Help me find a solution?

[WhiteRaven]

We have a strong brand and a good name in the industry but still need to find a way to attract more Developers (across all languages and provinces) to our company. You guys know what you want and how you want to be dealt with, have you got any pointers for us that we can use to attract more talent for our clients?

 

[Ancalagon]

We have a strong brand and a good name in the industry but still need to find a way to attract more Developers (across all languages and provinces) to our company. You guys know what you want and how you want to be dealt with, have you got any pointers for us that we can use to attract more talent for our clients?

Are you a recruiter or the actual hiring company?

If you are the hiring company, do you hire people to place at your clients?

 

[WhiteRaven]

Are you a recruiter or the actual hiring company?

If you are the hiring company, do you hire people to place at your clients?

We are the recruiter, with a solid base of clients who offer different opportunities and environments.

 

[WhiteRaven]

Thing is we don't reach nearly enough developers via advertising, and for obvious reasons can't provide our clients information so people don't just apply. Generally the Dev's that I've dealt with, when they hear about our clients they are interested because the opportunities are great but how do we find you without using the same old ways...

 

[Ancalagon]

We are the recruiter, with a solid base of clients who offer different opportunities and environments.

How do you advertise?

These are the following things that distinguish good recruiters from bad ones:
1. Good recruiters reply to ALL emails, even if the applicant is not qualified for the role in question.
2. Good recruiters dont bother with skills matrices - they know how useless they are.
3. Good recruiters know that they get paid by the client, but they have to work for the candidates best interests. For instance, they go out of their way to sell the candidate and get them as many interviews as possible. If a candidate responds to a headhunting email with, "I'm not interested in that role, but how about XYZ?" they actually respond instead of ignoring the candidate.
4. Good recruiters actually view a LinkedIn profile before sending a connection request.

You could sum it up as - good recruiters are in constant contact with their candidates. They coach them through interviews, they phone them after interviews. If the candidate is not suitable for a role, they say so.

I'm not saying that you do none of the above - I don't know enough about you or your business. I'm just saying, do all of the above and you will stand out. Candidates will come to you.

EDIT:

Can you show me some of your job advertisements? If I can see anything obvious, I'll tell you.

 

[Sonic2k]

How do you advertise?

These are the following things that distinguish good recruiters from bad ones:
1. Good recruiters reply to ALL emails, even if the applicant is not qualified for the role in question.
2. Good recruiters dont bother with skills matrices - they know how useless they are.
3. Good recruiters know that they get paid by the client, but they have to work for the candidates best interests. For instance, they go out of their way to sell the candidate and get them as many interviews as possible. If a candidate responds to a headhunting email with, "I'm not interested in that role, but how about XYZ?" they actually respond instead of ignoring the candidate.
4. Good recruiters actually view a LinkedIn profile before sending a connection request.

You could sum it up as - good recruiters are in constant contact with their candidates. They coach them through interviews, they phone them after interviews. If the candidate is not suitable for a role, they say so.

I'm not saying that you do none of the above - I don't know enough about you or your business. I'm just saying, do all of the above and you will stand out. Candidates will come to you.

What he said...
Here is my 2c

I HATE RECRUITERS THAT WASTE MY TIME!
Don't send me to travel to interviews only to find the place is not what you claimed they are.

KEEP YOUR REMARKS ABOUT MY CURRENT SALARY TO YOURSELF.
I am sick of hearing hints or remarks that I get paid too much and I will have to take a bit of a knock.

As to why I don't apply for positions.
1) No salary listed, or the salary on offer is cheap. These days, if you want good people, you're gonna pay. Finished and klaar
2) I have devised a good formula, which I have come to realize, is similar to those of others, for detecting the chancers, and the agencies appointed by dodgy companies. 95% of the time I am right.
3) Agencies having no cooking clue about the role, and mismatching the candidate to the role. Doesn't end well for ALL CONCERNED.
4) Its a commission driven business, I am not interested in hearing about the politics after the fact.

Also, the companies who want people, need to get with the times. Developers in the 21st century are not going to work in sweatshops or work for small companies whom are fronts for the owner's larger business behind the scenes.

