

Designing a conversation around these buckets of interview questions brings you to my next question, “What should you look for in each candidate to spot the best ones?”

Hire GREAT developers by asking the right questions

Before we dive deep into the interview questions, we have to think about a few things that have changed. COVID-19 has rendered working from home the new normal for the foreseeable future. As a recruiter, the onus falls upon you to understand whether the developer is comfortable working remotely and has the relevant resources to achieve maximum productivity.

#1 How do you plan your day?

Remote work gives employees the option to be flexible. You don’t have to clock in 9 hours a day as long as you get everything done on time. A developer who hasn’t always been working remotely, but has a routine in place, understands the pitfalls of working from home. It is easy to get distracted and having a schedule to fall back on ensures good productivity.

#2 Do you have experience using tools for collaboration and remote work?

Working from home reduces human interaction heavily. There is no way to just go up to your teammate’s desk and clarify issues. Virtual communication is key to getting work done. Look for what kind of remote working tools your candidate is familiar with and if they know what collaborative tools to use for different tasks.

Value-based interview questions to ask

We went around and spoke to our engineering team, and the recruiting team to see what questions they abide by; what they think makes any candidate tick.

The result? – a motley group of questions that aim to reveal the candidate’s soft skills, in addition to typical technical interview questions and test tasks.


Recommended read: How Recruiting The Right Tech Talent Can Solve Tech Debt


#3 Please describe three recent projects that you worked on. What were the most interesting and challenging parts?

This is an all-encompassing question in that it lets the candidate explain at length about their work ethic—thought process, handling QA, working with a team, and managing user feedback. This also lets you dig enough to assess whether the candidate is taking credit for someone else's work or not.

#4 You’ve worked long and hard to deliver a complex feature for a client and they say it’s not what they asked for. How would you take it?

A good developer will take it in their stride, work closely with the client to find the point of disconnect, and sort out the issue. There are so many things that could go wrong or not be to the client’s liking, and it falls on the developer to remain calm and create solutions.

#5 What new programming languages or technologies have you learned recently?

While being certified in many programming languages doesn't guarantee a great developer, it still is an important technical interview question to ask. It helps highlight a thirst for knowledge and shows that the developer is eager to learn new things.

#6 What does the perfect release look like? Who is involved and what is your role?

Have the developer take you through each phase of a recent software development lifecycle. Ask them to explain their specific role in each phase in this release. This will give you an excellent perspective into a developer’s mind. Do they talk about the before and after of the release? A skilled developer would. The chances of something going wrong in a release are very high. How would the developer react? Will they be able to handle the pressure?


SUBSCRIBE to the HackerEarth blog and enrich your monthly reading with our free e-newsletter – Fresh, insightful and awesome articles straight into your inbox from around the tech recruiting world!


#7 Tell me about a time when you had to convince your lead to try a different approach?

As an example of a behavioral interview question, this is a good one. The way a developer approaches this question speaks volumes about how confident they are expressing their views, and how succinct they are in articulating those views.

#8 What have you done with all the extra hours during the pandemic?

Did you binge-watch your way through the pandemic? I’m sure every one of us has done this. Indulge in a lighthearted conversation with your candidate. This lets them talk about something they are comfortable with. Maybe they learned a new skill or took up a hobby. Get to know a candidate’s interests and little pleasures for a more rounded evaluation.

Over to you! Now that you know what aspects of a candidate to focus on, you are well-equipped to bring out the best in each candidate in their interviews. A mix of strong technical skills and interpersonal qualities is how you spot good developers for your team.

If you have more pressing interview questions to add to this list of ours, please write to us at contact@hackerearth.com.

(Part 2) Essential Questions To Ask When Interviewing Developers

The first part of this blog stresses the importance of asking the right technical interview questions to assess a candidate’s coding skills. But that alone is not enough. If you want to hire the crème de la crème of the developer talent out there, you have to look for a well-rounded candidate.

Honest communication, empathy, and passion for their work are equally important as a candidate’s technical knowledge. Soft skills are like the cherry on top. They set the best of the candidates apart from the rest.

Re-examine how you are vetting your candidates. Identify the gaps in your interviews. Once you start addressing these gaps, you find developers who have the potential to be great. And those are exactly the kind of people that you want to work with!

Let’s get to it, shall we?

Hire great developers

What constitutes a good interview question?

