Market Research – 8 Strategies for Getting it Right, Quickly
Recruiting the right people quickly public
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Transcript of Recruiting the right people quickly public
Recruiting the right people quickly:Attempting the impossible!
Ashley Frieze ([email protected])November 2014
• We should hire fast• Don’t let a project get delayed
• We want the best people• Better not to hire the wrong person• It can hurt more than waiting
Recruitment is a contradiction
Recruitment is a contradiction
Qu
alit
y
Great
Oh dear
Speed of recruitment
Graph of perceived quality of candidate vs speed of recruitment
Sluggish Impulsive
Driven by our perception of the market
Great developers
Driven by our perception of the market
Great developers
Not so great employed developers
Driven by our perception of the market
Great developers
Not so great employed developers
Driven by our perception of the market
Great developers
Pas-sive
On the market
Some great candidates entering the marketPlenty of not great ones available to job seek
Not so great employed developers
Driven by our perception of the market
Great developers
Great
Not so great
Great candidates get jobs quicklyNot so great ones stay in the market longer
• Choose carefully• Avoid the likelihood that your candidate is not so great
• Act quickly• If you don’t take a great candidate, someone else will
Contradiction version 2
• Pick one at random and hire them outright• Guarantees you’ll only hire lucky people
How can we choose the right candidate?
• Go on recruitment agent’s recommendation• Now THAT is ridiculous• Keyword matching at best
How can we choose the right candidate?
• Use the CV
How can we choose the right candidate?
• Yes, but can you write great software?
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• HTML, CSS, Javascript (5 years)• C++ (9 years)• Java (5 years)• TDD, BDD, CI, CD• Design Patterns• SQL (MySQL, Oracle, Toad)• IDEs (Eclipse, IntelliJ, Netbeans,
Microsoft Visual Studio)• Word for Windows 2.0• Punched cards• Binary• PuTTY
Save me from the long winded… I enjoy a nice skills matrix
• Test them out• Without slowing the process down
How can we choose the right candidate
• Hiring is a process problem• So use a value stream mapping analysis
The Eureka Moment
Our old process
CV
Notice it (3 days)
Read CV and email decision (10 minutes)
Send them coding test (1/2 day delay)
Coding test comesback (3 days)
Review test (10 minutes)
Delay organisingphone interview (3 days)
Phone interview (30 minutes)
Organise face to face interview (6 days)
Interview (2 hours)
Duration – 16 daysValue adding time – 2hrs 50mEfficiency – 3%
Process after modification
CV
Wait for screening result (1 day)
Review screening test (5 minutes)
Delay organisingphone interview (2 days)
Phone interview (30 minutes)
Organise face to face interview (4 days)
Interview (3.5 hours)
Duration – 7.6 daysValue adding time – 4hrs 20mEfficiency – 10%
HR read CV and alsosend screening link(10 minutes)
Send both to manager (5 minutes)
Double the speedThree times more “efficient”Most of the delay is unavoidable
• It’s better now• It’s not perfect• It’s not quite like this now, either
• Some corporate wrinkles have entered the process
• The approach of analysing and refining the process really worked for us
Full disclosure
• A screening test is better than a CV or application form
• Make it a question of opinion• No Googling• Read between the lines• Find people’s communication style• Find passion/bug-bears/missions
What to test: Screening
• Need to know if they can really write code• Coding test is a
massively good idea
What to test: Coding
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html
• Not a hard test• A fail can be inconclusive (“well, it’s quite a hard test”)
• Check it’s easy to pass • Road test it• We had “Output all numbers 1 – 999,999 as words in
English”• Some solutions took 20 hours!
What sort of coding test?
• Something easily done in half the time• Don’t test oblique framework knowledge
• See if they see code your way• Coding style• Really challenge them with a code review• Ability to see alternatives in discussion
• We do our coding test in 90 minutes at start of the face to face interview• Some people leave the building after 15 minutes’ code
review
What sort of coding test?
• Provide automated tests• Provide ready-made skeleton project
• Checks the speed of getting into your codebase
What sort of coding test? – Even better
• Work out a few different statistics on an array• Put some data into a collection and then retrieve
certain values• Implement a design pattern• Implement a simple string conversion algorithm
Example coding challenges:
• “I really loved your test – it impressed me that you cared enough about these things to give me such a challenge”• Appeals to the right sort of candidates• Someone who has passed your test may be
more inclined to accept an offer• Stockholm Syndrome?
Good coding challenge: Fringe benefit
• It’s not all about the tech• Hire on skills, fire on behaviour
• Remember to ask some human questions
Finally
• Not cool• Recruitment agents• CVs• Most candidates in the jobs market• Delays that lose great people
• Cool• Speed up your process• Add enriching screening/testing to it• Act quickly for the right people
• Not covered• How do we find candidates at all?
Summary