Guide To Technical Hiring by Devskiller

The essential guide
to technical hiring
success
Theessential
The essential guide
guide to technical
to technical hiring success
hiring success
Technical hiring can often come laden with potential hurdles. ‘Does the candidate
have the right skills?’ ‘Will they fit in with the team?’ No matter the effectiveness of a
technical screening solution like DevSkiller TalentScore, developer screening tools
can only go so far in determining who will be the ideal role fit for your company.
Eventually, the decision has to come down to the respective HR and IT teams and
that’s unfortunately where most of the problems start to occur. The two sides often
don’t agree and can’t always see eye-to-eye when it comes to choosing the perfect
candidate.
Over the course of this E-book, you will learn how to get your HR and IT teams on the
same page, and exactly what it takes to start making great technical hires.
This guide accompanies the DevSkiller, 3 part recruitment video - The 10 essential
steps to making great technical hires. To get the most out of this technical
hiring guide, it is recommended that you use this Ebook in conjunction with the
corresponding sections of the 3 part video guide.
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The essential guide to technical hiring success
Get your HR and IT departments working together
When it comes to technical hiring, in most companies the HR and IT departments

operate as separate entities. The two teams may cooperate at various times
throughout the hiring process, but this will usually be the extent of their cooperation.
Getting your HR and IT departments working together as one is imperative for making
the best technical hiring decisions.
Over the following 10 chapters of this resource, we will lay out exactly how to get your
HR and IT departments to cooperate and how to proceed once they are on the same
side.
The essential guide to technical hiring will cover:
1. Defining the need
2. The job description
3. The job advertisement
4. Publishing the job advertisement
5. Sourcing candidates
6. Skills assessment
7. The interview stage
8. Decision and offer
9. Feedback
10. Onboarding
11. Decision and feedback after the probationary period
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1.
Defining the need

The first thing to get right when it comes to
successful technical hiring is defining the need.
Defining the need is a surprisingly simple concept

in technical recruitment that many recruiters don’t
get right. It is simply determining what is needed
from the candidate and separating this from what
is desirable. Focusing on what is necessary, rather
than what would be good to have.
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1.1 Specify the technologies
Defining the need starts with the company specifying the list of technologies in which
they need their candidate to be proficient. This list should include the technologies that
the candidate will be using every day if they are successful in securing the job offer.
PRO TIP:
Recruiting companies should be careful at this point, not to make
their list of technologies a ‘wishlist.’ Stick to only what is needed and
necessary for the role when compiling your list, don’t simply list all the
technologies that would be helpful if the candidate possessed.
The role of the IT manager here is to come up with the list of technologies required. The
role of the HR hiring manager is to challenge this list and make sure everything that is
included is absolutely crucial to be able to succeed within the role.
Technical recruitment shouldn’t be a challenge

to find the candidate with the largest list of
technologies at their disposal in which they are
proficient. It should be about finding the right
candidate who will possess the right core skills to
fit the role(that includes more than just technical
proficiency). If you make your list too unachievable,
it will make it harder for your demands to be
realized.
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1.2 Defining core skills
Core skills are simply those skills that are absolutely crucial for your technical
candidate to possess. It is for your IT manager to decide what these crucial elements
are, be it Java, Python, etc.
There is nothing wrong with having a ‘wish list’ of additional skills. There may be
many auxiliary skills that it would be great for your candidate to possess, such as
‘proficiency in Android’ or ‘experience working with the cloud’. However, these skills
may be secondary and not as important based on the company’s individual needs.
Certain skills can be easily taught and therefore are not as crucial, so they shouldn’t be
confused with core skills.
You can divide your core skills into a 20/80 format. Here’s how to do it:
20% 80%
CORE
Should be core requirements Should be able to be divided
SKILLS
that are essential to be classed into the ‘auxiliary’ or ‘non-
as qualified for the role. The essential’ requirements
technologies most used by i.e.technologies your company
your company. sometimes uses or might look
to use in the future.
You have to decipher what is integral from what is teachable, and what is desirable
from what is essential.
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1.3 What can be done to help HR better understand the technical

requirements of the role?
One of the main issues stopping effective collaboration between HR and IT, is
that HR employees are sometimes not as technically minded as those in the IT
department. However, a technical recruiter, by definition, should already have a better
understanding of technical terms than most recruiters, in order to be able to do the
job.
However, as a recruiter it is important to remain humble, intellectually curious and

listen more than you talk. A lot of tech recruiters shy away from the technical aspects
of the job. Asking IT questions can help you to better understand what is needed, but
also to learn from and get to know the IT team members around you better.
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2.
The job description

