Tech Assessment

Host 20 meetings, record everything and report to your boss, find 10 developers for a brand-new project, help newcomers find their place in the office…sounds like a lot, but it’s an ordinary working day for the modern recruiter. So, how to find time for all of that? Thankfully, nowadays, there are lots of automation tools to plan, optimize and ease your workflow. And for such busy bees as we, recruiters, they can come in handy. In this article, we’ll share 6 planning tools for recruiters and show how you can save time and energy while completing as many tasks as they usually do and even more.

Recruitment productivity hacks

Let’s start with a few useful time-management tips. Time management, in general, is a priority skill for a recruiter, so every one of them tries to find their own groove to follow. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for better productivity, however, these little hacks could save you the day.

Understand your workflow

First, study your entire working process. Try to understand the dynamic of your workflow and its separate parts.

• What tasks can be divided into smaller ones?
• What is the best order to complete them?
• What do you personally feel comfortable doing?
• What causes problems or delays?

Answers to all of these questions will help you see the aspects of your time management that require more of your attention and some kind of improvement.

Embrace prioritization

The best way to never feel anxious about deadlines is to prioritize tasks. When you know that some things can wait and that now you’re doing exactly what you need to, your work becomes much more productive and enjoyable. A pretty popular technique is to use a Prioritization Matrix, where you divide all your to-dos into Urgent-Important, Urgent-Not Important, Not Urgent-Important, and Not Urgent-Not Important. Thus, you will see which tasks can be delegated, delayed, or removed.

Don’t forget about your metrics

KPIs are not just about having control over team performance, but also a wonderful way for a person to set goals and monitor their personal productivity. When the objectives are clear, and the path to achieve them has milestones, it’s going to take a lot lesser time and effort for your initial results.

Also read: 7 Best HR Communities You Must Join in 2023

Top 7 Planning Tools for Recruiters to Boost Productivity

The digital world has offered recruiters thousands of options to improve their work performance, and the choice is pretty hard. But sure enough, it only expands the capabilities and guarantees that there is a tool for each and everyone, for whatever requirements and objectives they need to accomplish. So, here are six planning tools for recruiters to choose from.

1. Sortd

Sortd is just a godsend for those of you who hate digging into your inbox and filtering what is important and what is not. Especially when many tasks and meetings are often arranged via email. Sortd won’t help you just sort mails out, but also manage tasks while surfing through Gmail and contacting all possible employees or your team members. It’s like having everything you need to communicate with people and plan your day in just one app. So, how does it work? You create boards, which are categories for your inbox. For example, you can categorize them by department (Marketing, Human resources, Project Management), or by projects. By adding your team members to each category, you can not only sort emails for yourself but also automatically send them to your colleagues. You don’t have to take the extra step of forwarding messages anymore.

2. Smartsheet

This one is an entire project management platform. Teams often use Smartsheet to collaborate. However, it can be helpful for personal use as well. Dashboards, reports, and integrations with various applications, including Slack, Gmail, Zapier, DocuSign, Google Calendars, and Google Forms will definitely make recruiters’ lives easier. In addition, Smartsheet offers tools to automate repetitive tasks, like scheduling calls, replying to emails, and even publishing social media posts. So, if you’re a pretty active social media user (which is very likely, since we’re talking about recruiters), the platform gives everything required for better performance.

3. Trello

There is probably no person in the world who has never heard about Trello. It’s also a project management tool. It has a simpler and more user-friendly interface than Smartsheet and offers a popular Kanban technique to plan your working hours. Again, it’s mostly used for team collaboration, but having all your tasks’ progress visually presented can greatly improve productivity.

Also read: Effective Workplace Communication Tips for Remote Teams

4. Calendly

Calendly is the best friend of all business people who are constantly tied up with meetings. Here you don’t have to do much: just set your working hours, send the link to your Calendly to anyone you need to schedule a meeting with, and let them choose the most convenient time from the available slots. As easy as pie. And the best thing about it is that you don’t have to create events separately in your Google calendar or modify your Calendly every time there is a holiday or another event. The tool will synchronize with your calendar and automatically exchange all the data.

5. Toggl

Toggl is a pretty universal platform. There are three main products it offers: TogglTrack, TogglPlan, and TogglHire. Let’s talk about each of them a little. The first one is TogglTrack. If you’ve ever felt like you haven’t done anything or spent hours for nothing, it will help you think otherwise. TogglTrack is a tool to track everything you do or even your team does. Just press the button next to your task to start tracking, and press stop whenever it’s completed. Then, you can get a comprehensive overview of your workflow and analyze it later. It will make you feel productive and get insights about what in your daily routine is the most time-consuming. ToggPlan, in turn, is a project management tool where you can plan your day, create projects and collaborate with your team on them. With its help, you can stop worrying about deadlines or miscommunication between team members. And last, but not least, TogglHire. Here, you can compare the applicants using testing tools for any skill required right inside the platform. This feature helps you make more informed decisions and be sure about your candidates’ expertise.

