Kotlin is an OSS statically typed programming language that targets the JVM, Android, JavaScript, and Native language. It is developed by JetBrains. The project started in 2010 and was open source from its initial days. The first official 1.0 release was in February 2016. Kotlin does not aim to be unique but it draws inspiration from decades of language development. It exists in variants that target the JVM (Kotlin/JVM), JavaScript (Kotlin/JS), and Native code (Kotlin/Native).
Why Kotlin?
Kotlin provides some powerful features that tend to be extremely beneficial and also significantly improves the productivity of developers.
Concise: Kotlin drastically reduces the amount of boilerplate code. The fewer lines of code mean that you spend less time to write, read, and debug the code. The best example to demonstrate conciseness is the way of creating a class (also known as POJO for Java users) with the getters, setters, equals(), hashCode(), toString(), and copy() methods. This operation can be performed by using the following line of code:
data class User(val name: String, val email: String, val address: String)
Null safe: The NullPointerException exceptions are extremely infuriating for developers. The Kotlin’s type system is aimed to eliminate the occurrence of NullPointerException from every code. It distinguishes between references that can hold null (known as nullable references) and those that cannot hold null values (known as non-null references). Therefore, Kotlin protects you from mistakenly operating on nullable types.
val name: String? = null // Nullable type
println(name.length()) // Compilation error
Interoperable- Kotlin allows you to use any existing libraries on the JVM because it provides 100% compatibility and SAM support. It is also possible to target either the JVM or JavaScript. You can write code in Kotlin and decide where to deploy. For instance:
Extensions: Kotlin provides the ability to extend a class with new functionality without having to inherit from the class or use design patterns such as Decorator. This is done by using special declarations called extensions. For example, you can write new functions for a class from an external library that you cannot modify. These types of functions can be called in the usual way if they are the methods of the original class. This mechanism is called extension functions. There are also extension properties that allow you to define new properties for existing classes.
Kotlin is highly tool-friendly in terms of functionality. It offers coroutines, high-order functions, lambdas and much more.
What can Kotlin be used for?
Kotlin can be used for any kind of development. These developments can be in the server-side system, client-side web, and Android OS. Due to the proper usage of Kotlin/Native in the systems, the support for other platforms such as embedded systems, macOS, and iOS is also available.
Kotlin is mainly used to develop server-side applications that allow you to write concise and expressive code while maintaining full compatibility with existing Java-based technology stacks and a smooth learning curve. Some of the frameworks that are used for server-side development by using Kotlin are Spring, Vert.x, Ktor, etc.
Kotlin is supported as a first-class language on Android. It provides seamless integration and makes Android development much easier. Kotlin is fully compatible with JDK 6 and its later versions. This ensures that Kotlin applications can run on older Android devices without any errors. Kotlin Android Extensions is a compiler extension that allows you to eliminate findViewById()calls in your code and replaces them with synthetic compiler-generated properties. There are many applications that already use Kotlin for Android, such as Basecamp, Pinterest and more.
Kotlin also provides the ability to target JavaScript by transpiling Kotlin to JavaScript. The current implementation targets ECMAScript 5.1. Kotlin can be used together with existing external libraries and frameworks such as jQuery or React.
In addition to using for backend web, Kotlin/JS can be used for client-side web. Kotlin/JS can be used for backend and client-side web. It uses definitions from DefinitelyTyped to get static typing for common JavaScript libraries. It is compatible with existing module systems such as AMD and CommonJS.
Kotlin/Native is a technology for compiling Kotlin code to native binaries that can run without a virtual machine. It is an LLVM-based backend for the Kotlin compiler and native implementation of the Kotlin standard library. Kotlin/Native is primarily designed to allow compilation for platforms where virtual machines cannot be used, for example, embedded devices or iOS. It helps developers produce a self-contained program that does not require an additional runtime or virtual machines.
Kotlin is also being adopted to the world of data science. Data scientists use development tools called notebooks. Notebooks let users conduct research and store it in a single environment. In a notebook, you can write narrative text next to a code block, execute the code block, and see the results in any format that you require such as output text, tables, data visualization, and so on. Kotlin provides integration with two popular notebooks, Jupyter and Apache Zeppelin. These notebooks allow you to write and run Kotlin code blocks.
How to start with Kotlin?
The best way to begin with Kotlin is to go through the official documentation. It covers all the concepts starting from basic syntax to different uses of Kotlin. All the updates are also regularly posted there. It might seem a bit overwhelming at first but we recommend you to read it step-by-step. You must start by setting up Kotlin in your preferred IDE or command line. To set up the environment, follow the Getting Started section of the document. After that, read about the basic syntax, variables, methods, and classes.
The Kotlin website also provides an online sandbox to explore the language.
Learn Kotlin by Example is a great way to learn as it provides a set of small and simple annotated examples for beginners. It also provides examples to demonstrate variables, functions, null safety, classes, control flow, collections, and much more. It also covers productivity boosters and Kotlin/JS.
After getting a basic idea about Kotlin, start coding on Kotlin Playground.
Kotlin Koans is a series of exercises that you get familiar with the Kotlin syntax and some idioms. Each exercise is created as a failing unit test and your job is to make it pass.
Kotlin Hands-On is a series of hands-on labs where you can create applications with Kotlin using a variety of different technologies and targeting multiple platforms. Currently, there are labs for building web applications with React and Kotlin/JS, Introduction to Coroutines and Channels, Introduction to Kotlin Multiplatform, Introduction to Kotlin/Native, Targeting iOS and Android with Kotlin Multiplatform, and The State of Kotlin/JS.
The recordings of KotlinConf’19 talks are available on YouTube. KotlinConf is an annual conference dedicated entirely to Kotlin. Other videos can be found on the JetBrains TV YouTube channel.
Globant and JetBrains bring #TheUltimateKotlinChallenge. Create an app using Kotlin, send ur GitHub repo link and a video of the app. Last date of submission Friday, May 15, 2020. More details here – https://bit.ly/2xS8Iv4
Finally, do participate in the Kotlin Consensus as it is aimed to help everyone in the community and bring their ideas to life with Kotlin.
Let’s Kotlin!
Please note: To download the gist of the blog, click here.
When some people hear the word “hackathon,” a wave of intimidation spills over them.
Well, let me help you pitch the idea. Ahackathon, also known as a codefest, is typically a day-long coding competition where a bunch of software developers, computer programmers, designers, and others join hands to improve upon or build a new software program.
Hackathons maybe theme-based. However, the majority of hackathons gives developers and programmers free rein to be creative and build something awesome.
One can create a web app, a website, chrome extension, it’s an open environment!
Stating an exciting fact here—many popular features of Facebook such as the like button, Facebook timeline, chat, and video were all conceived during hackathon projects.