One of the most crucial parts of hiring the right tech
candidate is to correctly define the job description. A
misleading job description can mean hiring managers have
more candidates to work through than is necessary and
can waste a lot of time. So it is important to get it right.
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For technical hiring specifically, there are six key steps that need to be
followed:
• Be concise
• Describe the company
• Define the project
• List the technologies the candidate will be working with

(rather than a wishlist of technologies it might be beneficial for them to know)
• Describe the team
• Don’t overgeneralize on salary
2.1 Be concise
The important message to take away from writing a good job description is that you
don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Contrary to what many believe, it doesn’t have to
be the most exciting and exhilarating piece of copy your marketing team has ever
produced! A good job description simply needs to be concise.
The job description should include specific details about what the role will entail and
precise information that it is important for a potential candidate to know before
applying.
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2.2 Describe the company
It is vital to give your candidates key information about their potential new employers.
Candidates need to know the kind of company they are applying for before they can
confidently fill in their application.
Be sure to describe:
• The company’s basic mission and purpose
• What the company does
• Information on company culture
2.3 Define the project
It is important to accurately describe the project or work that the candidate will be
expected to carry out. There is no greater waste of time and resources when it comes
to recruitment than to hire someone you think is great for the role, only to have them
drop out because the work is not as they expected. This can be ironed out before it
even comes to the interviewing process.
2.4 List the technologies the candidate will be using
Ensure to mention the technology stack the candidate will be using for the role.
Whether the role involves a front-end, back-end or full-stack developer is a crucial
piece of information that has to be included from the get-go. If you work primarily in
HR and don’t know the answer to this question, then consult your IT department.
To get your technical hiring right it is imperative that the HR and IT teams co-operate
effectively so that there are no gaps left in your job description. It is essential to
include the programming languages, frameworks, and tools that your developer
candidate will be using.
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2.5 Describe the team
Let your candidate know the size of the team and

the department in which they will be working. Most
technical experts will work in the IT department, but
perhaps the role will require them to work directly
with another department for a large amount of the
time. For instance, a frontend developer, working
closely with the marketing team. This information
should all be conveyed in the job description.
2.6 Don’t overgeneralize on salary
It has become entirely commonplace for companies to skirt around mentioning salary
in their job descriptions. There are, of course, benefits to this approach. However,
when it comes to technical hiring it is often better to be upfront and honest about the
salary available.
Due to industry-wide shortages in the number of developers worldwide, there is such

a wealth of positions open to most candidates in the technology sector, that many can
afford to be particular about the roles they take on. Meaning, that not listing a salary,
or listing a vague, wide-ranging salary, can actually result in candidates passing up on
the position.
Instead, it will most likely help your cause to be specific about how much the candidate
can expect to earn. If you want to leave room for negotiation, then use a narrow-
ranging salary figure. Also, be sure to mention the location where the candidate will be
primarily working.
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PRO TIP:
Be sure your listed salary is appropriate for the job you are
offering. Don’t expect to hire a top, senior developer, if you aren’t
paying a competitive enough salary to attract one.
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3.
The job advertisement

