Beyond the Job Board — Finding Better Ways to Hire Great Engineering Talent.

In today’s competitive talent market, finding and recruiting a good engineer can be difficult, and finding one with the right skills who also works well within your company culture can seem like an impossible task. But does it really need to be so hard?

BOARD TO TEARS

Does it feel like you’re spending all of your recruiting time and energy on job boards, and not really getting anywhere? Well, you’re not alone. Satisfaction with job boards has been on the decline for years now, as evidenced by countless articles, such as this one from businessinsider.com (“Job Postings See Massive Year Declines due to Pandemic”).

The primary problem with job boards is that they bring in too many candidates, too few of whom are qualified. According to studies, less than 10 percent of candidates from job boards meet the qualifications in the job description. Further, 59 percent of companies say they don’t have the time or manpower to sift through all of the candidates they pull. The process of going through piles of resumes to identify the proverbial needle in a haystack is tedious, time consuming, and simply not an effective method of meeting an urgent need for a strong engineer who fits well in your team.

Putting your job on a job board is a bit like throwing a Hail Mary pass in football. Will somebody catch it, and if they catch it, will they do something good with it? Maybe. Who knows?

And who’s actually out there to catch that pass, anyway? On job boards, you’re generally getting candidates who are actively looking for their next gig. Most of them are not currently working, are looking at more jobs than they can keep track of, and will apply to anything and everything even if the fit is somewhat questionable (because as they see it, and not without reason, it’s just a numbers game). In addition, job boards typically don’t do any prescreening. So, are these candidates necessarily bad? No. But they’re also probably not the All-Star squad who you’d feel most confident making that Hail Mary pass to.

Beyond these problems of too many resumes and leaving things somewhat to chance, there’s the issue of cultural fit. It’s often difficult to explain your company culture well in a job board listing. And even if you do, chances are most candidates are glossing over this vital information to get to the more concrete technical skills and job responsibilities. As a result, you may find a number of candidates who can perform the job technically, but who just aren’t a good fit for your team.

 

A BETTER WAY TO RESUME

So, what’s a smart and busy recruiter to do? One approach that can save you time and money is to use Enginuity Virtual Recruiter. It’s a better way to hire the right engineer. EVR matches candidates to your job listing based on technical qualifications, as well as work style and cultural fit. This means you get engineers who can not only do the work, but can do the work effectively as a member of your team, within your unique company culture.

Enginuity attracts a higher quality of engineering candidates—namely strong passive candidates who are already working—by keeping information private.

Each engineer creates a profile and is screened not only on technical skills, but on personality, what kind of work environment they thrive in, and their unique work and leadership style.

When you create your job listing, Enginuity’s algorithms match existing engineer profiles to what you’re looking for. Each engineer is assigned a Fit Score™ relative to the role, which takes into account both the hard skills and the cultural and team fit. You receive only the best candidates, with a Fit Score of 80% and above.

 

CAN YOU FEEL THE ALGORITHM?

What does this algorithm-based approach mean for you? First, you’re only seeing candidates who are qualified for the role. This saves you time and money. You’ll also see more of the “All-Star” passive candidates who are already employed, but who might make a move for the right opportunity.

Perhaps more importantly, the initial match is done impartially. When a candidate fills out a profile, they specify their cultural and work style preferences in the absence of any knowledge of your job listing. And they will never see your listing (or you their resume) unless the algorithm determines a fit. Compare this to what usually happens. You post a role on a job board. An out-of-work engineer who is applying to everything out there clicks “Apply.” The technical skills look solid enough, and soon you’re doing interviews. You ask them about culture and work style, and what do they say? More often than not, they’ll give you a quick rundown of their ideal work environment that sounds mysteriously like that company culture paragraph on your “About Us” page. Somehow it seems like you’re evaluating the candidate’s sales skills more than their actual cultural fit.

 

SAYING GOODBYE TO BIG JOB BOARDS

To find and hire the best engineering talent in this competitive market, focus your approach on these key strategies:

• Ween your hiring process off of big job boards and on to more specialized communities
• Find ways to reach passive candidates
• Screen for cultural fit

Give it a shot, or contact Enginuity if you need some help.

And that is how you go from throwing Hail Marys to throwing solid touchdowns.

 

~ Alissa Marshall