See my article on Recruitingtrends.com, Recruiting "Failed" Candidates. You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.

Labels: recruiting, recruiting trends

posted by Johanna Rothman at at 10:06 AM | link |

At the Better Software tutorial yesterday, several managers said their hardest problem was finding good people. If you haven't started continuous recruiting yet, it's time to start.

Continuous recruiting is not just the "keeping your eyes open" part of recruiting, it requires your (and possibly your team's) active participation. It means you bring a couple of hundred business cards with you to conferences, professional group meetings, they gym--anywhere you might meet people. When you attend conferences or meetings, you always carry job description flyers. You ask where you can post them, or have them announced. And that's just the beginning.

Continuous recruiting is a form of marketing. You're marketing your company and yourself.

Ask yourself why people would find it valuable to work for your company in your group. Have a good story to tell? Write an article. Give a talk (local or at a conference). The more visibility you have, the more likely you are to attract the passive candidates, the ones who are already employed. And the more you provide exposure to your team and company, the more likely you are to help people screen themselves in or out for cultural fit.

Labels: manager, recruiting

posted by Johanna Rothman at at 9:51 AM | link |

On my recent trip to NZ and AU (to speak about project management), I had some informal conversations with people who could not find enough people for their projects.

From my non-scientific survey, it appears that we have started a technical hiring crunch (not enough candidates for positions). Consider people you might not have considered before:

1. Part-time workers
2. People over 40. Yes, we can still see and hear. Development is not just a young person's job. :-)
3. People over 65. Not everyone enjoys retirement.
4. People who may not have a degree, but have an avocation for software.

I'll be thinking about this for a while, because if we really are headed for a hiring crunch, it will be global this time.

Labels: agile hiring, recruiting

posted by Johanna Rothman at at 7:31 AM | link |

If you're a hiring manager, read Mike's Life Is A Hire Way: 5 Tips For Startup Hiring. Great ideas, Mike! (And not just for startups.)

Labels: hiring decision, hiring strategy, interview, recruiting

posted by Johanna Rothman at at 10:49 AM | link |

So you've got a job description that offers an opportunity, not a job. You've come to terms with how you see the value of the job. Now it's time to start looking for people--candidates--to help fill that job.

One way to make a job highly attractive is if you, the hiring manager, actively participates in the recruiting. There are several ways you can actively participate:

• Write the ad for the job so it sounds like you.
• Spruce up the ad on your company's web site so it sounds attractive.
• Make sure you've let everyone in your group know you're looking. Your employee referral system might be your best ally here.
• Attend professional group meetings where your candidates are likely to be.
• Perform phone screens for every resume you think is a "yes" or even a "maybe" if you're having trouble finding candidates.
• Attend job fairs.

The more active you are in the recruiting, the more likely you are to find someone quickly who will find the job attractive--because you're involved.