Today, recruiting developers is akin to a real obstacle course!

The entire technology world is evolving very quickly, requiring constant recruitment of talent that can program reliably and quickly. 

Problem: the competition is fierce and you are not the only recruiter looking for these profiles.

To help you in your "coder quest," we describe the six laws you need to know to put all the odds in your favor and attract developers.

1- Know who you want to recruit

Before you embark on your recruitment, ask yourself this question:"Do I need the best possible developer or do I need to fill an urgent need first?"
To put it another way, you can look to acquire a nugget or upskill an average talent. Between these two options, the amount of time and budget you'll be able to spend will be quite different!

Our advice: Define your need precisely by working on your Candidate Persona, for example. This will give you a clearer vision of your strategy and save you time and money.

2 – Speak the same language as them

Most often, the relationship between the recruiter and the developer starts with a job offer published on a job site ( or job board).
To better address your future code "aces", it's better to be specific, detailing in great detail the list of technos you're looking for, giving the versions, the methods used, etc.

Next, describe the team they will be working with, such as their seniority or specialties. Remember to give an idea of the atmosphere in your offices
Finally, know how to be original, for example by taking the expression "speak the same language" to the letter: some recruiters, especially in Silicon Valley, do not hesitate, in fact, to include computer code in their adsin order to catch the attention of applicants! Why not do the same?

Our advice: Have a marketing approachin your recruiting by defining your candidate targets (candidate personas) precisely. By getting to know them, you'll know which phrase works and which doesn't.

3- Highlight prospects for growth

Developers are naturally attracted to positions that will advance them, whether from a technical or managerial standpoint. So it's in your best interest to show that your company works on ambitious and innovative projects. Beyond this aspect, go further by presenting the possibilities you offer in terms of career development.

This can include attending training or conferences on specific terms, providing specialized resources (books, webinars, etc.) or even programs set up to move into project management. This type of information can easily be the subject of blog posts as part of your Inbound Recruiting approach.

Our advice: Get a technical expert to present your company's most attractive projects.

4 - Shine a light on your company

For more than a decade, the needs of companies for developers, regardless of their size, have grown much faster than the number of trained experts.
In addition, the explosion in the number of startups has drained a significant flow of these skills to small structures, leaving a number of large companies and very many ETIs facing a shortage that is detrimental to their business.

To remedy this, it is therefore necessary to capitalize on your company's image, developing your employer brand and putting a digital strategy in place for the developer population. This is one of the main objectives of Inbound Recruiting.

Our advice: Improve your online presence by investing heavily in content and boosting your social media presence. By giving useful and value-added content to candidates, you will greatly increase your drawing power.

5 – Communicate the quality of your workspaces

A developer's job is very (too?) sedentary. If they have to spend hundreds of hours in front of a screen to do their job, they will necessarily be sensitive to the efforts you make to make their daily life more pleasant. By using beautiful photos or even better, video, candidates will be able to imagine themselves working pleasantly at your place, which will favorably influence their decision.

On another note, it's also about telling your future employees that they will have the latest hardware, for example, machines powerful enough that they won't slow down their work or multiple monitors to avoid manually "switching" from one session to another.

Our advice: Get a specialized photographer or videographer to show your offices from the best angle, emphasizing machines, chairs and natural light if possible. For the text content, give as much practical information as possible so the developer appreciates, for example, your good public transport links or proximity to good restaurants.

6 - Look for developers where they are

This is a crucial issue in Inbound Recruiting: it's not enough to offer the right content, you also need to deliver it in the right context.

For example, many developers regularly visit the Github platform, a free tool for hosting open source code, which incidentally allows its users to turn their account into a resume. To attract the attention of developers, you can ask your own developers to relay certain information about your company if it makes sense to them. Be careful, however, not to "burn out" your employer-brand by overexposing yourself: the primary purpose of Github is indeed not recruitment!

By working on your Candidate personas, you'll know if the type of developers you're looking for are more present on Twitter or LinkedIn. From then on, you'll be able to easily highlight interesting content for them to view at the most appropriate time.

Our advice: ask your developers where they tend to read content. You'll quickly identify which distribution channels are best suited to your strategy.

Having trouble recruiting developers? Check out all of our tips in this free whitepaper!