Once the job description has been properly defined it is time to create
the job advertisement.
Creating a great job advertisement can be divided into two main areas;
defining the profile of the candidate and increasing brand exposure.
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3.1 Define the profile of the candidate
This is where you lay out what you are expecting of a candidate. Describe the skills
in which you expect them to be proficient including both soft and hard skills. If
the candidate will need to cooperate with other teams regularly, or lead a team,
then possessing certain, essential soft skills will be just as important as having
the technical skills required. Language skills are equally as important. Not only
programming languages but spoken and written languages. Many companies in the
technology industry require workers to be proficient in English, for instance.
How the candidate will be expected to conduct themselves, the hours they will work
and the attire they will be expected to wear, are all details that need to be mentioned
in the job advertisement. For technical hires, in particular, it is important to also
mention the kind of working environment the candidate can expect, not only within
the team but also in terms of the technical environment in which they will be primarily
operating. For instance, Windows-only, or solely in Android applications.
It is crucial to avoid someone applying for the role who is deeply underqualified, or
not at all suited for the position. A good, descriptive job advertisement is the key to
making sure the majority of your candidates who apply are suitable.
PRO-TIP:
Remember this is not a wish list where you describe your ideal
candidate. It is a practical list of requirements that are the
minimum for a candidate taking on the role.
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3.2 Increase your company’s brand exposure
Within the job advertisement, it is also worth mentioning the benefits that come with
working for your company. If you have an employee rewards scheme, health care
package, or flexible working hours, make sure to mention it.
The pandemic, and subsequent global lockdown of 2020, meant that remote work
became commonplace around the world—particularly for developers who only need
a laptop to be able to perform their role. Therefore, if your company can offer flexible
working hours and entirely remote employment, then this needs to be conveyed. For
many, it will be a benefit, whereas for others it might be a mitigating factor. The same
should be said if your business requires someone to be on-site, or to take a hybrid, on/
off approach to office working.
Whatever your company set-up, it’s best to convey everything honestly and clearly.
You don’t want to be in the position of having a great candidate that cannot work due
to poorly communicated elements of the job. At this stage, it is also worth mentioning
any charitable or community-based projects your company takes part in, as well as
any employee outings.
The factors described in this section will help to ‘sell’ your company to the candidate.
After all, with developer candidates, it is often as much about them choosing your
company, as it is your company hiring them.
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4.
Publishing the job

advertisement
Once you have completed the 6 steps covered in section 2 of this
resource and the additional steps covered under section 3, you are now
ready to start publishing your job ad.
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Publishing the advertisement is the responsibility of the HR team, mainly your

company’s recruiting manager. The IT department has done its part for now, by
providing a clear and concise list of requirements needed for the ideal candidate. HR
managers are the ones responsible for sharing the advertisement to Linkedin and
employment websites like Indeed and Glassdoor. Facebook job vacancy groups and
Twitter posts can also be a helpful way of spreading the word about your vacant role.
One of the main things technical recruiters need to be sure to do, however, is to be
present in the places their potential candidates are also present. For developers, this
can often be online tech forums and tech communities. It’s important that your job
advertisement be seen where it matters most.
Hiring events can also be of help. Here, companies use summer intern programs as a
way to bring awareness to a role. Some may even offer a job for the candidate with the
highest tech assessment score.
The next section will delve further into this topic, including the best methods for
sourcing candidates.
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5.
Sourcing candidates
When it comes to sourcing candidates, the optimal setup for technical
recruitment is if the IT department supports HR in these activities
xby providing a gateway to the technical community. It is the IT
department’s role to provide access to candidates in areas that are
harder for HR recruiters to access. Namely, closed technical groups.
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For instance, there are communities such as Stack Overflow and GitHub that consist
only of technical people. Perhaps most influentially of all, there are developer-
focused Slack channels where technical experts discuss various niche topics related
specifically to IT. Sometimes these are closed groups that either do not allow HR
personnel to join, or do not welcome advances from HR professionals for recruitment
purposes. It is here that the IT department can spread the word to existing members
about your company by posting details of the job advertisement or discussing the
opening in forums.
If IT technicians are taking part in tech

conferences, or giving presentations in front of
an audience of predominantly developers, then
they can easily mention that your company is
hiring, or even place a slide dedicated to this
within their presentation. The presentation
itself will create brand awareness about your
company and the vacant role.
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6.
Skills assessment
Your thorough preparation process when creating the job description will mean that the job advert
itself will act as your first screening tool. If written well it will act as a filter for unsuitable candidates.
Now it’s time to assess the skills of the candidates who have applied.
The skills assessment stage of technical recruitment should be handled by the IT

