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Talking #BlackLinkedIn and DEI with Patricia Gatlin

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 Patricia Gatlin, Diversity Lead/Talent Sourcing Specialist, at Johns Hopkins. She is also the curator of #BlackLinkedin ✊🏾 where she mentions how biased the LinkedIn algorithm is due to which her DEI posts were not getting the same exposure as everyone else.

We keep saying the tech world needs to break out of its “boys only” mode and become more inclusive when the tech we use on an everyday basis could be the very reason that relevant voices like hers are not getting seen, or heard.

All the more reason for this conversation with Patricia—to learn about her journey and understand inclusivity and diversity in the tech world, at a micro level.

Settle in, and let’s get to it!

P.S. If you missed the previous edition of HireIQ where we sat down with Colet Coelho from Recruit CRM, you can read it here 🙂

HackerEarth: You mention on your site that #BlackLinkedin was born out of shared knowledge of how Black and brown voices are discriminated against by the AI on LinkedIn. Have you seen this discrimination on other social sites, too? Could you share a few examples of this discrimination and how it has affected your work in the DEI space?

Patricia: Yes, I have seen it on other sites such as Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, Facebook, etc.

Algorithmic bias is systemic and it creates unfair circumstances for particular users and promotes access to privilege.

At the root of it all, are the rules – the platforms’ IFTTT framework gets coupled with messages from a certain section of society who may be classist, racist, or phobic.

Let’s be honest, not everyone had a computer when they first came out but guess who did? White affluent males, and therefore they were the first ones in the race while everyone else was catching up. We fail to acknowledge that white males have the most disposable incomes because they are getting paid more. So, if you started with a UX being focused on your target audience being white and having white privilege then, of course, you’re going to see AI issues.

Every mainstream social media platform has discrimination built into it. For example, TikTok is a Chinese-based company in a society that is monoethnic, and consequently, they don’t have to live in a polyethnic society like America, and the platform too, isn’t built to accommodate the nuances of a polyethnic American society. In fact, most countries aren’t polyethnic. Most societies don’t deal with the same racial and cultural constructs that America does. If a society deems whiteness as the most virtuous then a video platform will be biased toward that. We live in a global world that centers privilege and access around whiteness.

POCs in Tech

There is a strong need to be proactive in my quest to support black and brown content over people who are not of color. When I’m building out a talent pipeline I can already assume that if I’m doing a Boolean or X-ray search of Google I will see white candidates first because most likely the algorithm is based on social constructs that don’t support black professionals. Even if you are using YouTube and you search for a video data engineer you will most likely see men, mostly white, and a few men of color.

Why? Because white men most likely had privileged access either to education, the job interview, or to have camera gear to shoot content about their job. As a DEI specialist, it’s my job to find the problem, address it, and correct it with whatever tools I can find. First, I must admit there’s a systemic or institutionalized issue for POC in Tech, and only then can I begin to deconstruct what that looks like for them.

Also, read: 10-Step Diversity Hiring Handbook

HackerEarth: Post creating #BlackLinkedIn, have you seen a change in the way your posts are being received online? Could you detail some of the wins of the movement for us?

Patricia: I have seen a change because the hashtag exists, and people know where to find mine and others’ content on the platform. I think the biggest win of the movement is BIPOCs’ finding each other on the platform, creating safe spaces, and connecting more; which is leading to more people landing opportunities through referrals or getting mentorship.

The hashtag has become a watercooler for us to hang out and tell our truths about what it means to a professional in and outside of the workplace.

We have a long way to go with growing support around it. In addition, I have put up an informative site and added a quarterly virtual event called, The Digital Cookout, where we get to gather and discuss hot topics from the water cooler (hashtag). Our last event was about over employment and how to navigate that as a black or brown professional.

HackerEarth: How do you think the DEI space has evolved since George Floyd and Black Lives Matter? In your opinion, is there an added emphasis on POCs in tech recruiting, or was it just a phase?

Patricia: The DEI space has dramatically changed, there are more activists now than before when everyone was just a human resource professional or community or social justice advocate. DEI has allowed activists, like me, to be considered ‘professionals’ and get paid for the emotional labor we do. Unfortunately, George Floyd had to die for people to really see how racism affects the black community in America. With his death, we saw Fortune 500 companies, and especially tech companies, pledge to become the change we so desperately need.

For some companies, it was just performative because they never put any action behind it or they simply just put money into it and left black and brown people to solve an issue they didn’t create.

Not only that but, many companies secretly support the systematic injustice of black and brown people on the back end. If you donate to politicians or groups who actively support the phobia of blacks, LGBTQ+, women’s rights, etc. then you are canceling out your public displays of advocacy which makes it performative. There’s an added emphasis from those companies now to hire POCs and I’ve seen some great discussions, accelerators, and apprenticeships come out of it but I can’t speak for the results because it may be 2-3 years before we see it.

Also, read: Recruiters Versus Bias: Who’s Winning This War?

HackerEarth: With inflation and layoffs, do you think that the emphasis placed on creating diverse teams in the days right after COVID will be lost?

Patricia: No I don’t think the emphasis will be lost but I believe the reasons could be twisted. Let me explain, junior and mid-level professionals tend to make up the majority of BIPOC. In addition, departments and teams that are deemed unnecessary tend to house a majority of BIPOC for example talent acquisition, administrative, facilities, marketing, etc. When you look at who makes up those teams you will see women and people of color.

The issue with inflation is people are cutting their budgets, but this is the time for companies to start looking at their diversity pipelines and discover what they can do better. Instead, what I see companies doing is, hiring BIPOC in their mid-COVID pipelines for low salaries. They blame it on having a lean budget, but we all know the CEO isn’t getting furloughed. Some companies are targeting BIPOC because they know that inflation can make them desperate. Therefore, some are using diverse pipelines as a lure to keep their ships from sinking and not really because they believe in the mission.

HackerEarth: According to you – what are the top 3 global tech companies who are doing DEI right, and what can others learn from them?

Patricia: If I’m being honest, I don’t co-sign for companies I haven’t been hired to audit myself or been hired at because I have heard horror stories from employees at some of the best companies. We must stop seeing DEI as a badge of honor when it’s actually what should have always been done. You can have the trophy one day and the next it’s been taken away. Don’t incentivize DEI because people will start doing it for the wrong reasons. But if I had to give an answer, from what I’ve heard, Twilio, Microsoft, and Blend (no further comment than that).

Also, read: How To Build Safe And ‘PROUD’ Workplaces – A Personal Story

HackerEarth: What is the on-ground reality among POCs applying for roles in tech? Is there more trust among the community, or are there vital issues that they think are not being addressed?

Patricia: Inflation is not going away or slowing down for another 2-3 years if that.

Hiring freezers are real if you want to get into big tech. Yes, you might be able to snag a contract role but that’s not FTE and people of color need full benefits.

The tech industry has gotten more competitive due to TikTok influencers marketing six-figure salaries and luxury lifestyles. Tech is making it even harder to get an interview or get an offer because tech companies are combating career influencers who give out elaborate narratives about the industry.

We’re also not discussing the Gen Zs who don’t want to work harder but smarter and how that will affect retention rates in the future. Luckily there is more trust amongst POCs who are sharing amazing IRL information about what it means to work in this industry. I love BlackTechTwitter and all the Facebook groups for POCs in different fields. Yet, a vital issue is that there are even more gatekeepers in tech now because of all that I previously mentioned.

HackerEarth: What are 3–5 pieces of advice you have for organizations looking to improve the impact of their D&I strategies?

Patricia: When DEI professionals are burned out they can’t solve problems.

Put your money where the problem is, don’t just say you want to work on DEI strategies and not pay DEI professionals well and then not give them a team to support those efforts.

BIPOCs are just as capable as anyone else but they also need support before, during, and after the interview phase. For every employee it’s going to look different, for example, one might need relocation assistance even if they aren’t a director or VP. The others might need a buddy system or mentorship to guide them through working at your corporation for the first 90 days. Another might simply need a roadmap on how to climb the ladder at your corporation. Have a collaborative plan with your BIPOC so they can become pillars at the job and not just metrics. These are retention methods you should be considering.

Promote black and brown people at the C-Suite level. It’s that simple. Black women are the most educated group in America and eventually the world. Create a seat at the table or be prepared to be sitting alone. The world is becoming more diverse (brown) by the minute and Gen Z will not put up with the same things previous generations have.

Stop taking weeks and months to interview candidates, especially BIPOC because most people are living paycheck to paycheck. The average cost for a company to interview a candidate is 4k and the cost for a candidate to interview with a company given they make it to the last round is half of that. People can’t afford to wait months to go without an answer. Candidates can’t afford to do 3-4 rounds of interviews and an assessment that’s just overkill.