An ideal interview should reveal a candidate’s personality along with their technical knowledge. To formulate a comprehensive list of questions, keep in mind three important characteristics.
  • Questions are open-ended - questions like, ‘What are some of the programming languages you’re comfortable with,’ instead of ‘Do you know this particular programming language’ makes the candidate feel like they’re in control. It is also a chance to let them reply to your question in their own words.
  • They address the behavioral aspects of a candidate - ensure you have a few questions on your list that allow a candidate to describe a situation. A situation where a client was unhappy or a time when the developer learned a new technology. Such questions help you assess if the candidate is a good fit for the team.
  • There is no right or wrong answer - it is important to have a structured interview process in place. But this does not mean you have a list of standard answers in mind that you’re looking for. How candidates approach your questions shows you whether they have the makings of a successful candidate. Focus on that rather than on the actual answer itself.
Designing a conversation around these buckets of interview questions brings you to my next question, “What should you look for in each candidate to spot the best ones?”

Hire GREAT developers by asking the right questions

Before we dive deep into the interview questions, we have to think about a few things that have changed. COVID-19 has rendered working from home the new normal for the foreseeable future. As a recruiter, the onus falls upon you to understand whether the developer is comfortable working remotely and has the relevant resources to achieve maximum productivity.

#1 How do you plan your day?

Remote work gives employees the option to be flexible. You don’t have to clock in 9 hours a day as long as you get everything done on time. A developer who hasn’t always been working remotely, but has a routine in place, understands the pitfalls of working from home. It is easy to get distracted and having a schedule to fall back on ensures good productivity.

#2 Do you have experience using tools for collaboration and remote work?

Working from home reduces human interaction heavily. There is no way to just go up to your teammate’s desk and clarify issues. Virtual communication is a key to getting work done. Look for what kind of remote working tools your candidate is familiar with and if they know what collaborative tools to use for different tasks.

Value-based interview questions to ask

We went around and spoke to our engineering team, and the recruiting team to see what questions they abide by; what they think makes any candidate tick.

The result? - a motley group of questions that aims to reveal the candidate’s soft skills, in addition to typical technical interview questions and test tasks.
Recommended read: How Recruiting The Right Tech Talent Can Solve Tech Debt

#3 Please describe three recent projects that you worked on. What were the most interesting and challenging parts?

This is an all-encompassing question in that it lets the candidate explain at length about his work ethic - thought process, handling QA, working with a team, and managing user feedback. This also lets you dig enough to assess whether the candidate is taking credit for someone else's work or not.

#4 You’ve worked long and hard to deliver a complex feature for a client and they say it’s not what they asked for. How would you take it?

A good developer will take it in their stride, work closely with the client to find the point of disconnect, and sort out the issue. There are so many things that could go wrong or not be to the client’s liking, and it falls on the developer to remain calm and create solutions.

#5 What new programming languages or technologies have you learned recently?

While being certified in many programming languages doesn't guarantee a great developer, it still is an important technical interview question to ask. It helps highlight a thirst for knowledge and shows that the developer is eager to learn new things.

#6 What does the perfect release look like? Who is involved and what is your role?

Have the developer take you through each phase of a recent software development lifecycle. Ask them to explain their specific role in each phase in this release. This will give you an excellent perspective into a developer’s mind. Do they talk about the before and after of the release? A skilled developer would. The chances of something going wrong in a release are very high. How would the developer react? Will they be able to handle the pressure?
SUBSCRIBE to the HackerEarth blog and enrich your monthly reading with our free e-newsletter - Fresh, insightful and awesome articles straight into your inbox from around the tech recruiting world!

#7 Tell me about a time when you had to convince your lead to try a different approach?

As an example of a behavioral interview question, this is a good one. The way a developer approaches this question speaks volumes about how confident they are expressing their views, and how succinct they are in articulating those views.

#8 What have you done with all the extra hours during the pandemic?

Did you binge-watch your way through the pandemic? I’m sure every one of us has done this. Indulge in a lighthearted conversation with your candidate. This lets them talk about something they are comfortable with. Maybe they learned a new skill or took up a hobby. Get to know a candidate’s interests and little pleasures for a more rounded evaluation.

Over to you! Now that you know what aspects of a candidate to focus on, you are well-equipped to bring out the best in each candidate in their interviews. A mix of strong technical skills and interpersonal qualities is how you spot good developers for your team.

If you have more pressing interview questions to add to this list of ours, please write to us at contact@hackerearth.com.