6. Recruit CRM

And, of course, how not to mention a CRM specially created for recruiters. Here you will find an applicant tracking system, various integrations, reporting, invoice management, and even tools for easier sourcing and job posting. Moreover, recruiters can get all the required information about candidates right from LinkedIn. No more days spent on data entry. RecruitCRM, just like many other complex tools, has Kanban boards, mentioned above, integration with your email, Google Chrome extension, dashboard, and automated reports. You can also integrate RecruitCRM with Slack and Google Sheets, which makes communication and collaboration much easier.

7. Jotform Tables

Collecting and organizing data is perhaps one of the most challenging tasks for the modern recruiter. Without the right tool, everything can get quite messy and very hard to keep track of. Luckily, Jotform Tables offers an all-in-one workspace to collect, organize, and manage data. There are endless possibilities as to how you can utilize Jotform Tables as a recruiter. You can create custom online forms with Jotform to collect the responses you need from your applicants and auto-populate your tables with submission data. You can also import CSV or Excel files to work with your existing data or add new entries manually. It is also a very useful tool to keep your team on the same page. You can share your tables to easily collaborate with your colleagues by assigning entries to your teammates and tracking progress.

Planning tools for recruiters—which one is on your tech stack next?

We hope this article helps you take your productivity to a new level, and understand what technologies can be useful in your line of work. The six planning tools for recruiters we suggested, as mentioned before, are not the only options, however, they are worth trying. You can use them all, use a few, just one, or find other alternatives. Anyway, good luck, dear recruiters, and may your productivity rise to new heights!

This article was written by Travis Gravette, CEO of Abenity—an employee perks program

In today’s modern world, the benefits package of old that our grandparents and even parents (depending on the age) raved about is no longer enough for today’s workforce.

As a business owner or HR manager, keeping up with the perks that engage and motivate today’s developers is an ever-evolving task. Developers are in higher demand than ever, so there’s a lot of competition for the good ones.

Losing top talent to a competing company is a huge concern and a major financial hit to any company. The cost of recruiting, hiring, and training a new employee can be well over $60,000!

So, providing employee perks that really speak to today’s recruits and current developers is no longer just an additional benefit, it’s imperative to the overall prosperity of the business.

These days, it goes a long way with people to exceed the traditional benefits we’re all accustomed to and add additional perks that speak to the type of employee you would typically hire.

So, here are some additional perks that will really speak to your developers. Showing that you care, you’re innovative and you listen to your developers can be one of the most profitable things to your company if it keeps your best people around indefinitely.

Employee benefits to attract and retain developers outside of compensation

Fact: Compensation is not the *only* component that attracts best people to your company and work with you. Here are 10 benefits beyond a paycheck that drive developers to work with your company:

1. Personal growth potential: Providing the path to more money, mentorship programs, and ultimately a higher role in your company

If you are hiring motivated employees (which is always the goal), you’re going to want to provide them with opportunities to grow.

Finding developers in today’s world that care about your product and/or company can be similar to catching lightning in a bottle – not the easiest task. And when you do catch that lightning, you want to give them every reason to believe they can grow. Why? Because talented people want to grow.

Use this as an opportunity to mentor them yourself or, provide a mentorship program where they can learn, grow, and ultimately become a bigger asset to you and your company.

Mentorship programs are a powerful way to pay it forward. Not only that, statistics show that ALL Fortune 50 companies provide mentorship programs, and 97% participating in those programs say it is a valuable experience.

Almost 90% of individuals who have been mentored say they will pay it forward by mentoring others coming up in their industry. Sadly, only 37% of working professionals today actually have a mentor.

Professional development programs fall into this category as well. Typically, a professional development program offers the opportunity for developers to attend extracurricular training like management and leadership courses or technical skills training.

It can also include additional professional certifications and even team building and interpersonal development-related conferences.

These employee assistance programs can help to expand the knowledge base and abilities of your developers while also promoting teamwork and overall positive culture in the office.

Also read: How to Assess Programming Skills Before Hiring

2. Making an impact

According to a recent study, approximately three-fourths of the entire U.S. population donates to a charity or non-profit on a regular basis.

People want to be a part of giving back and helping those in need. If an employee knows their company also shares and supports this passion, they develop a deeper loyalty and respect for the organization.

In fact, this same study shows that 84% of millennials give to a charity on a monthly basis and 64% volunteer in their community at a local level.

As a company, showing a strong commitment to a certain non-profit organization that aligns with your organization’s beliefs, convictions, and values will not only encourage and motivate the members of your organization, it will also speak volumes to new prospective hires who want to join your team.

3. Technology stipend

A technology stipend is a huge perk for today’s developers. There really aren’t many jobs in 2023 that do not require some form of technology to run the day-to-day.

And in a post-COVID world, most developers work from home. So, providing a stipend for things like computers, phones, and internet access can go a long way.

If you don’t have a physical office, providing an opportunity for developers in the same area to meet together and work as a team can be a great added benefit. It can even be considered a crucial part of mental health as we saw the depression and overall loneliness statistics during COVID.

4. Above and beyond: Providing unique health benefits

Providing additional health benefits over and above the typical health benefits the average company makes provisions for will really speak volumes to prospective top talent.

You may be wondering what those additional benefits could be, so let’s talk about them.