About Patricia Gaitlin

My name is Patricia (Sonja Sky) Gatlin. I’m a New York Times featured activist, DEI Specialist, EdTechie, and Founder of Newbies in Tech. I live in the entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas, Nevada. I’ve worked 10+ years in Higher Education and 3+ years in Tech. I’ve recently merged the two fields and currently work part-time as a Diversity Lead sourcing and recruiting STEM professionals to teach gifted students. In addition, I’m a full-time Coordinator flexing my project management, instructional design, and community engagement skills. My goal is to inspire people and become a Chief Diversity Officer and Tech influencer.

What We Learnt From Target's Diversity And Inclusion Strategy

Having a diversity and inclusion strategy for an organization helps foster a diverse workplace where everyone feels comfortable and accepted and to leverage diversity as a driving force for growth and competitive advantage.

Before a recruitment firm develops a diversity and inclusion strategy, it's critical to recognize the negative effects of non-inclusive policies, processes, and behavior by recognizing the barriers and opportunities that influence the diversity of hire and continuing talent management.

This comprises a thorough examination of policy and procedure documentation for all or portions of the employee life cycle, from recruitment to retirement.

TargetThere are numerous reasons why it should be a long-term plan, one of which is that firms now have more access to talent.

What is Target's D&I Strategy?

Target values diversity and strives to provide equal opportunity for all employees.Their DE&I strategy is divided into four sections:
  • Creating a welcoming environment for visitors
  • Working in a welcoming environment
  • Ensuring that their workforce is diversified.
  • Using their power to establish a positive difference in society.

How to Implement D&I strategy in Your Workplace?

Employers utilize diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies to meet regulatory requirements as well as to improve the bottom line by having a more varied, equitable, and inclusive workforce. There are four basic stages to developing a diversity and inclusion strategy (DE&I) strategy:
  1. Gathering and analyzing data to evaluate the need for change
  2. Creating a strategy that aligns with the company's goals.
  3. The initiative's implementation
  4. The plan's evaluation and ongoing audit
These primary phases are broken down into action steps that employers can take to build a DE&I effort in the following ways:

1. Hire for diversity

Workplace diversity starts with hiring. Recruiters must use ATS to promote diversity in hiring.This is so important because companies can talk about diversity all they want if they don't commit to making a real change in their own business And it all starts with employing a broad pool of individuals.How do you recruit for diversity? Here are a few suggestions:
  1. In your employment postings, emphasize diversity
  2. Use a variety of employment boards (such as Diversity Working, Hire Autism, Recruit Disability, etc.)
  3. Request a variety of recommendations
  4. Implement blind resume parsing
  5. Organize a variety of interview panels for prospective candidates
  6. Recruiters must know how to avoid biases
Slack sought out candidates from outside programmer pipelines recruitment through all-women coding camps and initiatives that train black and Latino programmersTarget maintained its industry-leading representation within its board of directors; one-third of its members are women, and nearly half are Latino or Black.
Recommended ebook: 10-Step Diversity Hiring Handbook

2. Compile Data

An employer can better understand the diversity of its employees and the equality of its internal processes by collecting data on employee demographics, as well as identifying any areas of concern or trends.These data have previously included federal and state-protected categories.Other criteria, such as personality type and thinking/learning style, may also be useful, though national comparison data on these may be difficult to come by.If this is the case, a manager needs to track its own data on these categories over time to see if any changes are required.A recruiter can make use of some of the best Applicant Tracking Systems to track down the candidate's data.Demographic data may include the following:
  • Age
  • Ethnicity/national origin
  • Family status
  • Gender
  • Language
  • Personality type
  • Physical characteristics
  • Race
  • Religion, belief, and spirituality
  • Sexual orientation
  • Thinking/learning styles
  • Veteran status
This data would be useful for gathering information about the current company culture regarding DE&I.In 2020, Target released its first disaggregated Workforce Diversity Report (based on 2019 data) that breaks down racial and gender data across all levels of their organization, allowing them a deeper look at what's going well and what they can do better.Tracking and analyzing this data against Target's goals and commitments is one way they stay focused on the right areas as the whole team grows together.

3. Identify Needs and/or Problem Areas

Underrepresented or problematic locations can be discovered once data is collected.Employers should start with a high-level look at demographics like age, gender, race representation, and equity and then dive down by location, department, and role. Problem regions can be identified by asking questions like:
  • Is management dominated by elderly white men?
  • Is it common for the accounting department to hire women solely?
  • Have opportunities for persons who speak English as a second language been limited?
  • Is the West Coast branch's workforce more racially diverse than its East Coast counterparts?
Employee surveys can provide extra information that can help discover other areas of concern. Employee perceptions of culture may or may not correspond to survey findings.If they do, the employer will have a better idea of what needs to be changed; if they don't, the company may want to hold employee focus groups to better understand the disconnect.If the statistics show little to no diversity in sexual orientation or religion, for example, it's probable that people don't trust the organization with such sensitive data.The diversity of Target's workforce has stayed stable from the previous report; 50% of their team members and 25% of their leadership team are people of color, and 58 percent of their team members and 50% of their leadership team are women.
Also read: Embracing DE&I At The Workplace – #1 Back To The Basics

4. Implement Ideas

Policy and practice changes, employee training, targeted recruiting, and employer-sponsored DE&I awareness activities for employees are all examples of DE&I initiatives.To build momentum for the effort, develop an action plan to accomplish these initiatives by setting realistic goals and starting with the aspects that have the highest business value or are easily feasible.An example of the plan is given below–Initiative: Improve the R&D team's cultural competence and decision-making to guarantee that the team can better leverage existing team diversity and capitalize on varied ideas.Action items: Cultural awareness and competency training, team-building exercises, ongoing dialogue regarding diversity and inclusion with the R&D team one on one as well as during team meetings.Timeframes: Team-building exercises: yearly staff retreat and monthly meetings; continuing dialogue: as needed and ongoing during staff interactions and meetings; cultural awareness and competency training: within six months to make sure that the team can effectively harness existing team diversity and capitalize on varied ideas through patience and inclusive decision-making.According to Target," It's the people that count. We value the 400,000+ individuals who come together as a team to serve our guests."
Also read: A Note On Our New Leave Policies

5. Start Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

Employee resource groups (ERGs) are extremely valuable organizational resources that can assist a company in bringing together diverse viewpoints, experiences, and ideas from all levels of employees.Typically, these groups are organized around a shared social identity, such as gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, or a life stage, such as parenthood.Make sure that all of your company's ERGs are inclusive and that any full-time employee is welcome to join!The Estée Lauder Companies offers 30 employee resource groups with approximately 4,500 employees participating in total across all geographic regions. Employees founded each group, which includes groups for women, veterans, families, LGBTQ+ people and allies, and more.
Also watch: #Inclusion: An honest conversation | Upstox x HackerEarth

In Final Words

Before companies implement any of these workplace and diversity ideas, they must ask their employees what they want and which of these initiatives they want the company to implement first.The company must take the specific needs of each underrepresented group into consideration.There is no one-size-fits-all workplace diversity and inclusion strategy. Talk to all employees, listen to their needs, and start from there.

Data-Driven Recruiting: All You Need To Know

Hiring and talent acquisition are the cornerstones of business growth. When you need to scale your business, you look at the recruiting teams to bring in the talent needed for success. Hiring at scale is not an easy feat, and doing it well without having an analytical and data-driven recruiting approach is even harder.

Why is data important in tech recruiting? Let’s break this down logically. When you hire in large numbers – say thousands of tech hires in a year; you want to be as efficient as possible. To do so you need to know which channels are working better than others. Are most of your hires responding to your LinkedIn ad, or is GitHub the platform of choice for new hires? Conversely, are the channels different when it comes to hiring interns versus lateral hires?

What is data-driven recruiting?

TTH (Time To Hire) is a metric every recruiter is familiar with. Ideally, recruiters like to keep their TTH low. You cannot, however, do this if you’re not aware of what works and what doesn’t. This is possible only when you have looked at the hiring data and found patterns that work, and those that don’t. Data-driven recruiting makes this possible.

In the simplest of terms, data-driven recruiting is a scientific method of collecting, analyzing, and using analytical data about candidate behavior to make inferences that are used to drive decisions throughout the tech hiring funnel.

What are the benefits of data-driven recruitment?

We know that tech recruiting is a multi-dimensional process. There are a number of elements that affect every stage of the recruitment funnel. Being aware of the right metrics enables tech recruiters in streamlining and optimizing every step of the funnel to increase overall effectiveness.

Also Read: How To Get Your Recruiting Metrics Right In 2022

There is a singular goal to this process: to hire better and get the best possible ROI for the time that a recruiter spends trying to fill a vacant role. In many ways, data-driven recruitment empowers recruiters to make educated opinions and change their hiring strategy (if needed) through the long-winding process of developer recruitment.

Data driven recruiting insights | HackerEarth

What kind of data should I be tracking?