A hackathon is a place where you find diversified minds and ideas, all under one roof. You will eventually end up honing your existing skills and acquiring new ones in the process.
Acquire industry-specific job skills
Creating something from nothing is difficult. In fact, it may be one of the most challenging tasks. Ahackathonlets one acquire industry-specific job skills.
If you are new to programming, you will learn how to build a project from scratch, buff out the glitches, and present it to a panel of experts.
On the other hand, if you are already a coding professional, you have an opportunity to enhance your skills.
All-in-all, a hackathon is a win-win situation. It prepares you forworking in a fast-paced, industry-driven environment, and gives professional experience in tackling coding challenges.
Improve problem-solving skills
Want to stretch your problem-solving skills to the limit? Attend a hackathon! To get the job done, you will need to learn how to focus on what is important.
And no matter however pre-defined your ideas are before you attend, you will eventuallylearn to be flexible and adaptable in your approach.
Also, you will get the opportunity to literally drill down issues and understand them to their very core.
Learn teamwork
The importance of teamwork cannot be overstated. It is very, very important, especially in such events.
Hackathons encourage you to work with people that you do not often work with, which eventually leads to wonderful ideas.
You learn to partition tasks, share a codebase, and get along the process through good and bad as a team.
Also, “pair programming” is a common practice at hackathons. It involves finding someone of similar skill sets, and then taking turns building and advising on the project.
It offers considerable learning potential and teaches effective collaboration.
Work under pressure
Hackathons aim at developing something awesome within a limited time frame, infusing work pressure among participants and testing them beyond their limits.
You will definitely learn to complete tasks faster than what you’re generally used to.
Transform concepts into reality
The core concept of most hackathons is theability to turn concepts into deliverable actions or a working prototype. Hackathons are a great way to involve and understand every stage—from design to deployment—of a product.
The gap between ideation and execution is huge. For instance, when Uber brought the idea of helping customers find a ride via connectivity, many people said, “I had that same idea.”
Still, Uber made it happen in the best possible way. Similarly, there are several ideas that people think of, and a hackathon lets one execute ideas and create something mind-boggling!
If youwant to participate in a hackathon, you just need to know the genre, form a team (either at the event or with people you know), and hack away at a project!
Hackathons are a whirlwind! If you come in with a strategy, they can be a useful format for making significant progress in a short amount of time.
If you are new to hackathons, knowing where to begin with may be daunting.
Traditionally, hackathons come from identifying a problem and then considering different ways to solve it.
For instance, how can a new tool like an app builder or any app make life easier? To help you get there, here is a list of hackathons that HackerEarth has conducted to let you gain some insights.
How can hackathons help you?
Hackathons for product and API adoption
Studies show that hackathons seem to be the most effective method to acquire and engage developer talent for open APIs.
Hackathons give you the opportunity to put your product(API) in the hands of passionate developers and get them to use it. They give you valuable feedback on how your product can be improved.
Several companies have used hackathon to drive API adoption. Here are a few –
Amazon Alexa: Building voice-first experiences through the Alexa skills hackathon
Alexa, the voice service behind Amazon Echo, is changing how a consumer interacts with technology. With Alexa being able to pick up multiple roles—anything from a concierge or a sous chef to a fitness coach or a DJ — every time a new skill is added, theAlexa Skills hackathonwas aimed at building even more skills for Alexa to make it smarter.
The goal of the hackathon was to educate developers about Alexa. Amazon wanted to get them to experience building skills for Alexa for the first time.
IBM: Using Bluemix to develop apps on the Bluemix platform
IBM Bluemix is a cloud platform as a service (PaaS) developed by IBM. It supports several programming languages and services as well as integrated DevOps to build, run, deploy, and manage applications in the cloud.
TheIBM Bluemix hackathonwas a product building innovation campaign where participants could build web and mobile apps with Watson on IBM Bluemix.
Hackathons for branding
An employer branding hackathon is a highly targeted branding activity. It allows a company to let potential employees know what the company stands for, the challenging projects it works on, and communicates its values to them.
By conducting a targeted hackathon, you will be able to let the developer community know about your company and the technology stack you use. It also allows companies to build a talent pipeline. Here’s how HP Enterprise leveraged hackathons for employer branding-
HP Enterprise: When innovation acted as a brand driver
HPE is a brand synonymous with innovation. With over 80 years of world-class technology innovation and the famous “HP Way” of transforming great ideas into successful tech products, the company partnered with HackerEarth for its employer branding activities.
TheHPE Thinkathonwas a hackathon specifically for college students. With coding gaining more attention with each passing day, HP aimed to cultivate a culture of coding among students.
Hackathons for hiring
Hackathons are changing the way a traditional hiring process works. Hiring that involved multiple rounds of interviews in the past are quickly being replaced by hiring hackathons. Here’s how Accenture used a hackathon tohire better talent.
Accenture—Hiring coding enthusiasts through the Hack Diva challenge
The Accenture Hack Diva challenge was a women-centric programming challenge targeted at women students interested in technology to showcase their problem-solving skills and compete with their peers across the country.
The event aimed at bringing together some of the brightest engineering students and celebrating women who are passionate about technology.
Internal hackathons
Internal hackathons act as a playground for exploring possibilities. Accelerate innovation by bringing all the business stakeholders on a single platform to ideate, collaborate, build, and implement solutions to real-world challenges.
Benefits –
Collaborative innovation — Internal hackathons help foster collaboration across geographies
Accelerate customer innovation — Faster go to market for customer requirements
Drive engagement — A fun activity for your entire company
Adapt to disruption and stay ahead of competition
Hackathons to foster collaboration and boost employee engagement
The use of employee hackathons to solve organizational problems is on the rise. This fun event helps bring together the best brains from across your organization to solve pressing business challenges while having a good time.
Global talent advisers perfectly sum up what happens during a hackathon of this kind, “Employees who have participated in a hackathon love it because it is a highly engaging activity. They work with colleagues from other departments to brainstorm and design working prototypes. Employees feel that they are part of the solution. They have a sense of pride that they are contributing to the success of the company.”
Hackathons to solve customer challenges
Hackathons can be catalysts for organizations looking to accelerate innovation. You could use a hackathon to develop innovative yet practical solutions to support the customer experience.
The best part is you get a pipeline of hacks which can provide the highest value to customers in the shortest amount of time and you can work on accommodating them in your product road maps.
Hackathons to help you speed up product launches
Hackathons create an environment that creates an internal drive among your team to work together on new product features or improvements.
The best part is that since the entire team works towards this within a stipulated period of time, you have multiple solutions many of which are market-ready and can be directly implementable. This means you can easily accommodate them in your product road maps and releases.