Childcare

There is a considerably large portion of the working population that are single mothers and single fathers.

And childcare is expensive!

Providing financial support to parents (even those that are not single) goes a long way. And can even be a key determining factor in whether a prospect will move forward with a position in your company.

Financial assistance and flexibility in working from home when children are sick provide relief and security for the working parent.

Adoption

On the flip side, there is another large portion of the population that cannot have children for one reason or another.

Providing care and financial support throughout the process of adoption is a huge deal for those that want children but cannot have them naturally. Being able to have a family can be a huge stress point and financial concern for many. A company that shows support through that process is a considerable employee benefit.

5. Wellness benefits

Today’s average American is very concerned and educated on overall mental and physical wellness.

More and more people are seeking non-traditional forms of treatment including chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and other forms of treatment. Providing an opportunity for your developers to seek alternative forms of healthcare that would otherwise not be covered in a traditional healthcare plan shows that you care about their values. There is no one-size-fits-all solution in the healthcare industry.

On a separate note, providing mental health care has also become a more outspoken need and an additional benefit that many companies are offering today. In a post-pandemic world, this need has become recognized. People are encouraged to seek counseling and other mental health care provisions.

Shedding light on this issue and providing a solution can set you apart in the hiring process.

If a staff member is going through a divorce – for example – providing counseling is not only a benefit to the employee but also a benefit to the employer.

If a developer is (rightly so) focused on a personal issue like a divorce, and doesn’t have an outlet to seek counsel, advice, and grief support, it will carry into the workplace and affect their ability to focus and truly be a connected part of the team.

Providing support and showing that you are invested in an employee’s overall mental health is not only a ‘benefit’, it’s a goodwill service that shows you truly care and want to celebrate the ‘ups’ and support the ‘downs’ in life.

Also read: 7 Ways to Reduce Burnout in Your Tech Teams

6. Gym memberships and company workout programs

When creating your up-to-date employee benefits package, providing a discount for gym memberships or an on-site personal trainer can ultimately be extremely beneficial to the health of your company.

The sedentary lifestyle of an employee behind a computer all day can decrease overall motivation. Providing an opportunity for developers to join a gym where they can exercise before or after work or even having a trainer come into the building to offer private and group training sessions can exponentially increase productivity.

Exercise increases endorphins in the body. When this particular “happy hormone” is activated, employee efficiency kicks into overdrive. This increase can positively affect your company’s bottom line, quotas, and overall attitude in the workplace

7. Educational assistance

Educational assistance can actually be two-fold. There’s the educational assistance that benefits the employee themselves and then there’s educational assistance that benefits the children of the employee.

As we mentioned earlier, finding top talent that wants to grow in their careers is the ultimate goal for every company. So, providing ways for those people within your company to be promoted is a great way to ensure your developers stick around.

One of the ways to show that you are invested in your developers is by providing educational assistance so that they can further their education and career possibilities.

Whether it’s a discount or scholarship to a local community college or university, it goes a long way in showing developers you want to invest in them, and this attitude from the top makes people ultimately want to join your team.

Another opportunity that some employers and larger companies provide is education assistance to the children of an employee, once they are eligible to apply for college. This is a huge way to retain your developers for the long haul!

If an employee has middle school-aged children, you can guarantee they are already starting to think about college funds and how to support that child when the time comes to go to school.

If the company they are working for provides financial support and scholarships to their children, they’re more than likely not going anywhere.

8. Lunch stipends

Everyone gets excited about lunch at the office and a free lunch is even better! Whether you decide to offer lunch stipends or lunch catered to the office, it’s still a great addition to your employee benefits package.

If lunches are catered, that provides instant community in the office. Developing a “team” culture can be challenging but it is critical to the health of your company. People build relationships and community over food, and this is a great way to do that in your office.

9. Employee recognition programs

When your developers feel appreciated and recognized for their contributions to the workplace, it creates a desire and drive to continue to go above and beyond.

Any company, no matter the size and budget, can quickly and easily implement this. It provides a great way to affordably let your developers know you recognize their hard work and you consider them a valued asset to your team.

Also read: 7 Employee Engagement Strategies For WFH Tech Teams

10. Work-Life balance

Another easy and cost-effective way to show your developers that you care is to encourage, implement and respect the boundaries of a healthy work-life balance.

Show them you respect their time away from work and with their family and loved ones.

Encouraging them to turn their phones off and enjoy their vacation time or time away from work is not only ideal but continues to prove that your organization is a company worth staying with.

Take care of your developers and they’ll take care of you

Ultimately, taking care of your developers is essential to the health and longevity of your company.

There are so many ways to create an attractive employee benefits package that speaks to the type of developer you want on your team.

Maybe you’re like Mars Pet Company, the culture of your community is 100% pet friendly, so you allow them to bring their furry friends to work.

Or, you’re a company like Lululemon with a passion and pursuit for mind//body health so you provide free workout opportunities.

The bottom line is to listen to your current developers, find out what matters to them and then provide a package that speaks to the person you want to hire in the future.

Unique life benefits like discounts on insurance, subscriptions, and other discounts where your developers are going to shop on a regular basis are also great ways to provide further financial assistance.