One of the most important aspects of using data for decision making is to know which data to look at, and which is irrelevant. Let’s take a look at some of the key recruitment metrics related to tech hiring that every recruiter needs to keep an eye on.

These metrics would provide a good launch platform to optimize your recruiting and onboarding process with available data:

1. Cost To Hire (CTH)

The end result of hiring is onboarding a developer with a definite CTC. That, however, is not the only expense involved in hiring said developer.

The CTH of hiring a developer can be split into two halves:

a. Internal recruiting costs: This involves any and every internal expense including (but not limited to) employee referral incentives, recruiters’ salaries, and interviewing costs. You can calculate interviewing costs by the following formula:

Interviewing Cost = Number of hours of interviews X Hourly salary of involved employees

Since tech recruiting can involve interviews with engineering managers and CTOs, hence the interviewing cost for every developer would take into account all shareholders across the process.

b. External recruiting costs: This includes expenses incurred as part of banding and marketing costs, recruitment software and events, and external recruiter agency fees.

Your final CTH or cost per hire would then be calculated as:

CPH = Total internal cost + Total external cost / Total number of hires

2. Time To Fill (TTF) and Time To Hire (TTH)

While both these terms sound similar, the difference is very important for recruiters.

‘Time To Fill’ refers to the time taken to fill a position from the moment the position was advertised, until a candidate accepts the job offer, and the position is filled.

‘Time To Hire’ on the other hand only estimates the time it takes from first contact (i.e. the first phone call or meeting) until the job offer is accepted.

If a position is taking longer to fill, then you must take a look at the strategy for advertising and outreach. Is the job position easily noticeable and searchable on the website? Has there been enough efforts on the social handles to promote the role?

However, if your TTH is on the higher side, then you have to consider if your interviews are longer than needed. Are you spending too much time on assignments, or are there any other stages of the hiring process that you can cut down? Sometimes, a lot of time goes by in trying to get all stakeholders on the same page, and getting feedback post-interview. If these are the steps that are inflating your TTH, then you should have a talk with all involved team members.

3. Candidate Experience Metrics

In recent years, the term candidate experience has gained notoriety in tech hiring circles. It refers to candidates’ overall impression of your company’s recruitment processes. This takes into account all the various touch points right from the moment a candidate browses your careers page, the emails and other communiques sent out to them, the process of assessments and interviews, up until they receive a job offer or rejection email (or are ghosted in some cases).

At every step of the way, candidates are forming an opinion not just about your company, but also about how you treat a prospective employee. Many developers choose to share their opinions on sites like Glassdoor or with their friends and colleagues, and these reviews and word-of-mouth opinions can impact your reputation as an employer.

Candidate experience survey sample | HackerEarth

In order to understand what candidates think about your brand, get the data from the horses’ mouth (figuratively speaking!). Hiring a third-party research company to create anonymous, objective measurements and surveys is a great idea. Alternatively, you can create a candidate experience survey yourself, and send it to a large pool of candidates and new hires. Remember to include candidates that have rejected your offer, or dropped off after the initial chat. The more diverse the sample pool, the better your insights.

4. Quality Of Hire (QoH)

Quality is indeed a subjective metric, but there are ways in which you can compare the quality of a current hire with past hires. Look at the value the new hire is adding to the organization i.e. the new hire’s performance as compared to pre-hire expectations. The QoH of any hire should be determined within the first year of their joining the organization. Doing so helps you understand the outcomes delivered by your current recruitment practices.

Sometimes, a candidate can check all the right boxes during assessments and interviews, only to find that they are not up to the daily work routine. Research says that as many as 1 in 4 new hires will quit a job in their first six months. If this is an issue you are grappling with, then it’s time to question the quality of your hires and find out ways to improve your QoH.

There is no exact formula to define QoH, but some recruiters like to define it as:

QoH = (Indicator A% + Indicator B% + Indicator C%…) ÷ Number of Indicators

This formula uses agreed upon indicators of performance to calculate QoH. For a tech hire, these indicators can be the number of projects they complete in a month, or their code quality.

Another way to calculate QoH is by using the Net Hiring Score. This is a scale of 0-10 (with 0 being poor, and 10 being excellent), which managers can use to rate a new hire. The employee is also given a similar scorecard which they can use to rate job fit and whether the company meets their expectations.

Your Net Hiring Score is therefore defined as:

Net Hiring Score = Percentage of poor fits (0-6) – Percentage of great fits (scaled 9 or 10) X 100

If the result is <0, too many poor fits are being hired, but a number greater than 0 indicates more great fits are being hired, which is what recruiters should be aiming for.

5. Diversity and inclusion metrics

For a long time, diversity was limited to having an equal ratio of men and women in the workplace. Today, the definition of diversity extends beyond gender to include race, nationality, education level, age, disability, family status, employment status (full-time, part-time, flexible), immigration status, and much more.

Monitoring these metrics should be contextual to an organization’s local milieu. Recruiters should look at the issues being highlighted by the tech community in their area and try to address those. Every nation has different legal, political, historical, and cultural environments which determine relevant diversity metrics. While gender inequality is a global issue, some locations may have an additional religious or ethnical bias, which you would need to correct.

While we agree that developing a multicultural organization with all-inclusive policies can be challenging, this is where data analytics can play a huge role in creating awareness. By identifying patterns of behavior and bias, we can highlight the areas where a company, or an individual who’s also a decision maker, is being exclusive or prejudiced. Identifying these voids is the first step to adapting and developing diversity in recruitment. You can then use these insights to create a process that sidesteps these challenges and promotes equity and equality.

How to implement a data-driven recruiting process?

There is an apt idiom in the tech world -Data in, Data out. To fuel a data-driven hiring process, you need to first ensure you are collecting data efficiently. Choose the metrics you want to measure, and create a streamlined methods of collecting these data points.

A data-driven recruiting strategy can be designed using the following steps:

  • Create Applicant Funnels
  • Evaluate At Scale
  • Improve Close Rate
  • Post-Hiring Evaluations

At HackerEarth, we like to use the following funnel:

Engage > Source > Assess > Interview > Onboard > Upskill

This allows us to have a bird’s eye view of the entire hiring and retention funnel, while being able to break it down into segments and measure each effectively. For instance, if the Source > Assess segment is showing a huge time lag, then we know that we have to increase the speed at which we create and send assessments to candidates. Or if the Assess > Interview segment is what is slowing us down, then we can improve on how we gather feedback and action upon it, and connect with the hiring managers to ensure their availability for interviews.

Whether you are evaluating thousands of developers for a role, or talking to passive candidates for a lateral role, the larger your data set and the more detailed your report, the stronger your process will be. Keep details of every candidate interaction and action. How long did it take candidates to submit a coding assessment? How long for feedback, or interviews? Having these metrics on paper will help you point out the gaps in your process and improve your close rate.

And yes! Don’t forget about the post-hiring evaluations. Many recruiters think their job ends the moment says yes to a role. However, once you have closed a role you can then ask the developer for feedback and improve your data-driven recruiting process. Or, you can look at the segments of the funnel where you think you lost time and figure out to make those time sinks disappear.

Tech recruiting is known to be tedious, and I hope these tips will help you make the long hours more productive. Happy hiring!

6 Things To Look For In Your Coding Assessment Tool

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

6 things to look for in your coding assessment tool

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.

What Recruiters Forecast For Tech Hiring

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record-breaking 2.9% of the workforce quit their jobs in August 2021 to seek better opportunities. Many are demanding increased flexibility in their employment search—from remote and hybrid options to more work-life balance—as companies are desperate to fill roles.

HackerEarth’s 2021 State of Developer Recruitment Report is based on survey data from around 2,500 engineering managers and HR professionals from 79 countries; across industries including technology, pharmaceutical, retail, automobile, construction, banking, media, finance, and insurance. The report aims to outline the best practices for hiring professionals and developer candidates and determine what the post-pandemic hiring landscape looks like.

Here are some of the important tech hiring trends we forecast for 2022 based on our survey:

  • Doing away with the ‘generalist’ approach to hiring
Before the pandemic, we would hear a lot of recruiters talk about the ‘black hole’ in tech hiring. While the final veto on hiring a candidate lay with the CTOs and engineering managers, the lack of a proper communication channel between recruiters and tech hiring managers meant that many companies took a ‘generalist’ approach to hiring.

In 2022, companies are coming back to hybrid work with a very specific agenda - make business future-proof, update legacy tech stacks for flexibility; and adopt trustless, permission-less systems that do not require central governance. The use of AI will deepen across sectors - even verticals that have not traditionally been AI-dependent will open up to the use of smart machines for improved functioning.
Our survey shows that companies need to update about 42% of their legacy tech stack to make businesses impervious to rapid technological and process changes such as the one we saw in 2020. Many companies are looking to make architectural changes in their tech stack which is also one of the reasons why hiring top talent is so crucial in the coming year.

