Thoughts on hiring – effective job postings
Previous “Thoughts on hiring” articles
I’ve seen a lot of job postings on Software Hamilton over the years (about 800-900). The old job board plug-in I used would show me the number of applications per job. It was a neat way of getting to see what worked and what didn’t work. And though I never did any sort of formal analysis in terms of matching job posting attributes to number and quality of responses, I offer you my finest guesstimates below.
Tips for improving response rates to job postings:
- Include an application closing date. A surprising number of people have told me that they didn’t bother to apply to a job because they assumed that since it had been posted 3 weeks ago that it was already filled.
- Include a salary (or at least a range). The problem with just saying “pay commensurate to experience and ability” is that it’s too vague. People want to know specifically what they can expect in terms of compensation before they invest the time to apply and interview for a job. Giving a salary range with numbers can go a long way.
- More detail is better. People invest a huge amount of time in their job search. It’s what that person will be doing 40+ hours a week, every week. So there’s no need to keep a job description to only a few sentences. People will easily read 2-4 pages about a job they’re really interested in. Perhaps summarize the job in 2-3 sentences at the top, and then include a longer description underneath. But don’t be shy about including details.
- Focus on abilities, not years of experience. Years of experience is generally speaking a poor metric for hiring software developers. Great willing-to-learn developers with 2 years of experience can run circles around 10+ year developers that have the same year of experience 10 times over. Focus the job posting on what the developer will need to do as part of the job, rather than their years of experience.
- Keep the hoop jumping to a minimum. If you’re Google, or even a hot unicorn startup like say Hootsuite, you can get away with having candidates jump through hoops pre-interview. For example, pre-application tests and programming challenges. If you’re a startup that’s not too noteworthy, probably not. I would recommend keeping the “hoop jumping” to “send me your GitHub” or some other way of seeing their work.
- Be inclusive. Public sector job postings will typically include a sort of footnote specifying that inclusive hiring practices will be followed. I imagine there are regulations of some kind that require them to do so. Private sector companies might not be required to do this, but in my experience it’s a good practice to emphasize the inclusivity of the workplace for women, minority groups, LGBT community, and others, even in this day and age when we would ideally be past this sort of thing as a species (like they are on Star Trek!).
- List the perks. It doesn’t need to be a gym membership, it can just be free coffee. Whatever perks you’ve got or can offer, list them – snacks, flex time, dental plan (<MargeSimpson>LISA NEEDS BRACES!<\MargeSimpson>). There’s a couple local companies I can think of that do a beautiful job of providing and listing benefits, and it’s no surpise they have high applicants-per-posting (and strong retention too).
- Keep in mind: “go where you’ll grow”. One of the best pieces of career advice I ever got was, “go where you’ll grow”. Smarter people than me understand this intrinsically and will seek out opportunities where they are able to grow and develop professionally. How will your job opportunity enable professional growth? If you can include this, it’s worth it. Even the act of showing this is something you’re concerned about is a signal to great talent that you’ve got their interests in mind.
- Post it everywhere. In addition to the Software Hamilton job board, I’d definitely post it on StartupNorth.ca. It’s $35 but the readership is huge so the value is there. You may also want to consider TechVibes, but they can be pricey. There’s also Indeed, Monster, Workopolis, Elute, Government of Canada’s Job Bank and a host of others. Every post-secondary institution in the region has a job board for their students and alumni as well, and though co-op position postings might be healthy, I’m always surprised more companies don’t post their junior / entry-level positions on these job boards as well (the recent grads will be checking them). In an hour’s driving distance of Hamilton you have Mohawk, McMaster, Western, Conestoga, Sheridan, Niagara, Brock, Ryerson, Guelph U, U of T, Waterloo, Laurier, Ryerson, Humber, York U, Seneca, George Brown, OCAD, and I’m probably forgetting a few.