 

[Drifter]

What he said...
Here is my 2c

I HATE RECRUITERS THAT WASTE MY TIME!
Don't send me to travel to interviews only to find the place is not what you claimed they are.

KEEP YOUR REMARKS ABOUT MY CURRENT SALARY TO YOURSELF.
I am sick of hearing hints or remarks that I get paid too much and I will have to take a bit of a knock.

As to why I don't apply for positions.
1) No salary listed, or the salary on offer is cheap. These days, if you want good people, you're gonna pay. Finished and klaar
2) I have devised a good formula, which I have come to realize, is similar to those of others, for detecting the chancers, and the agencies appointed by dodgy companies. 95% of the time I am right.
3) Agencies having no cooking clue about the role, and mismatching the candidate to the role. Doesn't end well for ALL CONCERNED.
4) Its a commission driven business, I am not interested in hearing about the politics after the fact.

Also, the companies who want people, need to get with the times. Developers in the 21st century are not going to work in sweatshops or work for small companies whom are fronts for the owner's larger business behind the scenes.

Especially that ^^^^. My time has been wasted so many times by recruiters that found a keyword in my CV, but clearly did not bother to read the whole document.

 

[Ancalagon]

Especially that ^^^^. My time has been wasted so many times by recruiters that found a keyword in my CV, but clearly did not bother to read the whole document.

Yeah I had one want to send me in for a Senior Java Developer role. I'm like, "Ummm..."

Oh and I've had one or two sending out job specs for senior roles that included a R35k salary. Why waste anyone's time?

And then another lady who thought I could not get the hourly rate I wanted. Well, I got it in the end, emailed her and told her about it. She was like, Oh. If I say I am worth so much, you better believe me.

 

[WhiteRaven]

So pretty much all the stuff that you don't like we don't do. But I feel that because there are a million positions out there for developers no matter how we advertise we are not reaching them. So if the advertising isn't working how do we attract Dev's, how do we get into that network?

Here are some examples of my ads:

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/704348-Vacancy-C-Web-Developer-(intermediate)-Sandton-R45-000-CTC-neg

https://plus.google.com/u/0/115429676670688377256/posts

I try to steer clear of job portals for advertising and stay on social networking including Linked In

 

[silent_wolf]

1) No salary listed, or the salary on offer is cheap. These days, if you want good people, you're gonna pay. Finished and klaar

When I was looking for my first job last year I came across an advert stating 3 years experience for 6k a month, I applied cause how many people with 3 years experience is going to want that job with such a low salary. The agency said that I'm not experienced enough for the position, the company still wanted to interview me though.

In the interview they werent particularly happy cause they wanted 3 years experience though I did manage to impress them with my knowledge. But what do people expect with such a low amount

 

[rrh]

How do you advertise?

These are the following things that distinguish good recruiters from bad ones:
1. Good recruiters reply to ALL emails, even if the applicant is not qualified for the role in question.
2. Good recruiters dont bother with skills matrices - they know how useless they are.
3. Good recruiters know that they get paid by the client, but they have to work for the candidates best interests. For instance, they go out of their way to sell the candidate and get them as many interviews as possible. If a candidate responds to a headhunting email with, "I'm not interested in that role, but how about XYZ?" they actually respond instead of ignoring the candidate.
4. Good recruiters actually view a LinkedIn profile before sending a connection request.

You could sum it up as - good recruiters are in constant contact with their candidates. They coach them through interviews, they phone them after interviews. If the candidate is not suitable for a role, they say so.

I'm not saying that you do none of the above - I don't know enough about you or your business. I'm just saying, do all of the above and you will stand out. Candidates will come to you.

EDIT:

Can you show me some of your job advertisements? If I can see anything obvious, I'll tell you.

Very well put.

To which I would add: know the industry & the position. If your company doesn't include a recruiter with actual IT experience then hire one.

I've interviewed candidates for senior positions that - IMHO - had one year's experience seven times rather than the requested seven year's experience. As a result their recruitment agencies were deleted from my list.

Practise the above and you will have developers begging to be put on your books.