It is therefore important to hire based on data insights. Recruiters should create a specific profile or candidate personas for each role. This should highlight the outcome expected from the role, the competencies required from the candidate, the assumed interests and needs for each specific role. These details can be used to create a competency framework that aligns with the ‘persona’. Only then, do you get down to the business of hiring.
  • Dealing with attrition
2021 brought us the ‘Great Resignation’. A Forbes from April last year piece shows how employee burnout increased from 43% in 2020 to over 52% in 2021. It’s safe to assume the number must have grown over time.
Burnout needs to be addressed promptly and before your teammates start to leave for companies that put more emphasis on their ‘wellbeing’. As this survey from Microsoft points out, high productivity should not be a reason to ignore the emotional and mental wellbeing of our employees. One of every 5 employees feels that their company does not prioritize their work-life balance and over 54% feel overworked. Giving employees the choice and flexibility to pick their own work hours, location, might help in stemming some of this tide. However, proper processes need to be put in place to ensure developers do not feel pressured to overachieve.
It’s also important to note that employees have voiced concerns about the lack of training among managers to handle the hybrid new work paradigm. Yes, we have talked ad hominem about empathy and being ‘flexible’, but changing from a work model which revolves around a specific time and place, to an ‘anywhere, anytime’ model needs more than that. Flexibility is undoubtedly the number 1 reason employees are leaving current jobs for the ones that offer them the choice to work remotely, and without the constraints of time.
  • Protecting diversity when hiring at scale
The upsurge of hiring demands in 2022, and the aftermath of the Great Resignation, has shown us that there’s far too much demand for the average qualified developer. The priority is hiring someone, over hiring that perfect diverse candidate. Diversity as a criterion might just be an added burden in the current recruiting process.Our year-end survey shows us that in an ideal world, over 30% of recruiters would never compromise on candidate quality to fill a role. Compare this with 35% of engineering managers who said they would make the compromise to hire faster. When it comes to diversity though, recruiters are slightly split between wanting to hire diverse candidates and filling roles early. An overwhelming number of engineering managers, though, care more about shipping code than building diverse teams.

Candidate quality statistics - State of Development Recruitment Report 2021 - HackerEarth

The spotlight is therefore on the HR leaders to uphold diversity mandates, and keep the focus on skills when hiring in such large numbers. Two years of statistics have proven that the pandemic disproportionately affects labor outcomes for minority groups. The focus areas for companies should include updating their brand research and outreach initiatives and integrate with grassroots communities. There is an imminent need to adapt policies, benefits, and messaging to the current market and prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in talent attraction and retention.

Also Read: 7 Steps To Eliminate Bias In A Hybrid Workplace
  • Tech hiring tools will rule the roost
When the pen-and-paper assessment method went out the window in 2020, tech hiring tools replaced the traditional.
One can argue that a tech interview can be done over a Zoom call, and candidates can showcase their coding experience via their resumes. However, there are proven benefits to using dedicated hiring tools. In our survey, companies that use assessment tools for their tech hiring reported a more standardized process. The process is also more objective, and more accurate. Neither engineering managers nor recruiters seem to be paying much mind to the fact that technical skill assessment software can also reduce TTH and CTH; proving that in most cases they care more about the bigger picture than immediate gains.

The survey also highlights the pains of using multiple tools/platforms when conducting a tech interview. Most of the time, candidates use a video calling tool, along with a code editor to be able to showcase their skills live. This is in stark contrast to our findings from our annual Developer Survey , where over 40% of coders said that they would like to be interviewed via dedicated interview platforms.

Of late, recruiters have come to recognize the importance of candidate experience during interviews. Companies that have taken the initiative to integrate tech hiring tools in their processes see the benefits in a more homogeneous, and equitable hiring environment. Using coding interview tools also helps provide a better candidate experience for developers and ties in with their expectations from interviewers.

The takeaways

2022 might not have started exactly the way we hoped (hello Omicron!), but the insights we have gained over the last two years remain. The empathy and people-first approach we have used to navigate the pandemic so far needs to continue, and maybe even stepped up in some cases. Coming back to some sense of normalcy in the shape of hybrid work might be nice, but it needs to be done with patience and with keeping employee welfare at the forefront.Leadership teams need to address difficult topics like burnout, and work-life balance, when discussing retention strategies. They also need to ensure that DEI does not take a backseat when it comes to hiring.The gains - both big and small - accrued over the last two years should not be let go of in the face of the high numbers and targets that the tech recruiting community is faced with in 2022.

How To Create An Automated Assessment With HackerEarth

The tech industry has undergone major shifts in its processes due to the pandemic—the most significant one being remote work. Existing recruiting strategies like screening and interviewing are being moved to digital platforms with remote work becoming the new standard.

Qualified talent in the tech industry is hard to come by. With remote hiring strategies, your talent pool gets bigger, and you have a better chance of recruiting developers who are keepers. For that, it is important to have a streamlined process in place.How do you accurately assess developers in the shortest time possible? How can you reliably evaluate candidates’ technical skills and screen them pre-interview? Enter automated assessment tools. Coding assessments will help you cut through the noise and find awesome developers from a large talent pool!

Top features of an online automated assessment tool

Features of an online automated assessment tool



There are a lot of automated assessment tools in the market to pick from. Enough to make your head spin.

How do you choose the right tool? A good coding assessment tool contains a rich library of questions, provides realistic insights into a candidate’s technical knowledge and improves candidate experience.We did our research and here are some of the features to look for an automated assessment tool:
  • Extensive range of topics

Any good online assessment tool will offer a comprehensive range of programming languages, and frameworks as well as test for both modern and legacy coding skills. You should be able to test for all developer roles whether it is frontend or backend.

  • Automated assessments tailored to specific roles

The platform should enable you to create your custom coding assessments as per your hiring needs. Every hiring manager’s need is different. You should have the choice of creating different types of questions like MCQs or subjective questions that simulate on-the-job problems.

  • Robust proctoring capabilities

One of the most important features that every tool must have—proctor settings with reports. Proctoring enables you to monitor candidates through video during the test and maintain the integrity of the assessment. The automated assessment tool should also report tab switching, copy-pasting code, and candidate impersonation.

  • Auto scoring based on standardized evaluation parameters

Minimal manual grading reduces the scope for bias and error. Evaluating every candidate against standard parameters helps keep the assessment objective. Automated scoring reports make it simple and quick for you to identify who made the cut and who didn’t. This way you can notify the candidate almost immediately and ensure that they are kept updated at every step of the hiring lifecycle.

  • Detailed candidate performance reports

A good coding assessment tool provides deeper insights into a candidate’s capabilities with summarized, automated performance reports. You require detailed analytics to effectively evaluate their technical knowledge.

  • Seamless integration with ATS

Say no to depending on spreadsheets and emails for keeping track of your potential candidates. It only leads to confusion, loss of data, and chaos. Work with a tool that offers easy integration with an ATS, where you can sync all candidate data and avoid switching between different applications.

Automated assessments made easy with HackerEarth

HE is better than any alternatives for automated assessment tools

Here’s why we think HackerEarth Assessments stands out from other tools in the market. You now have to check if what your shortlisted candidates mentioned on their resumes pans out in a live coding assessment. The online assessment tool should also be easy to use, offer objective evaluation, and deliver detailed reports.Check, check and check. Our automated assessment tool offers all this and more.
  • A rich library of 13,000+ questions across 80+ programming skills enables you to create highly precise coding assessments with minimal technical knowledge.
  • Creation of your own assessment for any role or skill in under 5 minutes or based on job descriptions, with the option to create custom questions.
  • The choice of creating different types of questions like MCQs or project-type questions that simulate on-the-job 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 measures with the option to customize the stringency, insight-rich reports on each candidate’s performance, and built-in PII (Personal Identifiable Information) feature that reduces 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.

Recommended read: What Makes US The Tech Behind Great Teams

How To Create An Online Automated Assessment On HackerEarth

The key aspect of pre-employment assessment tools is to be able to create objective tests for a particular job role or skill. An appropriate automated assessment tool hits the sweet spot between offering flexibility and automation of online coding assessments.To help you test the caliber of potential candidates, HackerEarth Assessments enables you to create coding assessments as per your distinct requirements.There are four different ways in which you can create tests on our platform:
  1. Based on skills - create skill-based assessments for over 50 different skills ranging from basics such as C and C++ to more advanced topics such as Big Data.
  2. Based on job descriptions - create carefully-curated assessments based on job descriptions. Built on NLP, the platform pulls the skills and experience from the description and designs an assessment best-suited to evaluate a candidate.
  3. Based on job roles - build assessments based on specific job roles or profiles that your organization requires. This method helps you create a standardized test according to your requirements. The platform will suggest the skills relevant to the selected job role before creating the assessment
  4. Custom tests - design a test customized to your needs. It allows you to build a test from scratch by selecting relevant questions from the library or adding your own custom questions.
You can screen talented developers with ease in seconds on our platform. It automatically generates a leaderboard for every coding assessment helping you shortlist qualified devs.
We wrote a detailed article about the best ways to create tests on HackerEarth. You can read all about it here - 4 Ways To Create Tests With HackerEarth
Using the right coding assessment tool is integral to your recruitment process. An ambiguous job description and wordy candidate resumes will no longer cut it. With the introduction of new and advanced online assessment tools, recruiters can accurately evaluate the candidate’s technical skills—building an extremely streamlined hiring process.