Give your developers real discounts and financial assistance on everything from pizza, to family fun activities and even discounts on CPAs, home security systems, and other real-life, hard expenses.

Adding perks and discounts on typical day-to-day purchased items not only provides an attractive benefits package but also makes you a highly sought-after company to work for.

This article was written by Sanketee Kher, a freelance content writer for B2B SaaS.

Are you looking to catapult your HR career to new heights?

To stay up-to-date on industry trends, network with your peers, and gain valuable knowledge—join online HR communities. These communities can offer a wealth of resources and support to navigate the ever-changing world of HR.

From discussion forums to LinkedIn and Slack groups, these communities provide you with tools and resources you need to succeed in your HR career.

HR communities are vital resources for HR professionals, offering platforms for knowledge sharing, problem-solving, and professional development. These communities typically feature:

• Networking opportunities: They provide a space for HR professionals to connect, share experiences, and build professional relationships.
• Knowledge sharing: HR communities often host a wealth of resources like articles, webinars, and case studies, keeping members informed about the latest HR trends and practices.
• Problem-solving forums: Members can seek advice and share solutions to common HR challenges, benefiting from the collective wisdom of the community.
• Professional development: Many HR communities offer training sessions, certifications, and workshops, helping HR professionals stay ahead in their careers.
• Advocacy and influence: Some communities actively advocate for HR interests, influencing policy and workplace standards.
• Global perspectives: As many communities are international, they offer insights into HR practices across different cultures and regions.
• Support and guidance: Newer HR professionals can gain mentorship and guidance from experienced members.

In this article, we’ll look at the top 7 picks for HR communities that you absolutely must join to boost your career.

7 Best HR communities for HR professionals

Let’s review the best HR communities you can join to make a difference:

1. People Geeks

If you’re a new HR professional looking for a supportive and engaging community, check out People Geeks by Culture Amp. This well-known HR community is a great place to:

connect with peers

discuss open roles within your organization

learn about events and meetups happening in your area

What sets People Geeks apart is their sense of community and collaboration. As an HR professional, it’s easy to feel isolated in your role. But with People Geeks, you have the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about HR and building stellar company cultures. You can share ideas, ask questions, and get feedback from your peers in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Click to join!

2. Human Resources (HR) Professionals

With over 445,000 members, this is one of the largest and most active HR communities on the platform.

In this community, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• engage with other HR professionals from around the world
• have discussions on talent management, development, compensation, diversity, compliance, and employer branding

Whether you’re just starting your HR career or you’re an experienced professional, there’s something for everyone in this vibrant community. Plus, with so many members, you’ll have access to a wealth of knowledge and expertise from professionals at all levels of their careers.

Click to join!

Recommended read —

3. People Over Perks

One of the best HR communities is People Over Perks by Leapsome. This 5,000+ strong operations and HR community on Slack is a fantastic resource for HR professionals looking to:

• connect with like-minded individuals
• learn from their peers.

In this community, you can have conversations with other HR professionals, access members-only content, and discuss best practices with experienced professionals in the field. Plus, with the convenience of Slack, you’ll be able to stay connected and engaged with the community no matter where you are.

Click to join!

4. r/humanresources

Are you an HR professional looking for a community with free-flowing conversations? Look no further than r/humanresources on Reddit. With almost 75,000 members, this subreddit is a go-to resource for HR professionals looking to:

• seek career advice
• ask questions
• get feedback from their peers

You can share your experiences, ask for advice, and engage with other HR professionals from around the world. Plus, it’s ranked in the top 5% of subreddits based on size.

Click to join!

5. #People

As an Operations or HR professional, you know firsthand the importance of building and maintaining a strong, supportive community within your organization. That’s why you should join the #People community.

By participating in this 6,000+ inclusive group, you can tap into:

• a wealth of knowledge and experience from your peers
• get advice on best practices and challenges you may be facing
• participate in AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions with industry experts

But #People isn’t just a place to ask for help and advice—you can also share your insights and expertise. For example, you could get tips on how to develop a training program, conduct employee pulse surveys, or even improve company culture.

By actively participating in discussions and offering your perspective, you can help shape the direction of the HR field and make an impact on the professional development of your colleagues.

Besides, #People also has a newsletter and podcast you can tune into for more valuable information and resources. So why wait? Join the #People community today and start building meaningful connections with like-minded professionals dedicated to driving success in the world of People Operations and HR.

Click to join!

6. Resources for Humans

As an HR professional, you know staying current and connected is the key to success in your field. This is why you should join the Resources for Humans community on Lattice. With over 18,000 HR leaders already participating, this community is a go-to resource for getting advice and gaining access to a wide range of channels on Slack.

By joining this HR community, you’ll be able to:

• connect with like-minded professionals
• share your experiences
• learn from experts and stay abreast of trends in HR.

But that’s not all. As a member of this community, you’ll have access to mentorship and discussions about HR strategy. Whether you’re starting your HR career or you’re a seasoned pro, this is a worthwhile HR community to join.

Click to join!

7. HRtoHR

Are you short on time but still want to stay connected and up-to-date in the world of HR and recruiting? Look no further than HRtoHR, the Slack community for recruiters and HR professionals.