department. It is the technical staff within your organization that possesses the ability
and the know-how to be able to identify the best candidates from the talent pool.
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When it comes to verifying skills for technical roles, traditional CVs are ineffective. Why? To put it
simply, candidates can lie about their abilities. The ability to write a good CV, unfortunately, doesn’t
always translate into the ability to write good code. Also, highly skilled introverts are less likely to
boast about their capabilities than other personality types. So you need to level the playing field.
Phone screening can be an effective way of whittling out weaker candidates but it is not foolproof.
Some can talk the talk better than they can walk the walk. However, calling each candidate and
spending around 10 minutes verifying whether they are suitable for the role can offer interesting
insight into your candidates. Although it can also be a very time-consuming and arduous process.
Automated skills testing platforms like DevSkiller TalentScore, offer an elegant and accurate
solution to screening woes. If the hiring company’s brand awareness is strong, a developer coding
test can be automatically sent to a potential candidate without prior warning.
If the hiring company’s employer branding isn’t as strong, it is recommended that the HR
department contact the candidate directly, prior to the skills assessment, to brief the candidate
and prepare them to take the test, before it is sent. This added level of communication gives you
the highest chance that the candidate will complete the test.
The screening process might look different from company to company, but there are certain
general rules that should be followed:
1. Keep your recruitment process transparent and simple
Let your candidates know how long the recruitment process will take and try not to go over
this timeframe. Some candidates will need to give notice to a previous employer or may need
something that starts immediately, so be as honest and open as you can be about what exactly the
process will entail.
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Also, the candidate may be participating in multiple recruitment

processes at once. If so, they may be more likely to favor one that
is simple and transparent.
2. Be realistic
The old saying in recruitment that you shouldn’t be ‘looking for

a unicorn,’ is still as relevant as ever. It means you need to be
realistic about your expectations if you want them to be met.
Don’t expect that your recruitment efforts will result in the
greatest candidate you have ever set eyes on, walking in the
door. It might happen, but it shouldn’t be what you’re aiming for. Instead, what you need to do is
find a candidate who is willing to learn. Someone who, although they might not be an expert in
every aspect of the job, is keen to take on new knowledge and shows a passion and aptitude for the
subject.
3. Don’t overpromise
Don’t make commitments you can’t stick to, just to get a candidate in the door. If you can’t offer
them part-time hours, don’t say you can. If you know they are going to be working primarily in a
programming language different from their preferred language, tell them. It is much better to part
company at this stage than to make the wrong hire and find out later.
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7.
The interview stage

The interview is one of the most crucial stages of the technical
recruitment process. Unfortunately, it is also where the most mistakes
are made.
Very often in technical recruitment, there are two interviews (not
including the phone interview which is part of the screening stage).
There is one interview conducted by HR- the behavioral interview, and
there is one conducted by the IT department- the technical interview.
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The behavioral interview
Usually, in the behavioral interview HR deals with soft skills and asks ‘behavioral’ questions. It is a
chance for the recruiting manager to assess the candidate’s fit for the company. Meaning how they
present themselves, and the kind of person they might be to work with.
At this stage, it is okay that the behavioral interview only be conducted by HR, because it is simply
an assessment of their character and personality. It is not based on technical knowledge.
The technical interview
The technical interview, led by the IT team, is an assessment of the candidate’s actual technical
skills and their ability to perform the role in question.
What people say and what people do are often very different. It is one thing to ask a candidate in an
interview how they would react in a certain situation. While, it is a very different thing to actually put
the candidate in that situation, to see how they react. This is the point of the technical interview.
In fact, this is also why technical assessment solutions like DevSkiller TalentScore, are so
effective during the skills assessment stage of recruitment. They actually put the candidate in the
situation—albeit a simulated version, and ask that the candidate solve the problem, rather than
simply telling the interviewer the solution.
The technical interview stage of your recruitment process should follow a similar pattern—
minus the simulations. During the technical interview the IT hiring manager should be present to
challenge the candidate’s knowledge.
Keeping the two areas, HR and IT, separate during the technical interview is one of the crucial
mistakes made by most companies during technical hiring. Here’s why.
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7.1. HR must be present in the technical