It can be tough to figure out which coding assessment tool will work seamlessly by your side, and which one will just be a waste of your time.

If you ask us about the best one - we’re ready to answer. But we might be biased! Don’t take our word for it. Instead, take a HackerEarth Assessments demo and decide for yourself.
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7 Tech Recruiting Trends To Watch Out For In 2024

The last couple of years transformed how the world works and the tech industry is no exception. Remote work, a candidate-driven market, and automation are some of the tech recruiting trends born out of the pandemic.

While accepting the new reality and adapting to it is the first step, keeping up with continuously changing hiring trends in technology is the bigger challenge right now.

What does 2024 hold for recruiters across the globe? What hiring practices would work best in this post-pandemic world? How do you stay on top of the changes in this industry?

The answers to these questions will paint a clearer picture of how to set up for success while recruiting tech talent this year.

7 tech recruiting trends for 2024

6 Tech Recruiting Trends To Watch Out For In 2022

Recruiters, we’ve got you covered. Here are the tech recruiting trends that will change the way you build tech teams in 2024.

Trend #1—Leverage data-driven recruiting

Data-driven recruiting strategies are the answer to effective talent sourcing and a streamlined hiring process.

Talent acquisition leaders need to use real-time analytics like pipeline growth metrics, offer acceptance rates, quality and cost of new hires, and candidate feedback scores to reduce manual work, improve processes, and hire the best talent.

The key to capitalizing on talent market trends in 2024 is data. It enables you to analyze what’s working and what needs refinement, leaving room for experimentation.

Trend #2—Have impactful employer branding

98% of recruiters believe promoting company culture helps sourcing efforts as seen in our 2021 State Of Developer Recruitment report.

Having a strong employer brand that supports a clear Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is crucial to influencing a candidate’s decision to work with your company. Perks like upskilling opportunities, remote work, and flexible hours are top EVPs that attract qualified candidates.

A clear EVP builds a culture of balance, mental health awareness, and flexibility—strengthening your employer brand with candidate-first policies.

Trend #3—Focus on candidate-driven market

The pandemic drastically increased the skills gap, making tech recruitment more challenging. With the severe shortage of tech talent, candidates now hold more power and can afford to be selective.

Competitive pay is no longer enough. Use data to understand what candidates want—work-life balance, remote options, learning opportunities—and adapt accordingly.

Recruiters need to think creatively to attract and retain top talent.


Recommended read: What NOT To Do When Recruiting Fresh Talent


Trend #4—Have a diversity and inclusion oriented company culture

Diversity and inclusion have become central to modern recruitment. While urgent hiring can delay D&I efforts, long-term success depends on inclusive teams. Our survey shows that 25.6% of HR professionals believe a diverse leadership team helps build stronger pipelines and reduces bias.

McKinsey’s Diversity Wins report confirms this: top-quartile gender-diverse companies see 25% higher profitability, and ethnically diverse teams show 36% higher returns.

It's refreshing to see the importance of an inclusive culture increasing across all job-seeking communities, especially in tech. This reiterates that D&I is a must-have, not just a good-to-have.

—Swetha Harikrishnan, Sr. HR Director, HackerEarth

Recommended read: Diversity And Inclusion in 2022 - 5 Essential Rules To Follow


Trend #5—Embed automation and AI into your recruitment systems

With the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, automation is being adopted across every business function—including recruiting.

Manual communication with large candidate pools is inefficient. In 2024, recruitment automation and AI-powered platforms will automate candidate nurturing and communication, providing a more personalized experience while saving time.

Trend #6—Conduct remote interviews

With 32.5% of companies planning to stay remote, remote interviewing is here to stay.

Remote interviews expand access to global talent, reduce overhead costs, and increase flexibility—making the hiring process more efficient for both recruiters and candidates.

Trend #7—Be proactive in candidate engagement

Delayed responses or lack of updates can frustrate candidates and impact your brand. Proactive communication and engagement with both active and passive candidates are key to successful recruiting.

As recruitment evolves, proactive candidate engagement will become central to attracting and retaining talent. In 2023 and beyond, companies must engage both active and passive candidates through innovative strategies and technologies like chatbots and AI-powered systems. Building pipelines and nurturing relationships will enhance employer branding and ensure long-term hiring success.

—Narayani Gurunathan, CEO, PlaceNet Consultants

Recruiting Tech Talent Just Got Easier With HackerEarth

Recruiting qualified tech talent is tough—but we’re here to help. HackerEarth for Enterprises offers an all-in-one suite that simplifies sourcing, assessing, and interviewing developers.

Our tech recruiting platform enables you to:

  • Tap into a 6 million-strong developer community
  • Host custom hackathons to engage talent and boost your employer brand
  • Create online assessments to evaluate 80+ tech skills
  • Use dev-friendly IDEs and proctoring for reliable evaluations
  • Benchmark candidates against a global community
  • Conduct live coding interviews with FaceCode, our collaborative coding interview tool
  • Guide upskilling journeys via our Learning and Development platform
  • Integrate seamlessly with all leading ATS systems
  • Access 24/7 support with a 95% satisfaction score

Recommended read: The A-Zs Of Tech Recruiting - A Guide


Staying ahead of tech recruiting trends, improving hiring processes, and adapting to change is the way forward in 2024. Take note of the tips in this article and use them to build a future-ready hiring strategy.

Ready to streamline your tech recruiting? Try HackerEarth for Enterprises today.

(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 1) Essential Questions To Ask When Recruiting Developers In 2021

The minute a developer position opens up, recruiters feel a familiar twinge of fear run down their spines. They recall their previous interview experiences, and how there seems to be a blog post a month that goes viral about bad developer interviews.

While hiring managers, especially the picky ones, would attribute this to a shortage of talented developers, what if the time has come to rethink your interview process? What if recruiters and hiring managers put too much stock into bringing out the technical aspects of each candidate and don’t put enough emphasis on their soft skills?

A report by Robert Half shows that 86% of technology leaders say it’s challenging to find IT talent. Interviewing developers should be a rewarding experience, not a challenging one. If you don’t get caught up in asking specific questions and instead design a simple conversation to gauge a candidate’s way of thinking, it throws up a lot of good insight and makes it fun too.

Developer Hiring Statistics

Asking the right technical interview questions when recruiting developers is important but so is clear communication, good work ethic, and alignment with your organization’s goals.

Let us first see what kind of technical interview questions are well-suited to revealing the coding skills and knowledge of any developer, and then tackle the behavioral aspects of the candidate that sets them apart from the rest.

Recruit GREAT developers by asking the right questions

Here are some technical interview questions that you should ask potential software engineers when interviewing.

#1 Write an algorithm for the following

  1. Minimum Stack - Design a stack that provides 4 functions - push(item), pop, peek, and minimum, all in constant order time complexity. Then move on to coding the actual solution.
  2. Kth Largest Element in an array - This is a standard problem with multiple solutions of best time complexity orders where N log(K) is a common one and O(N) + K log(N) is a lesser-known order. Both solutions are acceptable, not directly comparable to each other, and better than N log(N), which is sorting an array and fetching the Kth element.
  3. Top View of a Binary Tree - Given a root node of the binary tree, return the set of all elements that will get wet if it rains on the tree. Nodes having any nodes directly above them will not get wet.
  4. Internal implementation of a hashtable like a map/dictionary - A candidate needs to specify how key-value pairs are stored, hashing is used and collisions are handled. A good developer not only knows how to use this concept but also how it works. If the developer also knows how the data structure scales when the number of records increases in the hashtable, that is a bonus.

Algorithms demonstrate a candidate’s ability to break down a complex problem into steps. Reasoning and pattern recognition capabilities are some more factors to look for when assessing a candidate. A good candidate can code his thought process of the algorithm finalized during the discussion.


Looking for a great place to hire developers in the US? Try Jooble!


#2 Formulate solutions for the below low-level design (LLD) questions

  • What is LLD? In your own words, specify the different aspects covered in LLD.
  • Design a movie ticket booking application like BookMyShow. Ensure that your database schema is tailored for a theatre with multiple screens and takes care of booking, seat availability, seat arrangement, and seat locking. Your solution does not have to extend to the payment option.
  • Design a basic social media application. Design database schema and APIs for a platform like Twitter with features for following a user, tweeting a post, seeing your tweet, and seeing a user's tweet.