In this dynamic community, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with peers and share your insights and experiences in real-time. Plus, with a focus on daily challenges, HR tools, and more, HRtoHR is the right place to stay on top of developments.

But HRtoHR isn’t just a place to learn and connect. It’s also a valuable resource for:

• building your professional network
• finding new opportunities
• reducing your learning curve by leveraging expert insights.

Click to join!

Join the best HR community today

Joining these online HR communities can be a game-changer for your career. Here are a few reasons why:

• Stay up-to-date on industry trends: HR is an ever-evolving field, and it’s important to stay on top of the latest trends and best practices. By joining an HR community, you’ll have access to a wealth of knowledge and resources to help you stay informed and relevant in your career.
• Network with your peers: HR professionals can often feel isolated in their roles, especially if they work in smaller organizations or remotely. Joining an HR community lets you connect with others in your field, share ideas and experiences, and even find job opportunities.
• Gain valuable knowledge and skills: Many HR communities offer online courses, webinars, and other educational resources to help you grow and develop as a professional. Whether you’re looking to navigate through HR software or earn a certification, an HR community can provide you with the tools and resources you need to succeed.
• Find support and guidance: Since HR can be a challenging field, it’s nice to have a supportive network of professionals to turn to for guidance and advice. Many professionals are happy to share their knowledge and experiences in these HR communities.

No matter the stage of your professional journey, there’s a community out there that’s meant for you. So why wait? Start exploring these communities today and take the first step towards advancing your HR career.

Before we begin, let me share a bit about our journey.

At Amadeus for Developers, we offer travel data and services to developers across the world through REST APIs. Thanks to HackerEarth’s platform, we recently hosted the Hack the Journey/Coding India Edition DevOps coding challenge and we invited all developers from India to participate. Since India is one of our main markets, our goal was to allow developers to explore our travel APIs and challenge their knowledge of travel solutions. We designed both theoretical and backend coding challenges, but in this article, we will focus only on the coding part.

The coding challenges were a combination of algorithmic problems and travel technologies. We asked developers to use data from the Amadeus for Developers REST APIs and our SDKs to solve them.

In this article, we will share with you the best practices to build successful Javascript coding challenges with APIs, based on our experience hosting such challenges for global developers.

Use these 6 best practices to design Javascript coding challenges

Let’s explore the 6 best practices that you need for designing Javascript coding challenges for developers:

#1—Define your objective

An essential first step is to define your objectives. When you have that clear in mind, you can build challenges to meet your goals. Some common objectives could be:

• Hiring: many companies use coding challenges as part of the recruitment process to identify and evaluate the technical skills of potential candidates.
• Awareness: companies build coding challenges to bring awareness to the developer community about their product.
• Testing your product: Javascript coding challenges are a great way to allow developers to play with your product. That can bring you valuable feedback and future ideas to improve your product roadmap.

#2—Choose the programming language

One of the key decisions you have to make when you build Javascript coding challenges: which programming language the participants will be required to use. There are several factors to take into consideration in order to identify the most fitting ones:

• Top languages: by choosing one of the top languages in the market such as Python, JavaScript, etc. you will attract a larger number of participants.
• Company-used languages: if your goal is hiring, you might want to evaluate the participants’ coding skills in  your company’s programming languages
• Your familiarity with the language: make sure you are familiar with the language you offer the challenge. That will help you build challenges that fit the language and also better understand the submitted solutions.

For example, in our case, we designed both a Python and Node coding challenge since these are languages we use on a daily basis, but are also the top-used languages for our SDKs. Developers were able to choose to participate in one of these.

Also read: Top 10 Programming Languages of the Future

#3—Define the challenge

The challenge definition is one of the most crucial steps when it comes to the event’s success. Below are some points to consider:

• Difficulty level: By providing developers with some warm-up tasks and later on more challenging ones, you give them the opportunity to understand your APIs gradually. Make sure you find the right balance. To ensure the Javascript coding challenges are at the level you are thinking of, it could be useful to ask a colleague to solve them. This will give you an idea of how much time and effort is required to complete the tasks, and allow you to adjust the difficulty accordingly.
• Static data: Define challenges that the APIs always return the same data. This will help you to evaluate the solution’s correctness with the unit tests. Since that’s not easy to guarantee, you can build some sandbox environments with static data and coordinate with your API development teams to ensure that the data is not refreshed during the event.

#4—Maximize the efficiency of SDKs

If you provide SDKs as part of your API, you want developers to focus on the challenge solution and use your SDK efficiently, so we would suggest the followings:

• Set up the environment: pre-install the SDKs so developers won’t spend time and effort preparing the environment.
• Make docs accessible: to make it easy for developers to make their first API call, consider giving them the necessary resources during the challenge.

#5—Ensure API stability

Ensuring the stability of your APIs is essential to let developers solve the given challenges. Here are some points to consider:

• Check API stability: If there are any known to you instabilities (eg. backend refresh on specific days) try to avoid the event on these days. If this is not possible, inform the participants about these times to avoid potential disruptions.
• Rate limits: don’t forget to consider the API rate limits when you design the Javascript coding challenges. Provide the participants with the necessary documentation or even some helper functions to help them focus on the challenge solution.

