5 uncommon ways to attract and keep Tech Geeks onboard

Every software company has a common headache — developers. To be clear, developers are the biggest value of each Software Development firm :) but the shortage of talents – that is the real issue! First you should find a good one and compete furiously with other companies to hire them. Then — Companies must secure yourself from big players such as Google or Facebook who can come and headhunt your most talented seniors in a second.

Usually to engage and retain brilliant developers, companies provide a bunch of additional advantages like full social security, massage rooms, and unlimited cookies in the kitchen. But today almost every company provides these benefits — so how do you stand out from the crowd and become a really unique employer? 8Relocate gives you 5 tips to do that.

• People first: start to PR your employees, not only company.
  Employees do not work for company — they work with people. To attract really talented specialists you should show that you already have them in your company. Encourage your employees to maintain blogs and help other coders on resources like Stack Overflow. Developers would love to work with “that guy who has written that awesome article about memory leaks”. Assign your PR manager to promote those articles and disseminate information about your employees.
  A competent environment is one of the most important requirements that talented developers are looking for during a job search. Show potential candidates that your company has brilliant people — and get them.
• Decompose and change hiring process. (google case).
  To hire good developers you should stand out amongst the crowd, even during hiring process. What is a standard hiring procedure? Recruiters search for passive/active candidates, interview them, and choose appropriate candidates. Any other ideas? Break the process into pieces and change them. For example, how do you look for active candidates? In most cases, employers limit themselves only by posting vacancies on job sites and social networks. Try another approach. Create a quest or a riddle — it draws attention. For example, Google caused a lot of buzz using this method, which led to the job description.
  
  Cool, isn't it? Change the rules of hiring. If you do that, consequentially, you will get additional interest from developers.*
• Create and promote corporate accounts on Stack Overflow and GitHub, be on the same page with the developers community.
  It is a powerful source that is rarely used by other companies. However, it pays off and increase a brand awareness and employer reputation. By contributing into open-source communities, you show that your company really cares about the development of the industry. Another advantage: the name of your company will be frequently seen by coders — It is a good way to build a brand.
  Encourage your programmers to contribute into open-source communities. For example, you can make it mandatory or pay bonuses for it.

• Niche events.
  Organize educational events about programming. It is a good way to boost soft skills for your employees and another way to attract brilliant coders. It is a small investment, compared to value you receive.

• Get feedback from your current employees. Sometimes even broken coffee machine can be the reason of resignation. Including the fact that a lot of developers are introverts, they do not like to talk about problems or propose changes.

* Google add was really exciting. However, according to the statistic given in the Book of Laszlo Bock “Work Rules” they had not hired any person by this action so keep inventing!

With respect, 8Relocate team