Such questions do not have a right or wrong answer. They primarily serve to reveal a developer’s thought process and the way they approach a problem.


Recommended read: Hardest Tech Roles to Fill (+ solutions!)


#3 Some high-level design (HLD) questions

  • What do you understand by HLD? Can you specify the difference between LLD and HLD?
  • Design a social media application. In addition to designing a platform like Twitter with features for following a user, tweeting a post, seeing your tweet, and seeing a user's tweet, design a timeline. After designing a timeline where you can see your followers’ tweets, scale it for a larger audience. If you still have time, try to scale it for a celebrity use case.
  • Design for a train ticket booking application like IRCTC. Incorporate auth, features to choose start and end stations, view available trains and available seats between two stations, save reservation of seats from start to end stations, and lock them till payment confirmation.
  • How will you design a basic relational database? The database should support tables, columns, basic field types like integer and text, foreign keys, and indexes. The way a developer approaches this question is important. A good developer designs a solution around storage and memory management.
Here’s a pro-tip for you. LLD questions can be answered by both beginners and experienced developers. Mostly, senior developers can be expected to answer HLD questions. Choose your interview questions set wisely, and ask questions relevant to your candidate’s experience.

#4 Have you ever worked with SQL? Write queries for a specific use case that requires multiple joins.

Example: Create a table with separate columns for student name, subject, and marks scored. Return student names and ranks of each student. The rank of a student depends on the total of marks in all subjects.

Not all developers would have experience working with SQL but some knowledge about how data is stored/structured is useful. Developers should be familiar with simple concepts like joins, retrieval queries, and the basics of DBMS.

#5 What do you think is wrong with this code?

Instead of asking developer candidates to write code on a piece of paper (which is outdated, anyway), ask them to debug existing code. This is another way to assess their technical skills. Place surreptitious errors in the code and evaluate their attention to detail.

Now that you know exactly what technical skills to look for and when questions to ask when interviewing developers, the time has come to assess the soft skills of these candidates. Part 2 of this blog throws light on the how and why of evaluating candidates based on their communication skills, work ethic, and alignment with the company’s goals.

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Best Pre-Employment Assessments: Optimizing Your Hiring Process for 2024

In today's competitive talent market, attracting and retaining top performers is crucial for any organization's success. However, traditional hiring methods like relying solely on resumes and interviews may not always provide a comprehensive picture of a candidate's skills and potential. This is where pre-employment assessments come into play.

What is Pre-Employement Assessment?

Pre-employment assessments are standardized tests and evaluations administered to candidates before they are hired. These assessments can help you objectively measure a candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities, and personality traits, allowing you to make data-driven hiring decisions.

By exploring and evaluating the best pre-employment assessment tools and tests available, you can:

  • Improve the accuracy and efficiency of your hiring process.
  • Identify top talent with the right skills and cultural fit.
  • Reduce the risk of bad hires.
  • Enhance the candidate experience by providing a clear and objective evaluation process.

This guide will provide you with valuable insights into the different types of pre-employment assessments available and highlight some of the best tools, to help you optimize your hiring process for 2024.

Why pre-employment assessments are key in hiring

While resumes and interviews offer valuable insights, they can be subjective and susceptible to bias. Pre-employment assessments provide a standardized and objective way to evaluate candidates, offering several key benefits:

  • Improved decision-making:

    By measuring specific skills and knowledge, assessments help you identify candidates who possess the qualifications necessary for the job.

  • Reduced bias:

    Standardized assessments mitigate the risks of unconscious bias that can creep into traditional interview processes.

  • Increased efficiency:

    Assessments can streamline the initial screening process, allowing you to focus on the most promising candidates.

  • Enhanced candidate experience:

    When used effectively, assessments can provide candidates with a clear understanding of the required skills and a fair chance to showcase their abilities.

Types of pre-employment assessments

There are various types of pre-employment assessments available, each catering to different needs and objectives. Here's an overview of some common types:

1. Skill Assessments:

  • Technical Skills: These assessments evaluate specific technical skills and knowledge relevant to the job role, such as programming languages, software proficiency, or industry-specific expertise. HackerEarth offers a wide range of validated technical skill assessments covering various programming languages, frameworks, and technologies.
  • Soft Skills: These employment assessments measure non-technical skills like communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking, crucial for success in any role.

2. Personality Assessments:

These employment assessments can provide insights into a candidate's personality traits, work style, and cultural fit within your organization.

3. Cognitive Ability Tests:

These tests measure a candidate's general mental abilities, such as reasoning, problem-solving, and learning potential.

4. Integrity Assessments:

These employment assessments aim to identify potential risks associated with a candidate's honesty, work ethic, and compliance with company policies.

By understanding the different types of assessments and their applications, you can choose the ones that best align with your specific hiring needs and ensure you hire the most qualified and suitable candidates for your organization.

Leading employment assessment tools and tests in 2024

Choosing the right pre-employment assessment tool depends on your specific needs and budget. Here's a curated list of some of the top pre-employment assessment tools and tests available in 2024, with brief overviews:

  • HackerEarth:

    A comprehensive platform offering a wide range of validated skill assessments in various programming languages, frameworks, and technologies. It also allows for the creation of custom assessments and integrates seamlessly with various recruitment platforms.

  • SHL:

    Provides a broad selection of assessments, including skill tests, personality assessments, and cognitive ability tests. They offer customizable solutions and cater to various industries.

  • Pymetrics:

    Utilizes gamified assessments to evaluate cognitive skills, personality traits, and cultural fit. They offer a data-driven approach and emphasize candidate experience.

  • Wonderlic:

    Offers a variety of assessments, including the Wonderlic Personnel Test, which measures general cognitive ability. They also provide aptitude and personality assessments.

  • Harver:

    An assessment platform focusing on candidate experience with video interviews, gamified assessments, and skills tests. They offer pre-built assessments and customization options.

Remember: This list is not exhaustive, and further research is crucial to identify the tool that aligns best with your specific needs and budget. Consider factors like the types of assessments offered, pricing models, integrations with your existing HR systems, and user experience when making your decision.

Choosing the right pre-employment assessment tool

Instead of full individual tool reviews, consider focusing on 2–3 key platforms. For each platform, explore:

  • Target audience: Who are their assessments best suited for (e.g., technical roles, specific industries)?
  • Types of assessments offered: Briefly list the available assessment categories (e.g., technical skills, soft skills, personality).
  • Key features: Highlight unique functionalities like gamification, custom assessment creation, or seamless integrations.
  • Effectiveness: Briefly mention the platform's approach to assessment validation and reliability.
  • User experience: Consider including user reviews or ratings where available.

Comparative analysis of assessment options

Instead of a comprehensive comparison, consider focusing on specific use cases:

  • Technical skills assessment:

    Compare HackerEarth and Wonderlic based on their technical skill assessment options, focusing on the variety of languages/technologies covered and assessment formats.

  • Soft skills and personality assessment:

    Compare SHL and Pymetrics based on their approaches to evaluating soft skills and personality traits, highlighting any unique features like gamification or data-driven insights.

  • Candidate experience:

    Compare Harver and Wonderlic based on their focus on candidate experience, mentioning features like video interviews or gamified assessments.

Additional tips:

  • Encourage readers to visit the platforms' official websites for detailed features and pricing information.
  • Include links to reputable third-party review sites where users share their experiences with various tools.

Best practices for using pre-employment assessment tools

Integrating pre-employment assessments effectively requires careful planning and execution. Here are some best practices to follow:

  • Define your assessment goals:

    Clearly identify what you aim to achieve with assessments. Are you targeting specific skills, personality traits, or cultural fit?

  • Choose the right assessments:

    Select tools that align with your defined goals and the specific requirements of the open position.

  • Set clear expectations:

    Communicate the purpose and format of the assessments to candidates in advance, ensuring transparency and building trust.

  • Integrate seamlessly:

    Ensure your chosen assessment tool integrates smoothly with your existing HR systems and recruitment workflow.

  • Train your team:

    Equip your hiring managers and HR team with the knowledge and skills to interpret assessment results effectively.

Interpreting assessment results accurately

Assessment results offer valuable data points, but interpreting them accurately is crucial for making informed hiring decisions. Here are some key considerations:

  • Use results as one data point:

    Consider assessment results alongside other information, such as resumes, interviews, and references, for a holistic view of the candidate.

  • Understand score limitations:

    Don't solely rely on raw scores. Understand the assessment's validity and reliability and the potential for cultural bias or individual test anxiety.

  • Look for patterns and trends:

    Analyze results across different assessments and identify consistent patterns that align with your desired candidate profile.