Even if instability affects some solutions, it’s not the end of the world. If the developers have hardcoded their solution, make sure you verify their algorithm and any comments they might have left to prove that they were going to arrive at the correct answers despite the instability.

#6—Conduct unit tests

The unit tests are critical to evaluate the submissions and help you find the winners. Some best practices for the unit tests are:

• Validate API usage: in order to validate that developers indeed used your API to solve the challenge, write some unit tests to identify the usage of an API key. Also in the file that developers are going to write the code, you can pre-define some variables that are expected to add the API key and secret.
• Hide unit test files: this will ensure that developers won’t be able to know what are the expected solutions. Just a tip, it is possible for participants to get through the logs of the unit tests, and in that case, make sure you encrypt them.

Comprehensive list of JavaScript coding challenges

Delving deep into JavaScript requires a mix of theoretical knowledge and hands-on coding practice. Below are various coding challenges, organized by difficulty level and specific concepts, designed to test and improve your JavaScript prowess.

1. Beginner challenges

• Basic arithmetic operations:
  • Challenge: Create a JavaScript function that takes two numbers as arguments and returns their sum, difference, product, and quotient
  • Concept: Basic functions and arithmetic operationsString reversal:
• String reversal:
  • Challenge: Write a JavaScript function that reverses a string
  • Concept: String manipulation
• Array duplication:
• Challenge: Create a function that removes duplicates from an array
• Concept: Array manipulation and iteration

2. Intermediate challenges

• Palindrome check:
• Challenge: Determine if a given string is a palindrome (reads the same backward as forward, ignoring spaces, punctuation, and capitalization).
• Concept: String manipulation and conditional logic
• Fibonacci series:
  • Challenge: Write a function that generates the first ‘n’ numbers in the Fibonacci series
  • Concept: Recursion and iterative solutions
• Find the missing number:
  • Challenge: Given an array containing n distinct numbers taken from 0, 1, 2, …, n, find the one that is missing from the array
  • Concept: Mathematical operations and array manipulation

3. Advanced challenges

• Flatten nested array:
  • Challenge: Implement a function that flattens a nested array
  • Concept: Recursion and array manipulation
• Implement bind():
  • Challenge: Replicate the functionality of the bind() function without using the built-in function
  • Concept: Advanced functions and the ‘this’ keyword
• Deep equality check:
  • Challenge: Write a function that checks if two objects (and their nested objects) are deeply equal
  • Concept: Recursion, object manipulation, and deep comparison

4. Concept-specific challenges

• Promises:
  • Challenge: Create a mock API call using JavaScript’s Promise
  • Concept: Asynchronous programming and Promises
• Closures:
  • Challenge: Design a function that generates a series of functions to add n to their argument, where n is the order in which they were generated
  • Concept: Closures and function factories
• DOM Manipulation:
  • Challenge: Build a simple JavaScript-based to-do list with add, delete, and mark as completed functionalities
  • Concept: DOM manipulation and event handling

Additional tips for solving JavaScript coding challenges

While the right logic and approach are essential for solving coding challenges, there are several other aspects that can enhance your problem-solving journey, especially when using JavaScript. Here are some additional pointers:

• Before jumping into the code, make sure you understand the problem thoroughly. It might help to write down or discuss the problem with someone else or even talk aloud to yourself. Often, solutions emerge from a deeper understanding.
• If a problem seems too complex, break it down into smaller components or steps. This modular approach can make the overall challenge more manageable and can aid in systematic problem solving.
• JavaScript has a plethora of built-in methods, especially for arrays and strings. Familiarize yourself with these, but also know when they might be overkill. Sometimes a simpler approach might be more efficient and more readable.
• When solving a challenge, think about potential edge cases. For example, consider empty strings, arrays, or the minimum and maximum possible inputs.
• Use console.log() extensively to understand the flow of your code and to pinpoint issues. Developer tools in browsers can also provide insights into the execution of your JavaScript code.
• Your first solution doesn’t always have to be the most efficient. It’s okay to arrive at a working solution first and then iterate on it to make it better.
• Like any skill, coding gets better with regular practice. Regularly engage with coding platforms, participate in coding challenges, and always strive to learn from your mistakes.
• JavaScript, like all languages, evolves. Stay updated with the latest ECMAScript specifications and new methods or features that might be introduced.
• Join coding forums or communities where you can post your solutions and receive feedback. Sometimes, there are multiple ways to solve a problem, and seeing others’ solutions can provide new perspectives.
• Frustration can be a natural part of the problem-solving process. If you’re stuck, take a break. Sometimes, stepping away and coming back with a fresh mind can make all the difference.

Also read: How to Create a Great Take-Home Coding Test?

Create Javascript coding challenges with HackerEarth

To sum up, it’s crucial to carefully consider several factors when creating challenges that require developers to use APIs to reach the problem solution. By following best practices such as ensuring API stability, building the right unit tests, and providing necessary resources, you can create successful Javascript coding challenges that allow developers to explore and test their knowledge of your APIs. Lastly, don’t hesitate to ask HackerEarth for support and advice. Thanks to them, we were able to solve many of our doubts and build a successful coding challenge together.

