Can We Make Tech Hiring Less Spammy?

Start-up companies affinity for 'hiring rock stars', 'ninjas', 'jedi's' and other super-inflated job titles from popular sci-fi franchises has gotten out of hand. I think it's safe to assume that, this superfluous jargon likely originated somewhere in Silicon Valley...

(Photo credit, Sean McEntee, Flickr)

Start-up companies affinity for 'hiring rock stars', 'ninjas', 'jedi's' and other super-inflated job titles from popular sci-fi franchises has gotten out of hand. I think it's safe to assume that, this superfluous jargon likely originated somewhere in Silicon Valley; and it's a real shame these terms are now bandied about in the UK as if anyone truly loves it. Can we all just admit that it's a bit spammy?

In a bid to avoid the infamous Jack Donaghy (30 Rock) quote 'Thank you for telling me what I already know. You should work for the Huffington Post.' It's time to find out what we don't know in the UK tech space. New mobile recruiting app, Nudge, have challenged themselves to find out what UK based tech really want from the hiring process. If you work in IT/ Tech in the UK then you simply have tochime in on the debate.

There is an overwhelming amount of data on hiring and attracting tech talent in the USA and now UK companies simply follow in their footsteps sometimes to their own detriment. Companies are now heavily focusing on having a 'fun' company culture, offering free food, cash to design your workspace and unlimited holidays have become the norm. This isn't an awful thing (unlimited holidays FTW!) but it seems everyone is so busy trying to come up with the most exciting perks and benefits that it's not really working. If you saw the below ad on your feed would you be inclined to respond?

How do you really attract tech candidates in the UK?

Mio Nilsson, CTO of the hottest new mobile ticketing app Dice.fm, joined the company because he was presented with the challenge of having to build a system that was able to sell millions of tickets without any issues whatsoever. A challenge the larger ticketing companies are struggling to do effectively. This new challenge allowed him to attract half of his tech team (through referrals) to work on Dice. Many developers and engineers are ultimately motivated by solving problems and finding innovative solutions. The tried and tested methods such as, personal introductions, referrals, personal and professional development, and having an interesting challenge to solve will reign supreme over a generic job ad every time.

If you are currently trying to fill highly technical roles, then here are the main questions to ask yourself before you post the 100th 'Rockstar Developer needed' role on Linkedin.

1. Do I need a specific skill or technology or do I need an all rounder?

2. If I want the very best, what is that going to cost me, can we get someone junior in and have them up-skill with us?

3. How quickly do I need this done? Is it a long term problem or can I just get a contractor in?

4. Will I need them just write good clean code exactly as I want or will I expect them to consider our business' challenges and come up with quick, sustainable solutions?

Hopefully the Nudge Team will come up with great insights for the UK tech market, but it's safe to say superfluous job titles and perks simply won't cut it anymore (if they ever did). If you work in the UK Tech space then please take 90 seconds to have a whinge about the state of hiring in tech.

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