interview
More often than not in technical recruitment, because the

behavioral interview has been carried out by a member
of the HR department, most companies think this means
that the technical interview should be carried out only by
the IT department. This is not the case.
The role of the IT team in the technical interview is to focus on hard skills and the candidate’s
engineering aptitude to be able to work with a specific tech stack. They should aim to challenge the
candidate and to test how comfortable they are in discussing certain technical issues.
However, it is imperative that the HR representative is also present in the technical interview.
The two parties need to continue their collaboration together. Your company’s hiring manager, or
someone from the HR department, should be there to observe the candidate’s behavior at that
moment. They are there to assess how well the candidate handles the problems presented to them
by the technical interviewer.
It is imperative that both the HR and IT representatives understand that they each have their own
responsibilities and are there to assess the candidate in different ways. It is the HR person who
should take the backseat here. They are more of an observer at this stage, but their presence is,
nonetheless, absolutely essential.
The technical interviewer should take the lead in questioning the candidate. Their goal is to develop
a conversation with the candidate. and assess their answers. This conversation will test the
candidate’s real technical knowledge because it is very difficult to speak confidently about a subject
you know nothing about.
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7.2 Challenge the candidate
One of the best methods to challenge a candidate’s knowledge during an interview is to talk about
controversial technical subjects, to ask difficult questions, or to disagree when the candidate
provides the right answer. In doing so, you are not only challenging the candidate’s knowledge but
also demonstrating to them that they will be working with highly-skilled individuals they can learn
from.
IT representatives can do this because in the technical sphere everything is context-specific,

meaning you can disagree in a safe way and justify your position.
It is even well known in technical interviews for the lead interviewer to occasionally ask a
deliberately obscure question or, in some cases, state something that is purposefully wrong. This
method is designed to challenge the candidate, to watch how they respond.
Although it seems like a strange approach, this interview practice should not be seen as
controversial. The purpose of the interview is to find out exactly how the candidate will react in
situations just like this one. It is precisely these situations that make it important that a member of
the HR team be present in the technical interview. Not to ask the hard questions, but to observe the
behavior of the candidate and to assess the way in which they respond.
For instance, a candidate might claim on their C.V. to be calm under pressure. However, if they act
differently in the technical interview the moment any pressure is applied, then the hiring manager
can observe this response and take note. By following this interview form, you combine the hiring
approaches of both, HR and IT. Meaning your company will be able to make much more astute hiring
decisions.
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7.3 Interviewing senior developers
When interviewing for senior positions, recruiters are often hiring candidates for positions that
require greater knowledge than the recruiters themselves possess. The interviewer, in this
instance, can decide to bring in an external senior developer to sit in on the interview.
The senior developer’s presence is important to:

Work in conjunction with the interviewer to formulate questions
Listen in to the candidate’s responses
Verify the candidate’s answers
The technical interviewer doesn’t have to be an expert in the particular field in which they are
interviewing. The interviewer may ask a hard question that even they themselves might not know
the answer to. In this situation, gauging how confidently the candidate replies and how well they
formulate their answer, can tell the interviewer enough about how well the candidate knows the
subject in question.
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7.4. Focus on the technologies
Another way recruiters can properly prepare for technical interviews is to focus on the technologies
in which the candidate claims to be proficient. Formulate questions based on particular niche
programming languages or frameworks, and ask the candidate to discuss these areas.
Enquiring about previous projects the candidate has worked on that involved these technologies
can also be helpful. For instance, in the case of junior developers, their previous work experience
won’t tell you much about their abilities. Instead, ask them to discuss a university project they
worked on that involved a particular technology that your company uses every day. This alone
might provide you with the answers you need regarding their ability to work with that technology.
In general, the technical interview is a chance to observe how passionately the candidate answers
the questions given to them. How enthusiastic their answers are, and how much they are able to
talk about the given subject. For HR managers, it is a chance to observe the candidate when they
aren’t asking the questions. For IT, it is an opportunity to test how much the candidate really knows
about their chosen tech stack or preferred language.
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8.
Decision and offer