We hope that these tips will be useful for your own journey.

Like an onion’s skin, recruiters uncover multiple layers in their recruitment process: sourcing, screening, and evaluation to find the best talent with the modern tech recruiting strategies that gel into your organization.

Earlier, these layers had a traditional face.

Your company is looking for a front-end developer. You create a job description → publish it on job boards → scan the resume of applicants → shortlist the right fit candidate → call them for a walkthrough interview.

But with changing times, traditional talent acquisition has transformed in and out. Now, you can’t *just* hire tech candidates who are willing to work. You need candidates who align with your company values and have relevant skills and attitude to get the work done—which make the attributes of the best tech talent.

The process is complicated and draining. But we have 10 best recruiting practices outlined to help you navigate and find the right fit for your organization.

10 tech recruiting strategies for technical positions

Let’s break down each talent acquisition strategy and how to implement them to make your organization’s recruitment process seamless.

Strategy#1—Look for people who already fit the culture

You need people who understand your company’s vision and align with your values. These people make the best employees who fit into your company culture.

To hire based on culture fit, do this:

• Be clear on the kind of employees you are looking for based on their skill sets, values, good word habits, and personality.
• Ask the candidates to add a cover letter to their job applications. Observe cover letters that emphasize on company aspirations the candidate is attracted to
• Once the candidates are filtered based on their cover letter, give them a brief test to see if they fit into the company culture.
• Ask them specific questions based on their resume to understand their attitude and personality.
• In your interview process, talk about the company culture in detail and highlight what makes your company better than your competitors. Be transparent about the salary, benefits, work schedule flexibility, and type of job.

Strategy #2—Understand how candidates approach their work

Picture this: a software developer kickstarts a new project. No specific requirements have been communicated. There is a high chance that the project will go haywire. That’s where great communication and questioning skills come into play—to scour information from their client to get the project on track.

No matter the tech role you are hiring for, assess their work approach by asking them problem-solving questions.

Few ideas to start with:

• When was the last time you failed a project?
• Share your recent best project and how did you approach it
• Tell about an uncomfortable event or experience in your life that reshaped your work approach

Strategy #3—Review and optimize your job description

Your job descriptions should be able to do two things: be searchable and be easy to understand

When reviewing your job description, make sure:

• The job titles are easily searchable.
• Highlight the must-have skills and experience
• Use white spacing and bullet points for a quick scan

Take a look at how this job description focuses on two things—the roles and responsibilities and the best fit eligibility for the role.

Why this works: We have started by introducing our company and the work done—to give the tech candidate an idea of who we are and the kind of work we have done. Plus, the job description is formatted with bullet points, white spaces, and sections in bold.

Strategy #4—Use recruitment software to save time

Imagine sorting through multiple job applications and selecting qualified candidates for the role of Java developer.

The process can leave you drained. The result? You take a longer time to select qualified candidates—leading the candidates to lose interest. An alternative to enhance this tech recruitment strategy is using the best recruitment tools and improving your hiring performance without losing out on the best talents.

Technology in recruiting like HackerEarth’s Assessments helps you create coding test interviews, evaluate the developers accurately and shortlist them based on an auto-generated leaderboard after every coding test.

Also Read: Redefine Remote Work Management With These 6 Automation Tools

Strategy #5—Use reference screening calls

The reference screening call approach involves setting up a call through your cloud phone system or other available communication channels to a candidate’s former workplace to get more information on the candidate’s performance and skills. By doing so, you get two things:

1. Ensure the candidate has the relevant qualifications needed for the job role
2. Understand if their attitude and values are the right for the organization or not

To utilize this recruiting tip, ask the candidate to share the contact details of their colleagues you can reach out to. When you reach out to the candidate’s colleagues to know more about them, ask:

• What was the best project that the candidate worked on?
• What are the behavioral traits of the candidate you like?
• What’s one weakness of the candidate?
• What’s the strength of the candidate?

Strategy #6—Work with an industry specialist recruiter

Having an industry specialist or niche recruiter acts as an amplifier to your current tech recruitment strategies. When you work with them, you can expect comprehensive market advice from them—salary expectations, current market trends, and available skill sets.

Also, they have an active network—which gives you immediate access to the niche talent pool.

A simple way to find niche recruiters is through LinkedIn. Search with keywords like “technology recruiter”, “technical recruiter”, and “tech recruiter”. Filter down the searches based on your requirements and check the recruiter’s LinkedIn profiles.

Strategy #7—Hire a recruitment agency

When your company’s hiring requirements include hiring at scale, a single person cannot handle mass assessments. That’s where you need to hire a recruitment agency over a niche recruiter.

To find the right recruitment agency:

• Look for agencies with (at least) some amount of experience in the technology industry.
• Check the agency’s website, Glassdoor reviews, testimonials, case studies, experience, and socials like LinkedIn
• Explain to them your hiring requirements
• Interview the agency and ask relevant questions to understand if they are the right fit. Some questions include:

• how long does it take to find the best talent
• what does your hiring process look like?