Hackathons to create a culture of innovation
Innovation is critical to business success now more than ever. It is imperative for business leaders and entrepreneurs to make innovation their constant business priority.
Incorporating innovation into your company’s culture will help you create an environment that empowers.
Technology, University, Government, and Social hackathons
One of the best things you get out ofconducting a hackathonis the outcome. A hackathon is a great tool especially if you are looking for swift market-ready solutions.
And these solutions are applicable across a wide range of sectors—from technology hackathons to government and social hackathons and even university hackathons.
Technology hackathons
Hackathons are a great way of using cutting edge technologies to solve some pressing business challenges.
Some commonly used technologies include Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, AR/VR, etc and these have been used to solve problems on customer data management, identity management, and asset trading via hackathons.
Machine Learning hackathons
Organizations such as Unilever, Societe Generale, Future Group, and many others have leveraged the power of Machine Learning to build better businesses.
Being one of the largest FMCG companies in India, HUL ran a hackathon to understand consumer preferences in small retail stores in neighborhoods by capturing sales data through a point of sales system and leverage it with innovative Machine Learning (ML) and analytical models.
Societe Generale: Building predictive models from banking and financial data
This French banking and financial MNC wanted to put its financial data to better use by leveraging the power of the crowd for data analysis and building predictive models.
Future Group: Crowdsourcing digital solutions to master customer data management
Future Group is one of the largest retailers in India and through the Future Datathon, this organization used Machine Learning to understand customer behavior and buying needs better.
Blockchain hackathons
From traceable supply chains to permanent identity for refugees, blockchain is pioneering transparent and secure business processes.
Blockchain technology provides new infrastructure to build the next innovative applications beyond cryptocurrencies, driving profound, positive changes across businesses, communities, and society.
Many organizations have used blockchain hackathons to build impactful solutions and here are a few examples
Accenture: Leveraging Blockchain for social good
With the industry gearing toward an exciting phase in the evolution of blockchain-based solutions, Accenture has consciously worked toward leveraging ‘Blockchain for good’.
Regarded as one of the top 10 biggest blockchain companies, Accenture’s blockchain developers work at the heart of the blockchain technology landscape, working with multiple alliance partners— DAH, Ripple, R3, Microsoft, EEA, Hyperledger, etc.
University hackathons
Hackathons are important for growth because it allows students to apply creativity, learn technical skills, generate business ideas, work in a team, network with peers and professionals, and win some cool prizes.
Top universities across the world use hackathons to drive creativity and problem-solving capacity among students.
Government hackathons
Governments around the world are leveraging technology for better governance and hackathons are a great way to find solutions which can be readily implemented. A few examples are:
Smart Odisha hackathon — Make in Odisha Conclave 2018
The student community is an integral part of spearheading development projects, owing to its innovative and enthusiastic approach toward a problem.
To harness the talent of student communities, “Smart Odisha Hackathon” was organized by the Skill Development and Technical Education Department, Government of Odisha, in association with the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), Odisha. The idea behind this 36-hour long hackathon was to attract talent to identify innovative IT solutions for public service delivery and effective governance.
NITI Aayog—Pune Smart city hackathon
The challenge was to find insights and solutions for smarter ways to develop Pune.
The hackathon addressed important themes such as water management, solid waste management, safety, public health, and digital connectivity.
Bhopal smart city hackathon
This hackathon was organised by the Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited, in partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Participants had to come up with technology solutions in this 48 hour hackathon to make Bhopal smarter.
Social hackathons
Hackathons can help you harness the creative power and skills of thousands of participants to bring you closer to realizing your organization’s social welfare goals.
Create working prototypes of solutions by utilizing developer communities, along with your participants, without having to build a team of your own.
Centro Fox: Creating technology solutions for social problems in less than 48 hours
Centro Fox is a Mexican organization which works toward creating compassionate leaders for a better world.
Founded by Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, the center consciously works toward training quality leaders dedicated to serving their community in Mexico and Latin America.
The talent hackathon at Centro Fox aimed to bring together participants from Mexico to work on solutions for creating a smart city.
Hackocracy: Crowdsourcing to build a better democracy
With the belief that technology-based solutions could streamline processes and revolutionize the lives of millions, well-known NGOs such as the Umang Foundation, Janaagraha, and the Nudge Foundation teamed up with HackerEarth to come up with digital solutions to handle real-world problems throughHackocracy— a hackathon to build a better democracy.
FAQs
Who can attend a hackathon
Hackathons are for everyone. YES! You read that right. Anyone with a knack in computer programming can attend a hackathon. One does not necessarily need to have programming experience. Organizers usually hold workshops throughout the event for people who are new to programming, helping individuals harness new skills and relationships.
How to prepare for a hackathon?
You’d like to try a hackathon? Great! We’ve put together a list of 5 things you can do to prep.
Do I need to pay any money to register for a hackathon?
No. You do not have to pay anything to anyone to register yourself for any Hackathon on HackerEarth.
How do I submit the prototypes/ideas created for the hackathon?
You have to develop the application on your local system and submit it on HackerEarth in tar/zip file format along with instructions to run the application and source code. Do we need to have the entire idea fully working?
The entire idea need not be fully implemented. However, the submission should be functional so that it can be reviewed by the judges.
Do I need to provide a demo for the product I have built?
If you want, you can submit a small presentation or video that demos your submission. However, it’s not mandatory and only good to have. In case you are one of the winners, you might be invited to demo your application at a physical event, details of which will be shared with sufficient advance notice.
How is the environment? Will the hackathon environment support any language? Will the organization provide any IDE and DB for us to work on ideas?
You have to develop the entire software application on your local system and submit it on HackerEarth in tar/zip file format along with instructions to run the application and source code.
Who owns my project and IP?
It can vary from hackathon to hackathon. The conditions of participation in a hackathon may include alternative arrangements, such as first-look rights, exclusive rights, or shared IP rights. Also, the finalists and winners are generally given prizes or sums of money – essentially in exchange for their ideas. In case of an internal hackathon where organizations conduct these events for their employees, all rights are owned by the company. It has the total ownership of inventions made by its employees. In case of an open or a public hackathon, the ownership rights are often open to dispute. In this case, the inventions are made by an unpaid third party — the hackathon participants.
But in any case, it’s essential to take a careful look at the conditions of participation. Be sure to double check with the organizer. If you are employed elsewhere, review the hackathon terms to see if your participation causes any conflict of business interest with your current employer.
How to win a hackathon?
It all boils down to 10 simple steps. HackerEarth provides an exhaustive list to help win hackathons. The steps are pretty broad on purpose – you can define them anyway you want.
Seeing the heroes train themselves, evolve personalities, grow closer (or farther), and eventually reach where they are after 11 years and 21 movies has been nothing less than inspiring.
