Finding the right tech hire can be a struggle, and if you get it wrong, the consequences can be significant. A bad hire can cost up to 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings. In today’s talent-centric competitive marketplace, hiring managers cannot afford to make this mistake. It’s not easy to trace what exactly went wrong in your hiring process.

GetLinks talent managers shared valuable tech hiring insights to help avoid the pitfalls and get that rockstar tech talent you require. Here are five common tech hiring mistakes.

Inaccurate job descriptions

A thorough job description is as important as an interview. Too vague? You’ll end up wasting time on candidates who have no real interest in the actual job. Too many requirements? You are risking to scare off great candidates. So how do you craft a perfectly balanced JD?

Here’s how to add some clarity:

• Think about all measurable day-to-day tasks of the potential hire. 
• Ask your team lead for opinion on the most important skills for this role.
• Double-check you tech stack info. 
• Define the role you’re hiring for.

A well-written job description will help you save time on screening and set realistic expectations going forward.

Failing to test technical skills

We’ve noticed that many hiring managers overlook the importance of testing coding skills and capabilities simply because their CVs often showcase the right skills. Moreover, most HRs admit that they don’t pay close attention to small technical details in the job description.

While it may seem like they’ve got the skills you’re looking for, it’s crucial to test your tech candidates. There are dozens of coding tests online, but most tech recruiters claim that they are too broad or unrelated to the position they are trying to fill.

To ensure your tech skills tests are task-oriented, ask your tech team to come up with a real task for the applicant. Instead of a standard test, give them a problem to solve that your fellow techies can easily evaluate. This may take more time to prep, but it will lower the risk of a bad hire dramatically.

Ignoring candidates’ potential 

Tech hiring differs from traditional recruitment when it comes to evaluating candidates’ potential. There are plenty of stories employees referring dev friends that ace technical interviews and get offered a job on a spot. Later on, the HR will find their resume in the “rejected” pile. They didn’t list the desired skills, tools or languages on their CV got filtered out too early.

If it’s not possible to find that perfect fit, Technical adaptability is the quality you should be on the lookout for. Technology is a fast-moving world, and the ability to adapt and upskill can be more important than a list of programming languages on someone’s resume.

Here is why your best hire might not have the best resume:

Not considering the culture fit

At some point, most employers had to let someone go because they  ‘didn’t fit in’. When it comes to tech hiring, most HRs focus on hard skills and achievements, ignoring the culture fit completely. Company culture is a vague term, yet it is something that can make or break a business. Every new team member brings in their own values and beliefs that can boost or damage team morale and productivity. 

But how do you test someone for culture fit? It’s hard enough to find a great developer with the right specialization, not to mention the soft skills (tech talents are not exactly the outspoken type). Here are some ways to ensure your future candidate is the right fit.

1. One way to verify cultural fit is increasing the number of points of touch. Invite potential candidates to team lunches or tech events your fellow coworkers attend – informal setting can reveal more about interpersonal skills of a potential hire. 
2. Look for people who share your vision and values.  Pay close attention to their reasoning: candidates that believe in what your company does are more likely to stick around. 
3. Make sure your hiring process communicates your company culture: if you claim to be a high-tech company, your employer branding needs to reflect that.  

Moving too slow

This is one of the biggest tech hiring mistakes that most companies make is not moving fast enough with their hiring process.

Tech talents know their worth, and they can definitely feel the competition. We are so used to instant messages on social media that waiting for an email for a few days can feel like an eternity. If it takes your days or even weeks to set up an interview, chances are your quality applicants have already moved on with their job search.

“Accepted another offer” remains the primary reason for job offer rejections.

In the environment of the candidate-driven market, you need to show your tech talents that they are your top priority. Optimize your hiring process to reply instantly or watch your competitors make them an offer.

Don’t let tech hiring mistakes waste your time and money. Hire the right tech talents faster and easier with GetLinks MarketPlace.

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About the Author: Nat Poltavets

Nat is passionate about everything digital. She writes about tech trends, lifelong learning, and emotional intelligence. She enjoys guacamole, as should all right-thinking people, and she knows how to open a PDF.