• Check the portfolio and testimonials of each recruiter and see how the recruiters of the agency work.
• Confirm the recruitment agency’s budget before finalizing them.

Strategy #8—Leverage social recruiting

Socially active people are always on the lookout for new opportunities, and that’s where you can fill the gap by leveraging social media as an effective tech recruiting strategy. Social recruiting is all about sourcing and hiring candidates via social channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit.

There are two ways you can recruit via social channels:

1. By activating your LinkedIn profile and constantly sharing job roles your company is hiring for
2. By scanning the LinkedIn profiles of users who match the keywords your company is currently hiring for.

Sidenote: Combine both—activate your profile and do LinkedIn outreach for great conversions.

Let’s understand this with an example of Laura, a tech recruiter hiring Java developers for her company.

To hire the candidate, she created a job posting on LinkedIn and published a hiring post on her LinkedIn profile.

Next, she looked up candidates by adding the keyword “Java developers” to the LinkedIn search bar and selecting the LinkedIn profiles from relevant results. She then reached out to these people who aren’t actively looking for opportunities. She shares the details about the job profile with them and forwards the details of the interested candidates for the next stage i.e, candidate screening.

But here’s the catch: you need to have an effective social recruiting strategy for maximum results.

Here’s how you can do it:

• Define the candidate persona—one who has the expertise and fits your company culture
• Choose the social media platform where your ideal candidate persona is active
• Create an outreach strategy and a list of candidates you’ll reach out to
• Activate your social media profile by posting content about your company culture and the work you do
• Start the planned recruitment activity based on the strategy
• Measure how well your strategy is performing and review the KPIs; if not working well, tweak the strategy

Strategy #9—Invest in employer branding

Your employer brand defines your values and POV as a person and how it aligns with your company—attracting people who want to work with you.

With the changing recruitment practices, having an impactful employer brand is an effective tech recruiting strategy which helps the candidates decide if they would like to work with your company or not. According to CareerArc’s 2021 Future of Recruiting Study, 82% of candidates consider employer brand and reputation before applying for the job. Clearly: investing in employer branding is part of tech recruiting strategy crucial to building trust and getting the right candidate for your organization.

Shield’s Founder and CEO, Andreas Jonsson has built an engaged audience of 40K+ where he talks about personal branding and LinkedIn content creation. Because he actively creates content on LinkedIn, people who read his content know his aspirations and values.

And knowing Shield, and working with the company comes as a by-product. The impact of his employer branding is amplified by his employees too—who talk about their company, personal branding, and LinkedIn—the same content pillars the company is known for.

Because the employees enthusiastically talk about it, their connections got to know about the company, what it does, and the value it serves—which instantly attracts them to work with the company.

Also Read: Building An Employer Brand: Everything You Need To Know

Strategy #10—Organize hackathons

Hackathons are a gateway to hiring employees by testing their skills and selecting the best candidate who gives proof of their expertise. To hire employees through hackathons: create a problem statement for the candidate persona. Candidates who bring you the best solution to the problem statement are the right fit for the role.

To create the problem-solving statement for your hackathon, do this:

• Define the theme of the innovation
• Specify the pain points
• Narrow down the problem
• Define the eligibility rules for candidates to participate

Take a look at how Cogito runs its hackathon on HackerEarth. They have mentioned the job profile in their headline and highlighted the AI solution they want to build (the problem statement).

Also Read: 5 Lessons From Running 200 Remote Hackathons

Use these technical recruiting strategies to take recruitment to the next level

To amplify your recruitment and selection process, club 3-4 of these tech recruiting strategies together. For example, identify the candidates that fit into your work culture. Once identified, screen them and understand how they approach work issues. To screen them further, contact their former workplace to know about their skills and attitude better.

So, what are you waiting for? Solidify your recruitment system with these technical recruitment strategies.

FAQ About Tech Recruiting Strategies

1. What are the most effective tech recruiting strategies?

• The most effective tech recruiting strategies include leveraging AI-driven tools, offering flexible work arrangements, enhancing employer branding, focusing on diversity and inclusion, and utilizing data-driven recruitment analytics.

2. How can I improve my technical recruiting strategies to attract top talent?

• To improve your technical recruiting strategies, focus on building a strong employer brand, using targeted social media campaigns, participating in tech conferences and hackathons, and offering competitive compensation packages.

3. Why is employer branding important in tech recruiting strategies?

• Employer branding is crucial in tech recruiting strategies because it helps attract top talent by showcasing your company culture, values, and career growth opportunities. A strong employer brand differentiates you from competitors and appeals to skilled tech professionals.

4. What role does diversity and inclusion play in technical recruiting strategies?

• Diversity and inclusion are essential components of technical recruiting strategies. By promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace, you attract a wider range of candidates, foster innovation, and improve employee satisfaction and retention.

5. How can data-driven approaches enhance tech recruiting strategies?

• Data-driven approaches can enhance tech recruiting strategies by providing insights into candidate behaviors, optimizing recruitment processes, and enabling better decision-making. Using analytics tools, you can track the effectiveness of your strategies and continuously improve your hiring outcomes.