Suggestions for engineering recruiters in Bay Area?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8993810

by vdee • 11 years ago

7 17 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

We've been trying to build our engineering team in the bay area for awhile now, but we're not having any luck. We've used 5 different recruiting firms to fill our developer positions, but they aren't delivering.

Does anyone know of any other recruiting firms in the bay area that you would refer? Greatly appreciate it.

PaulHoule• 11 years ago

I hate to say it, but you might step back and wonder if the market is sending you a message here; could it be that the high cost of living and low quality of life in the Bay Area, combined with Silicon Valley investors redlining 98% of the land area of the US could lead to investment returns going to 0% or less for Silicon Valley investors?

RNeff• 11 years ago

Are you building really cool stuff? Are you paying enough that a programmer could afford an apartment close to your office? Free snacks, free lunch, free dinner, gym membership? Private offices (with doors!) or noisy, chaotic open plan?

Are you building really cool stuff?

kasey_junk• 11 years ago

I don't disagree with your sentiment, but the sign of a "good" recruiter would be to tell the client when their expectations about compensation are out of wack.

So, that doesn't really answer the underlying question.

MalcolmDiggs• 11 years ago

I've got this lawn I need mowed. I keep shooting at it with my handgun, but it doesn't seem to be working. Does anyone know of any higher caliber rifles I could use to cut this grass? Greatly appreciate it.

joshjkim• 11 years ago

Hard to say without knowing more - how big is your team currently, and what specific engineering positions are you hiring for?

Have you gotten any feedback on why engineers are passing?

hatmer• 11 years ago

Try Motek Technologies, my friend Marc works there and they are pretty cool. His email is mjackson@motektech.com

curtis• 11 years ago

I would suggest some serious outside-the-box thinking. Here are some ideas:

* Try advertising on Reddit. I think Reddit will let you target specific sub-reddits, and I don't think their advertising is very expensive anyway. Right at this moment, r/programming claims to have "588,311 readers" and "1,059 users here now". Most of these people won't be in the Bay Area, but I would bet a significant fraction are.

* Try advertising on Pandora. I don't think there's any way to target technical people specifically, but I think they may be able to geo-target pretty accurately. And compared to the cost of a recruiter, I can't imagine it would be very expensive.

* Try advertising in your local alternative weekly newspaper. Up here in Seattle that would be The Stranger. In the Bay Area I guess that would be papers like San Francisco Bay Guardian, the SF Weekly, or maybe the Metro Silicon Valley. Even if this doesn't generate much in the way of direct leads, it might generate some notoriety which in turn might benefit your other recruiting efforts. A conventional contact from a recruiter might be more effective if the contactee has already heard of your company. And again, the cost of this advertising is probably a lot cheaper than a recruiter.

OK, maybe that last idea is a little too outside the box. But it still seems like somebody should try it just to see if it works.

vdee• 11 years ago

Thanks for the advice.

mchannon• 11 years ago

Most recruiting companies do the best they can with the job requirements they're given.

If you're trying to get junior people for $75k and senior people for $125k, no recruiter's going to fill those positions.

Try upping your ranges and I bet most of the 5 recruiters will start coming up with a sufficient supply of candidates to fill out your team.

arenaninja• 11 years ago

Tried remote yet?

I'd love to do away with my daily driving grind, but every time I emailed someone I got a "we don't really want remote developers, we just say we do; have you considered moving to SF?". Unfortunately, it's unlikely that I'll be getting the same spacious 2BR2BA (with 2 parking spots!) for $800 in SF (not to mention one block away from daycare), and I don't want my salary to be eaten by rent

tcannon• 11 years ago

Your website doesn't list the jobs you're hiring for, the industry you're in isn't very glamorous, nobody want to commute to San Bruno (you either live north or south and driving from one side sucks and driving from the other means you need a car) and I'm guessing low pay and little perks as far as new/fun technology.

Your website is listed on your profile, and I pulled the above together in about 2-3 minutes.

S4M• 11 years ago

Why don't you use the "Who is hiring?" thread, or at least mention here what profiles you are looking for. Also, as arenaninja asks, have you tried remote? There are some inconvenience coming with it, but you will have access to a larger pool of candidates who will cost you less than SV engineers.

jhildings• 11 years ago

The company site doesn't say much about the working environment, and candidates comparing you to other companies don't know what they get

eric_bullington• 11 years ago

If you tried remote, you'd get access to a whole lot of high caliber candidates at a significantly lower price. You'd be pretty surprised at how many awesome developers are available when you're recruiting from the entire nation (or even world, if you're daring).

dogstraightup• 11 years ago

OP- I am based in NY but have had success in filling engineering roles in the start-up space. A big factor (arguably the most important) is culture fit. I've had fairly good success understanding my client's needs and parameters and providing suitable candidates.

Feel free to write back and I can send you my email to continue the conversation. BOL!

pskittle• 11 years ago

1. Go to meetups/hackathons/dev conferences. 2. Hire directly by talking to people you meet there. 3.Engineers have a strong aversion towards HR people and are more likely to pay attention to the founders or early hires. 4.Hire remotely ---> your talent pool increases dramatically

loumf• 11 years ago

Try Hired.com and careers.stackoverflow.com -- For Careers, I have not used postings, just profile access. Everyone I have talked to that tried Hired loved it (but I have not)

Suggestions for engineering recruiters in Bay Area?

Related Stories