As a developer, there are plenty of things that we can learn from their stories. Each hero has a unique skill that makes them an invaluable part of the team.
But in the universe of competitive programming, where Thanos is not the only one you fight, you cannot form or rely on a team to support you.
You need to have the powers of all the heroes and let the hero inside awaken.
But what are the superpowers that you, as a competitive programming hero, require to not just reach the top, but be one of the most sought after?
Here are 6 heroes who can be your biggest inspiration to be the last standing Avenger.
To be the best at competitive programming, you need to fine-tune your programming skills.
Tony, being one of the brightest minds on the planet is always looking to improve his armor, add more features, build new technologies, and be a stronger Iron Man.
In the world of competitive programming, where your armor is your code, practicing more and eventually improving your coding abilities is something that is of utmost importance.
Communities like StackOverflow and Codechef, online course providers such as Udemy and Coursera, and learning/practicing platforms like HackerEarth are some ways to perfect your skills and get your first infinity stone.
Captain America
Real Name: Steve Rogers
Powers: Strength, Stamina, Agility, Durability | Super Soldier
Captain America is a superhuman with heightened stamina, agility, and durability.
He also has a strong focus and superior planning skills, making him an effective fighter.
Likewise, when a developer is exposed to a competitive programming challenge that can last from an hour to even a month, you got to put the Cap hat on (pun intended!).
What I mean is, you should have the ability to understand the challenge (focus), create a plan (superior planning skills), and develop code as fast as possible (agility).
Once you have developed your tech skills, you can start with any of the following short-term challenges to take the journey forward.
HackerEarth – HackerEarth Monthly Challenges like Easy and Circuits
CodeChef – Programming challenges like Cook-off and Lunchtime
Hawkeye
Real Name: Clint Barton
Powers: Tactician and Combat expert – “Turn any object into a weapon”
Barton is arguably the strongest avenger on the team.
I know you don’t believe me, but hear me out.
He is the only Avenger with a family and has no actual superpowers.
But with his amazing skill-set of using almost anything as a weapon (especially his signature bow and arrow), he does not look out of place when he stands with chemically-created superhumans and gods.
Being highly motivated, not afraid of failing, and being proud of what you do are things that can add that extra edge to take your journey as a developer to the next level.
By understanding all the available tools and bringing them into practice by participating in various competitive challenges can help you define your tactics and hone your skills further.
Natasha Romanoff operates at peak human capabilities due to biotechnological enhancements in the Red Room.
With extensive physical and mental training, Nat is an expert martial artist, athlete, gymnast, and resistant to aging and diseases, while also possessing enhanced healing.
Nat is an expert tactician, an effective strategist, and an overall kickass.
And what is a competitive programming challenge, if not a game of skill, strategy, tactics, durability, agility, and the perfect execution of plans?
Participating in many short term coding challenges can help you understand your skill-set, hone it further, and also build durability and flexibility in your thinking styles to conquer any problem that comes your way.
HackerEarth’s Code Arena is one of the best platforms to compete in real-time 1v1 battles against other coders and experts around the world.
Banner is one of the greatest scientific minds on the planet, with expertise in biology, chemistry, engineering, medicine, physiology, and nuclear physics.
His alter ego, Hulk, is a giant with superhuman strength, the ability to withstand immense force and injury while regenerating at a speed much quicker than a normal human.
In a competitive programming challenge, there are moments when all seems lost – the code might have bugs, there are other compilation errors, or you just need a break and let it all go.
In such cases, when your strategy fails, your durability has reached its limits, and your tactics aren’t working anymore, you want to just Hulk Smash!
Instead, I would suggest, let Banner win that battle, and use that genius mind to get through the situation and be the best coder out there.
Thor
Real Name: Thor Odinson
Powers: Strength, Flight, Controlling the power of thunder | God of Thunder
With all the aforementioned skills acquired, it would now be the best time to bring out Thor and be the god you are meant to be.
Thor, the mightiest Avenger, the God of Thunder can control the environment around him and strike bolts of lightning of enormous power and destructive capabilities.
Coming from a royal divine background, he has strong core values, a strong sense of loyalty, and incomparable strength.
In a competitive programming challenge, having a strong mindset, determination, and energy focused on developing the code will take your idea to the next level.
After all, a god has to be on a higher level.
Now use all your skills – agility, durability, practicality, flexibility, strategic thinking – and add them to the expert tech skills that you have built to be the best competitive programmer out there.
Test yourself and see where you stand, or if you’re confident, conquer the biggest challenges out there. Here are some that you might be interested in.
Additionally, there are aggregator platforms like HackerEarth and TopCoder where you can find a list of several coding challenges happening around the world in various themes.
“Heroes are made by the path they choose, not the powers they are graced with.”
As the curtains rise up on 2019, it’s time to look back at the amazing innovations that came out last year. We conducted over 400 hackathons with enterprises, universities, nonprofits, and governments in various fields, ranging from shaping the future of music to creating Fintech solutions.
The hackathon ideas of 2018 were judged based on the following 5 parameters:
Creativity – Bringing the “wow” factor to solve a problem
Usability – Usefulness of the product to solve a problem
Technicality – The technology used to create the solution
Scalability – Potential for future upgrades to improve upon the solution
Business value – Solving a problem while aligning to the business goals
Without further ado, here are the best hacks of 2018 in no particular order.
Category – Versatility
Hackathon – NITI Aayog Pune Smart City Hackathon
Geography – India
Theme – Public Health
Team name – Anashwar Tech
What is the hack? – Water disinfection container cover plate
What did we love about it? – This hack solves a real-world problem – access to safe drinking water. We loved how this simple hack makes use of a cover plate, purifying water in the container that it covers and also cleans itself at the same time! This fully working prototype uses digital purification from UV-C light to purify both the water and the container at the click of a button.
What is the hack? – BENTOXX – A nanocomposite to build a sustainable industrial process
What did we love about it? – A service aimed at sectors such as the paper industry, textile industry, and farming, BENTOXX implements a nanocomposite that removes and collects contaminating particles with Arduino-based electronics and microcontrollers. We really liked how the system can be used to monitor pH, turbidity, and temperature of water to build sustainable industrial processes.
Category – Consumer ease
Hackathon – World Music Hackathon
Geography – North America, Europe, Asia
Team name – kailasmoon_7258
What is the hack? – Untethered
What did we love about it? – Everyone wants to express themselves through music, but it takes years of practice to master an instrument. The goal is to make it possible for anyone to create music — and Untethered does exactly that. It’s AI interprets users’ gestures and enables them to intuitively control an instrument of their choice. The only requirements: a webcam and passion for music.