Collaboration between the HR and IT departments should continue
into the next section of the technical hiring process - the decision and
offer. Here, the two parties should cooperate to make a decision on
whether or not to present the candidate with a job offer.
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The decision is based on two factors:
The behavioral interview: HR can assess the candidate’s suitability for the role
The technical interview: IT can assess whether or not the candidate possesses all of the
required skills to perform the role.
HR will have a good idea of the type of candidate they are dealing with from the answers provided
during the behavioral interview. They will also gain additional insight from sitting in on the technical
interview and watching how well the candidate responds to the challenges presented to them.
From this information, the HR representative will have a good idea of whether or not the candidate
is the right fit for the company.
If the IT department agrees that the candidate possesses the necessary skills required to perform
the role, because they did well in their technical interview, then they will most likely be offered the
job.
However, the decision and offer process is often not as simple as the aforementioned scenario.
Sometimes, a candidate has some of the necessary skills, but not all. In this case, HR and IT need to
sit down and discuss exactly what the candidate is lacking, how crucial that skill is, and whether or
not the candidate can perform the role without that skill.
8.1 When a candidate is lacking in certain key skills
There are several options available for candidates that have demonstrated that they will be a great
fit for the company, but don’t possess all of the required skills to perform the role.
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Firstly, IT has to assess how long it will take for the candidate to learn the particular skills that are
missing, and how integral they are to the role. Often, new hires can be taught certain skills while on
the job and this is no different in IT. If you are hiring for a Java developer and encounter a candidate
who doesn’t know Java, then this is too big a hurdle for the candidate to overcome. Remember, as
long as the skills are reasonably teachable, then the new hire can acquire them over time.
One option available to the hiring team is to decide to hire the candidate, but to lessen their offer.
This is a negotiation on the part of the company. After all, the candidate hasn’t brought all of the
goods to the table, so why pay full price? A bargaining method to use here is to offer the candidate
less money than originally offered, for a trial period of say, 3 months. Explain that the candidate can
still receive the original amount after the 3 month trial period ends, on the condition that they are
able to learn the skill that is missing from their preexisting competencies.
In such situations, it is the IT representative, rather than HR, who explains to the candidate why
they are being offered less money than was previously advertised. This explanation is necessary
because it is the IT department who have the knowledge of the skills required, and also the IT
department that will be responsible for making sure this candidate learns the desired skills over the
coming months. For this reason, it is vital that they are aware of exactly what is missing and what
they need to do moving forward.
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8.2 Adjusting your expectations based on the number of hires you need
If you are only hiring for one position, say a Front-end software developer, then all you have to do is
find the candidate most suitable for the role. The candidate with the most experience and the most
impressive skill set will be offered the job. However, what if you are hiring for more than one role?
What if you’re hiring an entire team of developers?
In this case, the hiring team made up of HR and IT representatives need to adjust the bar in order to
be able to fill all of the desired positions. The point is that if you are hiring 20 developers and not just
one, you are no longer pitting them against each other. You are not looking to single out who is the
best developer in the group. You are simply assessing who does or does not have the necessary set
of skills to be able to perform the role. Theoretically, anyone with the right skillset has a chance of
being offered the job. In other words, experience is not essential so long as they have the minimum
requirement.
As a technical hiring team, you need to also be realistic about your chances of finding the perfect
candidate. There is a scarcity of developers available, and in order to hire several at once, you need
to be prepared to adjust your expectations.
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9.
Feedback
Providing feedback is crucial in technical hiring. Many companies think
they do not have to offer feedback to their interview candidates. In
fact, unless a candidate is actually offered the job, in many cases and
many industries, they will never hear anything back from the company
about an interview at all.
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If you are only hiring for one position, say a Front-end software developer, then all you have to do is
find the candidate most suitable for the role. The candidate with the most experience and the most
impressive skill set will be offered the job. However, what if you are hiring for more than one role?
What if you’re hiring an entire team of developers?
9.1. Offering feedback
From the candidate’s perspective, it might be that they did everything right in the interview
process. The candidate might possess all of the necessary requirements to do the job, but was just
beaten to the post by another outstanding candidate. It could also be the case that they lacked a
simple skill that could be learned to make sure they get the job next time.
Without offering feedback, a candidate has no idea why they were overlooked. For this reason,
providing feedback should be a normal part of your technical recruitment process. There are a few
aspects to get right here.
First of all, you need to ask the candidate if they would like feedback. Perhaps they don’t. That’s
their decision and not for you or your company to concern yourselves with. If the candidate does
ask for feedback, then it should always be made available. Who should provide that feedback,
however, depends on the circumstances.
9.2. Who should provide candidate feedback?
The person responsible within your technical hiring team for providing feedback is based solely on
the type of feedback being provided. If the candidate has been successful in their interview process
and your company would like to offer them the job, then it is fine that this feedback is provided by
the HR team.
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However, if the candidate has not been successful in their interview, the party providing the
feedback will depend on the reasons why the candidate has not been successful. If the reason
they were not successful relates to their soft skills then this information can be conveyed by an HR
representative. It is important for consistency that this be the same HR representative who has
been present throughout the entire recruitment process.
If, however, the candidate has been unsuccessful because of their technical interview, then
feedback must be communicated by the IT representative. This feedback loop is something that
many companies get wrong during their technical hiring process.
It is imperative that any technical feedback be provided by the IT department. So the exact
reasons for why the technical interview was unsuccessful, can be discussed. It is also crucial that
the feedback be provided by the same IT person who led the technical interview. Feedback after
the technical interview is a chance for the IT department to explain to the candidate what they got
wrong and how they can improve next time.
9.3. Why provide candidate feedback?
Aside from being helpful to the candidate, offering detailed feedback is also beneficial to your
company. Providing feedback is a chance to represent your company and improve your employer
branding. Feedback is a chance to demonstrate that your company is helpful, approachable, and
honest, even in the case of unsuccessful candidates. Even your rejected candidates will leave with a
sense that the process was worth their time.
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The notion of feedback contributes to providing a great candidate experience which might help
you in your search for the perfect candidate. Providing a positive candidate experience and clear
feedback to a candidate who is unsuccessful might mean they recommend your company to a
friend who is also a developer looking for work. In other words, getting your technical hiring process
right can mean even unsuccessful candidates become ambassadors for your company.
PRO-TIP:
Sometimes during the interview stage, you might come across