  • Focus on potential, not guarantees:

    Assessments indicate potential, not guarantees of success. Use them alongside other evaluation methods to make well-rounded hiring decisions.

Choosing the right pre-employment assessment tools

Selecting the most suitable pre-employment assessment tool requires careful consideration of your organization's specific needs. Here are some key factors to guide your decision:

  • Industry and role requirements:

    Different industries and roles demand varying skill sets and qualities. Choose assessments that target the specific skills and knowledge relevant to your open positions.

  • Company culture and values:

    Align your assessments with your company culture and values. For example, if collaboration is crucial, look for assessments that evaluate teamwork and communication skills.

  • Candidate experience:

    Prioritize tools that provide a positive and smooth experience for candidates. This can enhance your employer brand and attract top talent.

Budget and accessibility considerations

Budget and accessibility are essential factors when choosing pre-employment assessments:

  • Budget:

    Assessment tools come with varying pricing models (subscriptions, pay-per-use, etc.). Choose a tool that aligns with your budget and offers the functionalities you need.

  • Accessibility:

    Ensure the chosen assessment is accessible to all candidates, considering factors like language options, disability accommodations, and internet access requirements.

Additional Tips:

  • Free trials and demos: Utilize free trials or demos offered by assessment platforms to experience their functionalities firsthand.
  • Consult with HR professionals: Seek guidance from HR professionals or recruitment specialists with expertise in pre-employment assessments.
  • Read user reviews and comparisons: Gain insights from other employers who use various assessment tools.

By carefully considering these factors, you can select the pre-employment assessment tool that best aligns with your organizational needs, budget, and commitment to an inclusive hiring process.

Remember, pre-employment assessments are valuable tools, but they should not be the sole factor in your hiring decisions. Use them alongside other evaluation methods and prioritize building a fair and inclusive hiring process that attracts and retains top talent.

Future trends in pre-employment assessments

The pre-employment assessment landscape is constantly evolving, with innovative technologies and practices emerging. Here are some potential future trends to watch:

  • Artificial intelligence (AI):

    AI-powered assessments can analyze candidate responses, written work, and even resumes, using natural language processing to extract relevant insights and identify potential candidates.

  • Adaptive testing:

    These assessments adjust the difficulty level of questions based on the candidate's performance, providing a more efficient and personalized evaluation.

  • Micro-assessments:

    Short, focused assessments delivered through mobile devices can assess specific skills or knowledge on-the-go, streamlining the screening process.

  • Gamification:

    Engaging and interactive game-based elements can make the assessment experience more engaging and assess skills in a realistic and dynamic way.

Conclusion

Pre-employment assessments, when used thoughtfully and ethically, can be a powerful tool to optimize your hiring process, identify top talent, and build a successful workforce for your organization. By understanding the different types of assessments available, exploring top-rated tools like HackerEarth, and staying informed about emerging trends, you can make informed decisions that enhance your ability to attract, evaluate, and hire the best candidates for the future.

Tech Layoffs: What To Expect In 2024

Layoffs in the IT industry are becoming more widespread as companies fight to remain competitive in a fast-changing market; many turn to layoffs as a cost-cutting measure. Last year, 1,000 companies including big tech giants and startups, laid off over two lakhs of employees. But first, what are layoffs in the tech business, and how do they impact the industry?

Tech layoffs are the termination of employment for some employees by a technology company. It might happen for various reasons, including financial challenges, market conditions, firm reorganization, or the after-effects of a pandemic. While layoffs are not unique to the IT industry, they are becoming more common as companies look for methods to cut costs while remaining competitive.

The consequences of layoffs in technology may be catastrophic for employees who lose their jobs and the firms forced to make these difficult decisions. Layoffs can result in the loss of skill and expertise and a drop in employee morale and productivity. However, they may be required for businesses to stay afloat in a fast-changing market.

This article will examine the reasons for layoffs in the technology industry, their influence on the industry, and what may be done to reduce their negative impacts. We will also look at the various methods for tracking tech layoffs.

What are tech layoffs?

The term "tech layoff" describes the termination of employees by an organization in the technology industry. A company might do this as part of a restructuring during hard economic times.

In recent times, the tech industry has witnessed a wave of significant layoffs, affecting some of the world’s leading technology companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, Meta (formerly Facebook), Apple, Cisco, SAP, and Sony. These layoffs are a reflection of the broader economic challenges and market adjustments facing the sector, including factors like slowing revenue growth, global economic uncertainties, and the need to streamline operations for efficiency.

Each of these tech giants has announced job cuts for various reasons, though common themes include restructuring efforts to stay competitive and agile, responding to over-hiring during the pandemic when demand for tech services surged, and preparing for a potentially tough economic climate ahead. Despite their dominant positions in the market, these companies are not immune to the economic cycles and technological shifts that influence operational and strategic decisions, including workforce adjustments.

This trend of layoffs in the tech industry underscores the volatile nature of the tech sector, which is often at the mercy of rapid changes in technology, consumer preferences, and the global economy. It also highlights the importance of adaptability and resilience for companies and employees alike in navigating the uncertainties of the tech landscape.

Causes for layoffs in the tech industry

Why are tech employees suffering so much?

Yes, the market is always uncertain, but why resort to tech layoffs?

Various factors cause tech layoffs, including company strategy changes, market shifts, or financial difficulties. Companies may lay off employees if they need help to generate revenue, shift their focus to new products or services, or automate certain jobs.

In addition, some common reasons could be:

Financial struggles

Currently, the state of the global market is uncertain due to economic recession, ongoing war, and other related phenomena. If a company is experiencing financial difficulties, only sticking to pay cuts may not be helpful—it may need to reduce its workforce to cut costs.


Also, read: 6 Steps To Create A Detailed Recruiting Budget (Template Included)


Changes in demand

The tech industry is constantly evolving, and companies would have to adjust their workforce to meet changing market conditions. For instance, companies are adopting remote work culture, which surely affects on-premises activity, and companies could do away with some number of tech employees at the backend.

Restructuring

Companies may also lay off employees as part of a greater restructuring effort, such as spinning off a division or consolidating operations.

Automation

With the advancement in technology and automation, some jobs previously done by human labor may be replaced by machines, resulting in layoffs.

Mergers and acquisitions

When two companies merge, there is often overlap in their operations, leading to layoffs as the new company looks to streamline its workforce.

But it's worth noting that layoffs are not exclusive to the tech industry and can happen in any industry due to uncertainty in the market.

Will layoffs increase in 2024?

It is challenging to estimate the rise or fall of layoffs. The overall state of the economy, the health of certain industries, and the performance of individual companies will play a role in deciding the degree of layoffs in any given year.

But it is also seen that, in the first 15 days of this year, 91 organizations laid off over 24,000 tech workers, and over 1,000 corporations cut down more than 150,000 workers in 2022, according to an Economic Times article.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a huge economic slowdown and forced several businesses to downsize their employees. However, some businesses rehired or expanded their personnel when the world began to recover.

So, given the current level of economic uncertainty, predicting how the situation will unfold is difficult.


Also, read: 4 Images That Show What Developers Think Of Layoffs In Tech


What types of companies are prone to tech layoffs?

2023 Round Up Of Layoffs In Big Tech

Tech layoffs can occur in organizations of all sizes and various areas.

Following are some examples of companies that have experienced tech layoffs in the past:

Large tech firms

Companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Twitter, Better.com, Alibaba, and HP have all experienced layoffs in recent years as part of restructuring initiatives or cost-cutting measures.

Market scenarios are still being determined after Elon Musk's decision to lay off employees. Along with tech giants, some smaller companies and startups have also been affected by layoffs.

Startups

Because they frequently work with limited resources, startups may be forced to lay off staff if they cannot get further funding or need to pivot due to market downfall.

Small and medium-sized businesses

Small and medium-sized businesses face layoffs due to high competition or if the products/services they offer are no longer in demand.

Companies in certain industries

Some sectors of the technological industry, such as the semiconductor industry or automotive industry, may be more prone to layoffs than others.

Companies that lean on government funding

Companies that rely significantly on government contracts may face layoffs if the government cuts technology spending or contracts are not renewed.

How to track tech layoffs?

You can’t stop tech company layoffs, but you should be keeping track of them. We, HR professionals and recruiters, can also lend a helping hand in these tough times by circulating “layoff lists” across social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter to help people land jobs quicker. Firefish Software put together a master list of sources to find fresh talent during the layoff period.

Because not all layoffs are publicly disclosed, tracking tech industry layoffs can be challenging, and some may go undetected. There are several ways to keep track of tech industry layoffs:

Use tech layoffs tracker

Layoff trackers like thelayoff.com and layoffs.fyi provide up-to-date information on layoffs.

In addition, they aid in identifying trends in layoffs within the tech industry. It can reveal which industries are seeing the most layoffs and which companies are the most affected.