What is the hack? – Efficient vertical axis water turbine
Theme – Pollution control
What did we love about it? – This new age water turbine hack helps generate electricity without the conventional dam model. The flexible design can be used for both small and large scale energy production by trapping energy from the surface of the water, irrespective of the flow of the water stream.
What is the hack? – Mellowain: Queue problem in retail store
What did we love about it? – Remember the long checkout queues after you shop? What if there was no checkout anymore? What if you could just pick the items from the aisle, drop them into your cart and leave? Using motion capture and data augmentation, Mellowain detects the item, validates, and bills via the connected payment method.
What is the hack? – Hypersign – A cryptographic single sign-on solution
What did we love about it? – Hypersign is cryptography based SingleSignOn Solution that enables users to securely access applications without providing their access credentials. What caught our attention is this hacks ability to bring together cryptographic algorithms and equations in a mobile application thus totally eliminating the need for usernames and passwords. The Application further enables a user to securely sign transactions in decentralized environments; the Hyprsign SDK allows easy authentication to the Blockchain.
What is the hack? – Aloud — granting seamless verbal narration of physical text materials.
What did we love about it? – 90% of the visually impaired have a partial visual impairment. Depending on the severity and cause, this leaves a wide range of ways to read, rather than Braille or waiting for the release of the audiobook. Aloud is a voice recognition tool that uses Amazon Alexa and StdLib to let users translate physical text material by taking a picture of the text.
What is the hack? – Rosie: Undermining Language Detector
Theme – Economic Freedom
What did we love about it? – This hack is a Chrome extension that detects undermining language and suggests more confident phrasing to help people represent themselves as the professionals they are. Named after Rosie the Riveter, an American symbol for female empowerment in the workplace, this is a great tool which can help women write confidently and have great business conversations. Check out their website here.
What did we love about it? -This hack tackles a major concern seen among military veterans and first responders – Operational Stress and Injury (OSI). Compii mobilizes the positive effects of social support. The social support intervenes at critical moments and empowers both individuals and their circle of trust to know when and how to act in times of emotional distress.
What did we love about it? – While there are numerous navigation apps available for consumers, none of them work reliably and accurately indoors. The objective was to create an app that would highlight a path in the real world on your phone screen. This technology can be of great use to everyday citizens because it allows one to accurately navigate to a specific location in a building they have never been to before, such as a classroom in a campus. It is also useful in retail stores where the app can integrate with inventory databases to show customers the items they would want to purchase.
Want your ideas to turn into reality? Check out the ongoing hackathons and find the one that suits you best.
Hackathons are a logical solution to addressing the unique challenges of hiring the ever-elusive top tech talent.
Talent acquisition has been the biggest concerns for the C-suite year after year. According to the latest PWC survey, 63 percent of the CEOs are increasingly concerned about finding talent with the right skills.
To combat the serious shortage of skills, companies are resorting to innovative means of hiring. For example, Volvo turned the Brussels Motor Show into a recruitment ground where AI-powered cars interviewed and recruited technicians. This led to Volvo filling the 200 vacancies in no time.
One of the recent recruitment trends gaining momentum is for companies to use hackathons for hiring quality talent. Although hackathons are predominantly a crowdsourcing tool, in recent times, they have proven to be an effective hiring mechanism.
What is a hackathon?
A hackathon is a competitive and competitive event in which teams of designers, developers and subject matter experts create solutions for a specific problem within a defined time frame. The goal is to build a working prototype in the form of a website, an app, or a robot to solve a given problem.
Why hackathons for hiring?
When it comes to recruitment, the following five important parameters or metrics ascertain its effectiveness.
Quality of hire
Time to hire
Cost of hire
Candidate experience
Diversity and inclusion
Hackathon as a hiring tool serves well across the parameters mentioned above.
May the best man/woman win
Hiring through hackathons is a truly meritocratic process. If a candidate is skilled enough to solve a complex problem you pose or build something extraordinary, all that is left is to assess if the candidate is culturally fit for the organization. Most hackathons will have at least 10 percent of ideas that exceeds your expectation. Interestingly, these ideas also tend to come from people who would not have been shortlisted through the traditional process on the basis of experience, pedigree, etc.
48 hours of rendezvous
According to studies, the average time to fill a position is 36 days. Whereas, hackathons reduce this time to 28 days (organizing, inviting ideas, and shortlisting) including the 48 hours of intense hacking. Also, companies get the opportunity to interact with the candidates and mentor them.
Cost of hire
According to the Talent Acquisition Benchmarking Report, the average cost of a hire is $4,425 whereas the average cost of hackathons for hiring is $4,000, with the advantage of hiring multiple candidates. If four employees are hired by conducting a hackathon, the average cost per hire boils down to $1,000 ($4,000/4) as opposed to $4,425 (conventional hire). Hackathons help in building a pipeline of talent as well. For example, if your company predominantly works on Django/Python tech stack, you can easily build a pool of talent by conducting a hackathon focused on Django/Python.
Candidate experience
The number one reason for candidates to participate in hackathons is “because I find it enjoyable,” says a survey by StackOverflow. Moreover, 20 percent of the hackathon participants believe it “helps me find new job opportunities.” In contrast to the traditional screening and interview process, hackathons provide a conducive environment that can bring out the best in a candidate.
Companies that are focused on improving diversity and inclusion turn to hackathons for hiring. For instance, women-only hackathons have proven to be an effective way to recruit female tech talent.
Emerging Technologies and Niche Skills
Data scientist scarcity – In the U.S., data scientists are the most sought-after professionals. However, there is a significant shortage of data scientists globally, and the demand is 50 percent more than the supply. In such cases, machine learning (ML) and data science hackathons have been tremendously effective in spotting and recruiting skilled data scientists. On the average, an ML/data science challenge gets 1,500 to 2,000 participants. Corporate giants such as Accenture and banks such as Societe Generale regularly conduct such hackathons. In fact, some companies have set up a data science team in just 10 days through ML hackathons.
Blockchain, AR/VR, full-stack, and cyber-security experts are a few other niche skills that companies hire through hackathons.
How to Conduct a Hiring Hackathon
Decide the role and list the desired skill set for a particular role.
Craft problem statements that would assess the skills encompassing the role.
For example: If you are hiring a full-stack developer, the problem or task should be designed to evaluate:
Understanding of front-end programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript
Command over middle-ware such as PHP, Python, and Ruby
Knowledge of databases and OS
Experience in deployment and hosting
Knowledge of third-party APIs/services
3. Invite participants. This could be challenging for most companies. Partnering with hackathon management companies with a vibrant developer community will help attract a large number of participants.