a candidate that you like, but feel they don’t yet possess the
necessary skills required to be able to offer them the job. In this
case, ask them to go away and come back in 6 months, to a year.
Once they have gained the necessary skills they are missing. For
young developers, in particular, this can offer candidates who
aren’t quite at the required level, a great incentive to improve. It
means candidates with potential don’t slip through the cracks and
end up working with a rival company down the track. Additionally,
you will improve your company’s chances that next time you are
hiring, there is already a candidate ready and waiting.
36
10.
Onboarding
Effective onboarding in technical recruitment can be divided into
two sections: HR-related onboarding and IT-related onboarding.
Onboarding should be more than just a welcome to the company.
37
10.1. HR onboarding
HR onboarding is a more general onboarding process. The kind that a new hire, outside of the IT
department, might also receive. It is usually organized by the HR business partner and involves
mainly administrative procedures, the providing of equipment by the company, and so forth. It will
also usually include general company-wide information like how to request holidays, what to do if
you’re sick, etc.
10.2. Technical onboarding
However, in technical recruitment there is also a second part of the onboarding process, which
should be carried out by the IT department; usually the head of the department.
Technical onboarding involves ensuring that your new hire is familiar with the tools and processes
necessary to carry out their work.
On a basic level, this might be to introduce them to Slack, and an issue tracking software like Jira,
and to make sure they have access. However, depending on their exact role within your company,
there will be many more technical processes that will need to be introduced. For example, your new
developer might need to be talked through how your company uses version control systems, the
architecture of the software they’ll be using, environments, and processes. They should also be
talked through the various business applications and use cases of the software they’ll be using. This
kind of project-related onboarding is firmly in the sphere of IT and should not be left up to HR, or
passed over as unimportant.
38
11.
Decision and feedback