 

[Hempiz]

Don't be cryptic about the company/client - I would love to work for certain companies, and I refuse to work for others. Leading payroll software company in South West Gauteng is not going to make me apply.
Don't be cryptic about the salary.
Don't make me an offer based on my current salary.

 

[Sonic2k]

Don't be cryptic about the company/client - I would love to work for certain companies, and I refuse to work for others. Leading payroll software company in South West Gauteng is not going to make me apply.
Don't be cryptic about the salary.
Don't make me an offer based on my current salary.

There we go... nail on the head with the hammer!

I was once in a job where the agency wanted an embedded developer. The client's understanding of "embedded developer" was someone who sat and maintained legacy code. The agency (and me) understood this to mean someone who sat and developed embedded systems i.e. PCB design, electronics, embedded code, production issues, etc...

Did not end well.... left that company on very short notice.

 

[WhiteRaven]

Don't be cryptic about the company/client - I would love to work for certain companies, and I refuse to work for others. Leading payroll software company in South West Gauteng is not going to make me apply.

See the cryptic about the client is a bit of a difficult one, because good development talent is difficult to source companies will use multiple recruiters if we put the clients name then the client is going to be flooded with calls from recruiters..

 

[Ancalagon]

So pretty much all the stuff that you don't like we don't do. But I feel that because there are a million positions out there for developers no matter how we advertise we are not reaching them. So if the advertising isn't working how do we attract Dev's, how do we get into that network?

Here are some examples of my ads:

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/704348-Vacancy-C-Web-Developer-(intermediate)-Sandton-R45-000-CTC-neg

https://plus.google.com/u/0/115429676670688377256/posts

I try to steer clear of job portals for advertising and stay on social networking including Linked In

On the plus side, you list location, salary and experience level, as well as technologies. You also don't have too much arty farty "we are looking for self motivated team players, go getters etc"

But it feels like it is lacking a little meat?

Even if you don't want to specify who the client is, it is useful to know how large it the client is, whether the role is client facing, what business/industry the client is in, why you would want to work there, more detail on what your responsibilities would be, and perhaps what competencies are required (eg business analysis).

 

[Hempiz]

See the cryptic about the client is a bit of a difficult one, because good development talent is difficult to source companies will use multiple recruiters if we put the clients name then the client is going to be flooded with calls from recruiters..

I hear you, and to be honest, I don't know of a suitable middle-ground solution (yet!).

good luck though!

 

[rrh]

On the plus side, you list location, salary and experience level, as well as technologies. You also don't have too much arty farty "we are looking for self motivated team players, go getters etc"

But it feels like it is lacking a little meat?

Even if you don't want to specify who the client is, it is useful to know how large it the client is, whether the role is client facing, what business/industry the client is in, why you would want to work there, more detail on what your responsibilities would be, and perhaps what competencies are required (eg business analysis).

Also, include stuff that will attract developers e.g.:

• Technology used. If the company is using yesterday's technology be upfront;
• Training given. Does the department have a budget for off-site supplier training ? ;
• Genuine R&D projects. Does the department have a budget for R&D 'throw-away' projects ?
• Does the company practise flexi-time, have a canteen, dress casually etc.

 

[Ancalagon]

Also, include stuff that will attract developers e.g.:

• Technology used. If the company is using yesterday's technology be upfront;
• Training given. Does the department have a budget for off-site supplier training ? ;
• Genuine R&D projects. Does the department have a budget for R&D 'throw-away' projects ?
• Does the company practise flexi-time, have a canteen, dress casually etc.

I've been promised training many times, and it has never happened.

 

[samyan]

Thing is we don't reach nearly enough developers via advertising, and for obvious reasons can't provide our clients information so people don't just apply. Generally the Dev's that I've dealt with, when they hear about our clients they are interested because the opportunities are great but how do we find you without using the same old ways...

I am looking to move to a new company with better opportunities.If u will be kind enough to send me a pm with your contact details, I can give you info on what roles I am looking at.

 

[rrh]

I've been promised training many times, and it has never happened.

Most smaller companies have a very small - or none whatsoever - budget for training, so actual training is limited to emergencies.

In such cases your only chance is to raise the lack of training as an issue during your [bi-]annual review.