4. Evaluate and shortlist candidates. Invite the shortlisted candidates for an in-person interview and roll-out offers. Using hackathon management software makes the job 10X easier as submissions, judging, and shortlisting are streamlined.
Tech-oriented recruitment for top tech talent
Hackathons can be an effective tool for hiring, especially when attracting niche and rare talent.
It shortens the time to hire, brings down the cost, and also ensures an unbiased assessment. If you believe hiring the right talent is important for your business, then hiring through hackathons is something you should explore. After all, a company is only as good as its employees.
Small gestures can have a big impact. Create where it matters.
We at HackerEarth believe in it and have spent no single day without working toward the same.
Early 2018, we promised ourselves to create an environment which would bring a culture of positivity and change in the developer ecosystem.
We decided to create these footprints with a hackathon, a platform which helps you express your creative potential. And these potentials are the stepping stone to open innovation.
Open innovation is about combining internal and external resources to create efficient and beneficial solutions.” – Dr. Matt Chapman, Mindjet
When it came to attempting analyzing our hypotheses to standout amongst the most paramount open-source hackathons of 2018, there was no preferred choice over HackerEarth’s very own Djangothon. HackerEarth Djangothon is stepping to a culture of open innovation.
#Flashback
6 years ago when we started HackerEarth, Python and Django came to us as a natural choice. (This was more than intuition!)
Django gave us the tools and flexibility to build a platform that was flexible yet robust.
And this helped us built one of the largest developer communities in the world, with over 2.5 million developers.
Today there are millions of lines of code written in python and Django running in production. (This story is no way related to Dr. Strange)
In layman’s terms, Djangothon is a tribute to the Django web framework, a dedicated Django hackathon where we solely focus on enhancing, building, and adding to Django packages.
Our engineering culture embodies the essence of open source, and it’s a small contribution to the community － atoken of respect, a small payback.
So the question was, how can we make Djangothon worthy for developers? How can we create a greater impact on an open source community? And how do we make Djangathon more than just ‘another hackathon’? (Read this in Bill Pullman from Independence day voice)
In any case, how can we make Djangothon noteworthy and not just another hackathon for developers? The answer:
Let’s make it personal
#PresentDay
Indeed, even a normal hackathon accompanies dozens of challenges, and the chances of pulling off a trick like personalization was out and out a puzzle.
We had 24 hours to know each hacker present at Djangothon.
However, since every hacker was trying to utilize those 24 hours to the most, we realized that not all of them would be available for an up-close-and-personal discussion.
They would want to concentrate on their tasks.
At HackerEarth, we believe every hacker has an individual identity. Over the years, we have built a meaningful and lasting relationship with our community to show them they are valued, and we wanted to do just that even this time around.
We ensure that the hackers remember us for the way we made them feel, the time they spent with us, and conversations we had around the hacks they built.
So, to make this Djangathon a memorable and everlasting experience, tech and marketing created the most fascinating ally.
Hackers will remember the hackathon they attended. When they do, make sure they also remember how we made them feel. – Han Solo
From an organization’s perspective, we were aware that getting developers together in one place and asking them to make an open source contribution would not convey the experience we wanted our brand to offer.
That’s why our focus was to create an environment in which the participants could bond and socialize, infusing code with fun!
Providing travel reimbursements, free food, and other such things are important, but not enough. For example, an engineer who buckled down free food and did not win may go home. However, he/she may not be intrigued whenever you say, “Hey John, I hope you liked working at our office overnight and the free pizza. Would you like to join us for the next hackathon?.” I mean, c’mon, something extra needs to be done for so much of hard work!
Nothing piques the interest of a developer more than “Developer Swag!”
No matter how old or young you are, if you are a hackathon enthusiast, you unquestionably look forward to it. Some developers even carry the sentiment, “These swags can never be bought; you earn them.”
As hackathons are becoming increasingly popular, companies and organizers are coming up with many out-of-the-box ideas for swags. And being one of the industry leaders in hackathons, we had a reputation to uphold!
We knew, this is where personalization would come into the picture.
In this blog, I am going to share the factors that allowed us to stand out amongst the most anticipated open source hackathons of 2018.
1. The kickoff — How we kick-started Djangothon
The first impression has a significant impact on the participants. A warm greeting and welcoming smile was step one in making the developers feel at home. In addition, we got one of our founders to address the developers, share the origin story, and tell them why we continue to host such hackathons.
Djangothon registration-desk opened at about 10:00 am and we formally commenced the hackathon at 11:00 am, with Vivek Prakash (CTO HackerEarth) delivering the keynote. He spoke about Django, what it means to HackerEarth, and how it has helped build a robust and scalable platform for one of the largest developer communities in the world. Vivek spoke about how 20 developers in 2013 built the foundation of HackerEarth on Django, the first Djangothon (2015), and how far we have come.
Hackathons are a great platform to engage and learn. Informative sessions like tech talks are a great way to engage the developers. For some developers, this is an opportunity to learn something new, and for others, it acts as a refresher. It is always wise to invite local experts who are well versed with the topic. Rolling out proposal application for these talks helps one being prepared in terms of the content of the speech and making sure this content aligns with the agenda of the hackathon. The speakers can also step ahead, making time for answering the queries and speaking with participants about their ideas, challenges, and approaches
At Djangothon we invited speakers who could deliver lightning talks (15 mins duration) around Django. We had 4 amazing speakers, and they spoke on topics such as “Python and Community” (by Kumar Anirudha, CEO Acyclic Labs) and “How to showcase your hack using storyboarding?” (by Anagaha, Software Engineer from Suki). The developers then went on to discuss their ideas and clear their doubts with the speakers.
3. Entertainment break — Stand up comedy
Everyone needs a break from work, something that can cheer people up, lighten the mood, and breeze away from the stress. Introducing things like stand-up comedy, indoor game tournaments, etc., can make the hackathon experience enjoyable and truly memorable.
We invited comedians to perform at Djangothon. Prasad Bhat (comedian) wowed the audience and everyone had their stomach hurting from all the laughter. This served two purposes, it gave the audience something to laugh about and remember and it also helped soften the mood.
It was the perfect opportunity to interact with the hackers and become acquainted with them.
4. Personalization — Personalized goodies
They say, actions speak louder than words. And what better way to say, ‘You’re special to me’, than a thoughtful gift. A personalized token of appreciation will not only be something unique you can give someone, but it will also carry a magnitude of positive effects. It has a strong sentimental value and but also acts as a happy reminder of the event.
When our team was conversing with the developers present, we secretly took notes about every individual, what they are working on, if they are actively part of any open source project, where they came from, etc. We also used Polaroid cameras to click photos of the teams present.
Using the notes, we wrote personalized messages and stuck everyone’s photos on their respective cards. People do not get a printed photo of themselves every day! We made sure we got great photos of everyone.