after the probationary
period
The final stage of the technical hiring process is the decision of whether
to keep the candidate on after their probationary period ends. While also
providing them with feedback on their work over that period.
39
The first mistake many companies make at this stage is to wait until the probationary period is over,
before offering any feedback. This is not particularly helpful for either party and should be avoided
if possible. After all, it is not much help to a new hire if at the end of the probationary period they are
told they have not been successful, despite having never received any feedback on their work until
that point.
If, after one month, you have feedback to share with your candidate, then share it, rather than wait.
It will be more helpful to the candidate and to your company. If improvements or changes need to
be made to the work the candidate is carrying out, then this gives them a chance to react while
still in their probationary period. It also gives your company a chance to assess how well they take
criticism and how well they respond. If there are concerns, raise them honestly with your new hire.
Let them know that there is time to improve or if all is well, simply let them know how well they are
doing.
The same is true if you know that you want to terminate the new employee’s contract at the
end of the probationary period. Once you know this and the decision has been reached, then
communicate it straight away. There is no point in dragging out the process if you are sure the
decision has already been reached. When it comes to feedback during the probationary period, it is
always better to be proactive rather than reactive.
40
o The essential guide to technical hiring
E success
Conclusion
The 11 chapters covered in this resource are designed to provide you with a holistic and
consistent technical hiring process.
As we’ve seen it’s vital to your recruiting success to get your company’s HR and IT
teams to cooperate together. Define the needs of the role and create a thorough job
description, that is not a wishlist but a solid set of core skills. Remember the three rules
of effective screening: to keep your recruitment process transparent and simple, be
realistic, and don’t overpromise.
Make sure your HR team is present in the technical interview as well as the behavioral
interview. Always be prepared to offer feedback, provided the candidate wants to
receive it, and make sure you have two parts to your onboarding procedure - general
onboarding, organized by HR, and technical onboarding, organized by the IT team.
Follow those steps and you’ll cover all you need.
Through meticulous preparation, organization - and perhaps the help of an advanced

developer skills assessment tool - your company will be able to source the best
technical candidates and make great hires, year after year.
41

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The essential guide

Get your HR and IT departments working together

When it comes to technical hiring, in most companies the HR and IT departments

The essential guide to technical hiring will cover:

1. Defining the need

2. The job description

3. The job advertisement

4. Publishing the job advertisement

7. The interview stage

8. Decision and offer

11. Decision and feedback after the probationary period

Defining the need

Defining the need is a surprisingly simple concept

1.1 Specify the technologies

Technical recruitment shouldn’t be a challenge

1.2 Defining core skills

1.3 What can be done to help HR better understand the technical

However, as a recruiter it is important to remain humble, intellectually curious and

The job description

• Describe the company

• Define the project

• List the technologies the candidate will be working with

• Describe the team

• Don’t overgeneralize on salary

2.2 Describe the company

2.3 Define the project

2.4 List the technologies the candidate will be using

2.5 Describe the team

Let your candidate know the size of the team and

2.6 Don’t overgeneralize on salary

Due to industry-wide shortages in the number of developers worldwide, there is such

offering. Don’t expect to hire a top, senior developer, if you aren’t

paying a competitive enough salary to attract one.

The job advertisement

3.1 Define the profile of the candidate

3.2 Increase your company’s brand exposure

Publishing the job

Publishing the advertisement is the responsibility of the HR team, mainly your

If IT technicians are taking part in tech

The skills assessment stage of technical recruitment should be handled by the IT

1. Keep your recruitment process transparent and simple

Also, the candidate may be participating in multiple recruitment

The old saying in recruitment that you shouldn’t be ‘looking for

The interview stage

The behavioral interview

The technical interview

7.1. HR must be present in the technical

More often than not in technical recruitment, because the

7.2 Challenge the candidate

IT representatives can do this because in the technical sphere everything is context-specific,

7.3 Interviewing senior developers

The senior developer’s presence is important to:

7.4. Focus on the technologies

Decision and offer

The decision is based on two factors:

8.1 When a candidate is lacking in certain key skills

9.1. Offering feedback

9.2. Who should provide candidate feedback?

9.3. Why provide candidate feedback?

Sometimes during the interview stage, you might come across

10.2. Technical onboarding

Decision and feedback

Through meticulous preparation, organization - and perhaps the help of an advanced