Companies can use layoff trackers as an early warning system and compare their performance to that of other companies in their field.

News articles

Because many news sites cover tech layoffs as they happen, keeping a watch on technology sector stories can provide insight into which organizations are laying off employees and how many individuals have been affected.

Social media

Organizations and employees frequently publish information about layoffs in tech on social media platforms; thus, monitoring companies' social media accounts or following key hashtags can provide real-time updates regarding layoffs.

Online forums and communities

There are online forums and communities dedicated to discussing tech industry news, and they can be an excellent source of layoff information.

Government reports

Government agencies such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publish data on layoffs and unemployment, which can provide a more comprehensive picture of the technology industry's status.

How do companies reduce tech layoffs?

Layoffs in tech are hard – for the employee who is losing their job, the recruiter or HR professional who is tasked with informing them, and the company itself. So, how can we aim to avoid layoffs? Here are some ways to minimize resorting to letting people go:

Salary reductions

Instead of laying off employees, businesses can lower the salaries or wages of all employees. It can be accomplished by instituting compensation cuts or salary freezes.

Implementing a hiring freeze

Businesses can halt employing new personnel to cut costs. It can be a short-term solution until the company's financial situation improves.


Also, read: What Recruiters Can Focus On During A Tech Hiring Freeze


Non-essential expense reduction

Businesses might search for ways to cut or remove non-essential expenses such as travel, training, and office expenses.

Reducing working hours

Companies can reduce employee working hours to save money, such as implementing a four-day workweek or a shorter workday.

These options may not always be viable and may have their problems, but before laying off, a company owes it to its people to consider every other alternative, and formulate the best solution.

Tech layoffs to bleed into this year

While we do not know whether this trend will continue or subside during 2023, we do know one thing. We have to be prepared for a wave of layoffs that is still yet to hit. As of last month, Layoffs.fyi had already tracked 170+ companies conducting 55,970 layoffs in 2023.

So recruiters, let’s join arms, distribute those layoff lists like there’s no tomorrow, and help all those in need of a job! :)

What is Headhunting In Recruitment?: Types &amp; How Does It Work?

In today’s fast-paced world, recruiting talent has become increasingly complicated. Technological advancements, high workforce expectations and a highly competitive market have pushed recruitment agencies to adopt innovative strategies for recruiting various types of talent. This article aims to explore one such recruitment strategy – headhunting.

What is Headhunting in recruitment?

In headhunting, companies or recruitment agencies identify, engage and hire highly skilled professionals to fill top positions in the respective companies. It is different from the traditional process in which candidates looking for job opportunities approach companies or recruitment agencies. In headhunting, executive headhunters, as recruiters are referred to, approach prospective candidates with the hiring company’s requirements and wait for them to respond. Executive headhunters generally look for passive candidates, those who work at crucial positions and are not on the lookout for new work opportunities. Besides, executive headhunters focus on filling critical, senior-level positions indispensable to companies. Depending on the nature of the operation, headhunting has three types. They are described later in this article. Before we move on to understand the types of headhunting, here is how the traditional recruitment process and headhunting are different.

How do headhunting and traditional recruitment differ from each other?

Headhunting is a type of recruitment process in which top-level managers and executives in similar positions are hired. Since these professionals are not on the lookout for jobs, headhunters have to thoroughly understand the hiring companies’ requirements and study the work profiles of potential candidates before creating a list.

In the traditional approach, there is a long list of candidates applying for jobs online and offline. Candidates approach recruiters for jobs. Apart from this primary difference, there are other factors that define the difference between these two schools of recruitment.

AspectHeadhuntingTraditional RecruitmentCandidate TypePrimarily passive candidateActive job seekersApproachFocused on specific high-level rolesBroader; includes various levelsScopeproactive outreachReactive: candidates applyCostGenerally more expensive due to expertise requiredTypically lower costsControlManaged by headhuntersManaged internally by HR teams

All the above parameters will help you to understand how headhunting differs from traditional recruitment methods, better.

Types of headhunting in recruitment

Direct headhunting: In direct recruitment, hiring teams reach out to potential candidates through personal communication. Companies conduct direct headhunting in-house, without outsourcing the process to hiring recruitment agencies. Very few businesses conduct this type of recruitment for top jobs as it involves extensive screening across networks outside the company’s expanse.

Indirect headhunting: This method involves recruiters getting in touch with their prospective candidates through indirect modes of communication such as email and phone calls. Indirect headhunting is less intrusive and allows candidates to respond at their convenience.Third-party recruitment: Companies approach external recruitment agencies or executive headhunters to recruit highly skilled professionals for top positions. This method often leverages the company’s extensive contact network and expertise in niche industries.

How does headhunting work?

Finding highly skilled professionals to fill critical positions can be tricky if there is no system for it. Expert executive headhunters employ recruitment software to conduct headhunting efficiently as it facilitates a seamless recruitment process for executive headhunters. Most software is AI-powered and expedites processes like candidate sourcing, interactions with prospective professionals and upkeep of communication history. This makes the process of executive search in recruitment a little bit easier. Apart from using software to recruit executives, here are the various stages of finding high-calibre executives through headhunting.

Identifying the role

Once there is a vacancy for a top job, one of the top executives like a CEO, director or the head of the company, reach out to the concerned personnel with their requirements. Depending on how large a company is, they may choose to headhunt with the help of an external recruiting agency or conduct it in-house. Generally, the task is assigned to external recruitment agencies specializing in headhunting. Executive headhunters possess a database of highly qualified professionals who work in crucial positions in some of the best companies. This makes them the top choice of conglomerates looking to hire some of the best talents in the industry.

Defining the job

Once an executive headhunter or a recruiting agency is finalized, companies conduct meetings to discuss the nature of the role, how the company works, the management hierarchy among other important aspects of the job. Headhunters are expected to understand these points thoroughly and establish a clear understanding of their expectations and goals.

Candidate identification and sourcing

Headhunters analyse and understand the requirements of their clients and begin creating a pool of suitable candidates from their database. The professionals are shortlisted after conducting extensive research of job profiles, number of years of industry experience, professional networks and online platforms.

Approaching candidates

Once the potential candidates have been identified and shortlisted, headhunters move on to get in touch with them discreetly through various communication channels. As such candidates are already working at top level positions at other companies, executive headhunters have to be low-key while doing so.

Assessment and Evaluation

In this next step, extensive screening and evaluation of candidates is conducted to determine their suitability for the advertised position.

Interviews and negotiations

Compensation is a major topic of discussion among recruiters and prospective candidates. A lot of deliberation and negotiation goes on between the hiring organization and the selected executives which is facilitated by the headhunters.

Finalizing the hire

Things come to a close once the suitable candidates accept the job offer. On accepting the offer letter, headhunters help finalize the hiring process to ensure a smooth transition.

The steps listed above form the blueprint for a typical headhunting process. Headhunting has been crucial in helping companies hire the right people for crucial positions that come with great responsibility. However, all systems have a set of challenges no matter how perfect their working algorithm is. Here are a few challenges that talent acquisition agencies face while headhunting.

Common challenges in headhunting

Despite its advantages, headhunting also presents certain challenges:

Cost Implications: Engaging headhunters can be more expensive than traditional recruitment methods due to their specialized skills and services.

Time-Consuming Process: While headhunting can be efficient, finding the right candidate for senior positions may still take time due to thorough evaluation processes.

Market Competition: The competition for top talent is fierce; organizations must present compelling offers to attract passive candidates away from their current roles.

Although the above mentioned factors can pose challenges in the headhunting process, there are more upsides than there are downsides to it. Here is how headhunting has helped revolutionize the recruitment of high-profile candidates.

Advantages of Headhunting

Headhunting offers several advantages over traditional recruitment methods:

Access to Passive Candidates: By targeting individuals who are not actively seeking new employment, organisations can access a broader pool of highly skilled professionals.

Confidentiality: The discreet nature of headhunting protects both candidates’ current employment situations and the hiring organisation’s strategic interests.

Customized Search: Headhunters tailor their search based on the specific needs of the organization, ensuring a better fit between candidates and company culture.

Industry Expertise: Many headhunters specialise in particular sectors, providing valuable insights into market dynamics and candidate qualifications.

Conclusion

Although headhunting can be costly and time-consuming, it is one of the most effective ways of finding good candidates for top jobs. Executive headhunters face several challenges maintaining the g discreetness while getting in touch with prospective clients. As organizations navigate increasingly competitive markets, understanding the nuances of headhunting becomes vital for effective recruitment strategies. To keep up with the technological advancements, it is better to optimise your hiring process by employing online recruitment software like HackerEarth, which enables companies to conduct multiple interviews and evaluation tests online, thus improving candidate experience. By collaborating with skilled headhunters who possess industry expertise and insights into market trends, companies can enhance their chances of securing high-caliber professionals who drive success in their respective fields.

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