We added these cards in the swag bags along with all other goodies. This was something unique and unexpected for everyone, something no one ever received at a hackathon before. From the looks of it, every hacker present at Djangothon loved it!
The outcome
We ran a survey post Djangothon, and the results were unlike any other hackathon feedback we have ever seen.
We received a ton of love and appreciation on social media. More importantly, it was one of the best in-action demonstrations we had seen about the value of personalization and how it could build lasting relationships with an organization’s users and community.
At the end of it, our mission at Djangothon was accomplished and we also made some cool contributions to Django.
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Get to know the experts behind our content. From industry leaders to tech enthusiasts, our authors share valuable insights, trends, and expertise to keep you informed and inspired.
2023 is here, and it is time to look ahead. Start planning your tech hiring needs as per your business requirements, revamp your recruiting processes, and come up with creative ways to land that perfect “unicorn candidate”!
Right? Well, jumping in blindly without heeding what this year holds for you can be a mistake. So before you put together your plans, ask yourselves this—What are the most important 2023 recruiting trends in tech hiring that you should be prepared for? What are the predictions that will shape this year?
We went around and posed three important questions to industry experts that were on our minds. And what they had to say certainly gave us some food for thought!
Before we dive in, allow me to introduce you to our expert panel of six, who had so much to say from personal experience!
Meet the Expert Panel
Radoslav Stankov has more than 20 years of experience working in tech. He is currently Head of Engineering at
Product Hunt. Enjoys blogging, conference speaking, and solving problems.
Mike “Batman” Cohen is the Founder of
Wayne Technologies, a Sourcing-as-a-Service company providing recruitment data and candidate outreach services to enhance the talent acquisition journey.
Pamela Ilieva is the Director of International Recruitment at
Shortlister, a platform that connects employers to wellness, benefits, and HR tech vendors.
Brian H. Hough is a Web2 and Web3 software engineer, AWS Community Builder, host of the Tech Stack Playbook™ YouTube channel/podcast, 5-time global hackathon winner, and tech content creator with 10k+ followers.
Steve O'Brien is Senior Vice President, Talent Acquisition at
Syneos Health, leading a global team of top recruiters across 30+ countries in 24+ languages, with nearly 20 years of diverse recruitment experience.
Patricia (Sonja Sky) Gatlin is a New York Times featured activist, DEI Specialist, EdTechie, and Founder of Newbies in Tech. With 10+ years in Higher Education and 3+ in Tech, she now works part-time as a Diversity Lead recruiting STEM professionals to teach gifted students.
Overview of the upcoming tech industry landscape in 2024
Continued emphasis on remote work and flexibility: As we move into 2024, the tech industry is expected to continue embracing remote work and flexible schedules. This trend, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has proven to be more than a temporary shift. Companies are finding that remote work can lead to increased productivity, a broader talent pool, and better work-life balance for employees. As a result, recruiting strategies will likely focus on leveraging remote work capabilities to attract top talent globally.
Rising demand for AI and Machine Learning Skills: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) continue to be at the forefront of technological advancement. In 2024, these technologies are expected to become even more integrated into various business processes, driving demand for professionals skilled in AI and ML. Companies will likely prioritize candidates with expertise in these areas, and there may be an increased emphasis on upskilling existing employees to meet this demand.
Increased focus on cybersecurity: With the digital transformation of businesses, cybersecurity remains a critical concern. The tech industry in 2024 is anticipated to see a surge in the need for cybersecurity professionals. Companies will be on the lookout for talent capable of protecting against evolving cyber threats and ensuring data privacy.
Growth in cloud computing and edge computing: Cloud computing continues to grow, but there is also an increasing shift towards edge computing – processing data closer to where it is generated. This shift will likely create new job opportunities and skill requirements, influencing recruiting trends in the tech industry.
Sustainable technology and green computing: The global emphasis on sustainability is pushing the tech industry towards green computing and environmentally friendly technologies. In 2024, companies may seek professionals who can contribute to sustainable technology initiatives, adding a new dimension to tech recruiting.
Emphasis on soft skills: While technical skills remain paramount, soft skills like adaptability, communication, and problem-solving are becoming increasingly important. Companies are recognizing the value of these skills in fostering innovation and teamwork, especially in a remote or hybrid work environment.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): There is an ongoing push towards more diverse and inclusive workplaces. In 2024, tech companies will likely continue to strengthen their DEI initiatives, affecting how they recruit and retain talent.
6 industry experts predict the 2023 recruiting trends
#1 We've seen many important moments in the tech industry this year...
Rado: In my opinion, a lot of those will carry over. I felt this was a preparation year for what was to come...
Mike: I wish I had the crystal ball for this, but I hope that when the market starts picking up again...
Pamela: Quiet quitting has been here way before 2022, and it is here to stay if organizations and companies...
#3 What top 3 skills would you like HR professionals/engineering managers to add to their repertoire in 2023 to deal with upcoming challenges?
Rado: Prioritization, team time, and environment management.
I think "prioritization" and "team time" management are obvious. But what do I mean by "environment management"?
A productive environment is one of the key ingredients for a productive team. Look at where your team wastes most time, which can be automated. For example, end-to-end writing tests take time because our tools are cumbersome and undocumented. So let's improve this.
Mike: Setting better metrics/KPIs, moving away from LinkedIn, and sharing more knowledge.
Metrics/KPIs: Become better at setting measurable KPIs and accountable metrics. They are not the same thing—it's like the Square and Rectangle. One fits into the other but they're not the same. Hold people accountable to metrics, not KPIs. Make sure your metrics are aligned with company goals and values, and that they push employees toward excellence, not mediocrity.
Freedom from LinkedIn: This is every year, and will probably continue to be. LinkedIn is a great database, but it is NOT the only way to find candidates, and oftentimes, not even the most effective/efficient. Explore other tools and methodologies!
Join the conversation: I'd love to see new names of people presenting at conferences and webinars. And also, see new authors on the popular TA content websites. Everyone has things they can share—be a part of the community, not just a user of. Join FB groups, write and post articles, and comment on other people's posts with more than 'Great article'. It's a great community, but it's only great because of the people who contribute to it—be one of those people.
Pamela: Resilience, leveraging data, and self-awareness.
Resilience: A “must-have” skill for the 21st century due to constant changes in the tech industry. Face and adapt to challenges. Overcome them and handle disappointments. Never give up. This will keep HR people alive in 2023.
Data skills: Get some data analyst skills. The capacity to transfer numbers into data can help you be a better HR professional, prepared to improve the employee experience and show your leadership team how HR is leveraging data to drive business results.
Self-awareness: Allows you to react better to upsetting situations and workplace challenges. It is a healthy skill to cultivate – especially as an HR professional.
