It’s certainly no secret that hiring a top software developer is a tricky job, and at Sonatafy, we have found a three-step Talent Acquisition Process works well for us. Here’s how it works:
It technically starts with the job description, as they should be easy to understand by our target applicant. While this doesn’t stop unqualified applicants from applying, it does ensure that we reduce that issue as much as possible.
We provide as much detail as we can about the role as a high-level overview, with key requirements clearly laid out. This means that qualified engineers can arrange their CVs to ensure they tick all the relevant boxes. Those who are unqualified (typically, around 80% of all engineering applicants are unqualified) are discarded at the CV review stage.
In addition, by providing clear information about our benefits and our workplace culture, we grab the attention of applicants and help ensure we are the first choice of employer.
The phone screen has two important results: It ensures that each developer actually meets our listing requirements. It also means that the developer can communicate clearly and concisely in our language of choice, which is English. The applicant learns a little more about the position. The interviewer learns more about the applicant: their strengths and weaknesses, their suitability for the job, and other essential facets of how they handle problem-solving and feedback. It eliminates those who definitely won’t make the final cut or who are just disinterested.
If they pass the phone screen, they move onto the next stage: the code test.
It’s one thing to claim proficiency in a particular stack, but it’s another thing to actually demonstrate it. We firmly believe that seeing is believing, and in line with most industry standards, we conduct a code test to ensure our applicants have the knowledge we require. This takes about an hour, but it’s at this stage we discard a substantial portion of the candidates. Sometimes issues may be as obvious as the candidate overestimated their prowess with the stack, but other times, it may be a simple as that much more proficient candidates applied.
Naturally, the resultant code is not used on any of our projects.
There are two subsections to this: meeting with our internal engineering team and then meeting with the customer. Our engineering team is highly qualified, and our developers can ask a range of questions about the project and talk about common pain points and explore the precise type of work that they will be doing. They may meet their scrum leader and other team members, as well, if it’s an internally managed project.
Then, they meet the actual customer for a further interview. Sonatafy looks to match talent with clients, and cultural fit is a major part of that. We help coach our team members throughout the customer interview process so that everyone comes out satisfied with the end result.
Ultimately, a robust process is vital to get the talent that you need, and our three-step process delivers outstanding results. We create solid teams that understand that collaboration is key and that continuous growth is vital to growing skills and software developers — even as part of a remote team.
If you need full-stack, front-end, back-end, mobile, DevOps, or QA-focused talent, contact us today.
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