Ask HN: How do I bring our technical hiring coordinators up to speed?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9707691

by civilian • 11 years ago

4 7 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

The small company I'm working at just started a looking for a few engineering positions. Our hiring coordinators (an office manager and an EA) are posting jobs and communicating with candidates but-- they're fresh to it, and are making little mistakes. (Mistaking Java for Javascript, posting a "Flash/Flex engineer" position on a python-focused jobs board.) They're not recruiters per say, but they're recruiting-adjacent. (And we don't have a recruiter.)

They're not reviewing the resumes, but they are collecting them and sending them to our two founding engineers.

I've been correcting the language/framework confusion when I can, but I also worry that they don't quite get some concepts like: most programmers can learn any new language/framework if they have motivation behind it.

What should I be doing to bring them up to speed? Or at the very least, what should I be doing so that our company doesn't look foolish in our job postings & communication with candidates? Are there any technical-recruiting focused blogs I should link them to? What other technical-hiring concepts do people probably miss?

eschutte2• 11 years ago

You will not be able to bring them up to speed. Recommend that an engineer write the job posting and then let the office managers handle the mechanics of getting it posted and collecting responses.

Also, the idea that you should be looking for talent instead of buzzwords (on the premise that you don't even know what tools your company will be using in six months) is a major philosophical divide and you should find out whether the whole hiring team even agrees with it.

hunglee2• 11 years ago

OK, I'm going to say this - I don't mean to be harsh, but I feel its important the message is clear: You absolutely should not be having these people conduct first contact with developers. They are not trained for it, won't enjoy doing it and are likely to be very bad at it.

Hiring is hard. Its one of the hardest problems confronting any business, especially those that are dependent on technical talent. For a hard, business critical problems like this, you need your best, most qualified staff to handle it - not your cheapest or most inexperienced.

Little mistakes - mistaking Java for JavaScript - maybe understandable on planet earth, but on planet tech - where the community can be less forgiving than it imagines - is as bad a mistake as you can make. You're basically signalling - I don't know about you and I don't care about you. You will not hire quality people with this messaging and this recruitment experience.

The bottom line is, your founding team needs to take the lead. Like it or not, these are the people that in-demand developers are most likely to respond to. After all, developers themselves and are also unlikely to make the kind of mistakes that might ruin your employer brand, a critical asset for an early stage startup looking to hire. Furthermore, they are developers who have gone next level and become founders ready to hire developers - that's pretty much real world karma in World of Startup. They are your best, and likely, your only chance to hire the people you need. They have to grasp this, otherwise it won't matter what techniques or concepts you discover or deploy.

brudgers• 11 years ago

Implicit in your comments is that the founding engineers are in charge and you are not. Perhaps it is worth expressing your concerns to them, but perhaps not: it depends on if your workplace is the sort of place where the founders appreciate unsolicited opinions regarding the quality of their decisions.

In my opinion, there's nothing particularly wrong from a business standpoint with posting a Flash/Flex position on a Python focused job board: if you're not seeking Python engineers, then being perceived as having poor manners by Pythonistas doesn't make much difference for recruiting one way or another. That's not to say it's a good strategy, but most people won't care. That's sort of the sense I get in regard to your company's founding engineers as well.

Good luck.

Blackthorn• 11 years ago

I also worry that they don't quite get some concepts like: most programmers can learn any new language/framework if they have motivation behind it.

Then why are they actually handling this at all? It sounds like they should have zero contact with the applicants, not first contact! You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

liquidcool• 11 years ago

Ideally, engineering management should have the technical understanding and social skills to recruit. If they don't have the time, that's another story, but for most companies payroll is the biggest expense, hence the most important investment. You don't want to leave that in the hands of people who don't know what they are doing. Third party technical recruiters who don't have a technical background go through orientation and training, and even given that look at the state of things. Managers need to make time to do this or hire someone who can. Dedicated training may help, but not much, and blog posts certainly won't fix this.

lsiebert• 11 years ago

Shot you an email, but the short answer is, jobs are advertisements. Sell the position well. For a small company, it's better to cast a wide net, for a large company, you want to quickly narrow it down.

benzesandbetter• 11 years ago

I would recommend that you raise this issue with the founders directly, rather than with the hiring coordinators.

Prepare well beforehand, with specific examples of things that are happening. Help the founders connect the dots about how this situation is putting your company at a disadvantage in terms of attracting talent and building your team. Good developers have lots of options, and will certainly view this sort of thing as a negative indication of your company culture. This will leave you with B-listers at best. For a small company, this is poison, as it creates a negative effect that quickly compounds.

At the same time that you raise this issue with the founders, have some potential solutions to offer. This could involve having a technical staff member review correspondence and web-postings from these folks. It could involve some ongoing coaching for these hiring coordinators. It could involve replacing them. A decent level of technical understanding and an attitude of wanting to improve should really be a baseline for anyone in this role. It's not an exaggeration to say that the amateur behavior of these folks could drive your company into the ground.

Ask HN: How do I bring our technical hiring coordinators up to speed?

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