Agility: Allows professionals to move with market conditions. Always be as prepared as possible for any situation to come. Be flexible based on what does or does not happen.
Resourcefulness: Allows professionals to do more with less. It also helps them focus on how to amplify, lift, and empower the current teams to be the best they can be.
Empathy: Allows professionals to take a more proactive approach to listening and understanding where all workers are coming from. Amid stressful situations, companies need empathetic team members and leaders alike who can meet each other wherever they are and be a support.
Steve: Negotiation, data management, and talent development.
Negotiation: Wage transparency laws will fundamentally change the compensation conversation. We must ensure we are still discussing compensation early in the process. And not just “assume” everyone’s on the same page because “the range is published”.
Data management and predictive analytics: Looking at your organization's talent needs as a casserole of indistinguishable components and demands will not be good enough. We must upgrade the accuracy and consistency of our data and the predictions we can make from it.
Talent development: We’ve been exploring the interplay between TA and TM for years. Now is the time to integrate your internal and external talent marketplaces. To provide career experiences to people within your organization and not just those joining your organization.
Patricia: Technology, research, and relationship building.
Technology: Get better at understanding the technology that’s out there. To help you speed up the process, track candidate experience, but also eliminate bias. Metrics are becoming big in HR.
Research: Honestly, read more books. Many great thought leaders put out content about the “future of work”, understanding “Gen Z”, or “quiet quitting.” Dedicate work hours to understanding your ever-changing field.
Relationship Building: Especially in your immediate communities. Most people don’t know who you are or what exactly it is that you do. Build your personal brand and what you are doing at your company to impact those closest to you. Create a referral funnel to get a pipeline going. When people want a job you and your company ought to be top of mind. Also, tell the stories of the people that work there.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Developers. Are they as mysterious as everyone makes them out to be? Is coding the only thing they do all day? Good coders work around the clock, right?
While developers are some of the most coveted talent out there, they also have the most myths being circulated. Most of us forget that developers too are just like us. And no, they do not code all day long.
We wanted to bust a lot of these myths and shed light on how the programming world looks through a developer’s lens in 2021—especially in the wake of a global pandemic. This year’s edition of the annual HackerEarth Developer Survey is packed with developers’ wants and needs when choosing jobs, major gripes with the WFH scenario, and the latest market trends to watch out for, among others.
Our 2021 report is bigger and better, with responses from 25,431 developers across 171 countries. Let’s find out what makes a developer tick, shall we?
“Good coders work around the clock.” No, they don’t.
Busting the myth that developers spend the better part of their day coding, 52% of student developers said that they prefer to code for a maximum of 3 hours per day.
When not coding, devs swear by their walks as a way to unwind. When we asked devs the same question last year, they said they liked to indulge in indoor games like foosball. In 2021, going for walks has become the most popular method of de-stressing. We’re chalking it up to working from home and not having a chance to stretch their legs.
Staying ahead of the skills game
Following the same trend as last year, students (39%) and working professionals (44%) voted for Go as one of the most popular programming languages that they want to learn. The other programming languages that devs are interested in learning are Rust, Kotlin, and Erlang.
Programming languages that students are most skilled at are HTML/CSS, C++, and Python. Senior developers are more comfortable working with HTML/CSS, SQL, and Java.
How happy are developers
Employees from middle market organizations had the highest 'happiness index' of 7.2. Experienced developers who work at enterprises are marginally less happy in comparison to people who work at smaller companies.
However, happiness is not a binding factor for where developers work. Despite scoring the least on the happiness scale, working professionals would still like to work at enterprise companies and growth-stage startups.
What works when looking for work
Student devs (63%), who are just starting in the tech world, said a good career growth curve is a must-have. Working professionals can be wooed by offers of a good career path (69%) and compensation (68%).
One trend that has changed since last year is that at least 50% of students and working professionals alike care a lot more about ESOPs and positive Glassdoor reviews now than they did in 2020.
To know more about what developers want, download your copy of the report now!
We went a step further and organized an event with our CEO, Sachin Gupta, Radoslav Stankov, Head of Engineering at Product Hunt, and Steve O’Brien, President of Talent Solutions at Job.com to further dissect the findings of our survey.
Tips straight from the horse’s mouth
Steve highlighted how the information collated from the developer survey affects the recruiting community and how they can leverage this data to hire better and faster.
The insight where developer happiness is correlated to work hours didn’t find a significant difference between the cohorts. Devs working for less than 40 hours seemed marginally happier than those that clocked in more than 60 hours a week.
“This is an interesting data point, which shows that devs are passionate about what they do. You can increase their workload by 50% and still not affect their happiness. From a work perspective, as a recruiter, you have to get your hiring manager to understand that while devs never say no to more work, HMs shouldn’t overload the devs. Devs are difficult to source and burnout only leads to killing your talent pool, which is something that you do not want,” says Steve.
Roughly 45% of both student and professional developers learned how to code in college was another insight that was open to interpretation.
“Let’s look at it differently. Less than half of the surveyed developers learned how to code in college. There’s a major segment of the market today that is not necessarily following the ‘college degree to getting a job’ path. Developers are beginning to look at their skillsets differently and using various platforms to upskill themselves. Development is not about pedigree, it’s more about the potential to demonstrate skills. This is an interesting shift in the way we approach testing and evaluating devs in 2021.”
Rado contextualized the data from the survey to see what it means for the developer community and what trends to watch out for in 2021.
Node.js and AngularJS are the most popular frameworks among students and professionals.
“I was surprised by how many young students wanted to learn AngularJS, given that it’s more of an enterprise framework. Another thing that stood out to me was that the younger generation wants to learn technologies that are not necessarily cool like ExtJS (35%). This is good because people are picking technologies that they enjoy working with instead of just going along with what everyone else is doing. This also builds a more diverse technology pool.” — Rado
22% of devs say ‘Zoom Fatigue’ is real and directly affects productivity.
“Especially for younger people who still haven’t figured out a routine to develop their skills, there is something I’d like you to try out. Start using noise-canceling headphones. They help keep distractions to a minimum. I find clutter-free working spaces to be an interesting concept as well.”
The last year and a half have been a doozy for developers everywhere, with a lot of things changing, and some things staying the same. With our developer survey, we wanted to shine the spotlight on skill-based hiring and market trends in 2021—plus highlight the fact that developers too have their gripes and happy hours.
Uncover many more developer trends for 2021 with Steve and Rado below:
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:
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.
Provides a broad selection of assessments, including skill tests, personality assessments, and cognitive ability tests. They offer customizable solutions and cater to various industries.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What types of companies are prone to tech layoffs?
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:
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.
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! :)
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.
