How We Optimised Our Hiring Pipeline

Given at DevOps London Meetup #25, I share how we quickly and efficiently doubled the size of the team. There's a recording of this talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubX2k0hnUD0

Transcript

1. HOW WE OPTIMISED OUR HIRING PIPELINE_ JON TOPPER | @jtopper | he/him/his
2. WE’RE HIRING! “ ” Literally everybody
3. OUR HIRING PIPELINE_ Write your job description Advertise the role Visualise the pipeline Open the funnel Make your selection
4. WRITE YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION_ What is required? What is a nice to have? What do you offer in return? Have you unintentionally excluded anyone?
5. “Seeking fearless, driven, rockstar ninja hackers to bro down and rage on code. We provide breakfast lunch and dinner, free beer and foosball” http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/
6. WRITING A JOB DESCRIPTION IS A MARKETING ACTIVITY_
7. VISUALISE THE PIPELINE_
10. WORKABLE BENEFITS_ Online application form Track candidate progress Email integration Template responses Score cards https://www.workable.com/rc/B0BACD7370
11. ADVERTISE YOUR ROLE_ JobServe Indeed LinkedIn Hacker News Careers Adzuna (beta) Twitter Stack Overflow Careers Silicon Milkroundabout ! " ! # $ #! #! #
14. OPEN THE FUNNEL_ Inclusive job description Remote work Flexible hours Show your salary range Make yourself visible Respond quickly to applicants
15. MAKE YOUR SELECTION_ CV Review 5 mins Video / Phone Screen 30 - 45 mins Technical Assessment 5 mins setup / 30 mins review 2 - 4hrs (candidate) Face to Face Interview 1hr+ 4 people + candidate
16. THE PHONE SCREEN IS A SALES ACTIVITY_
17. PHONE SCREEN_ Sell the job, and the company! Can the candidate communicate clearly? Have they understood the job role? Can they back up their CV experience with anecdote? Do you like the candidate?
18. TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT_ Can the candidate follow instructions? Can they perform systems troubleshooting? Do they think and work in a DevOps way? Can they tweak the config of a system and application they’ve never seen before? Are they curious?
19. FACE TO FACE_ A chance for more of the team to get involved. Talk about current / most recent job. Discuss interest in our role. Talk about a recent infrastructure project. Whiteboard design exercise. Discuss notice period, salary expectations.
20. LET’S TALK ABOUT RECRUITERS_
22. RECRUITERS WILL WASTE YOUR TIME IF YOU LET THEM_
23. No recruiters
24. (Note to recruiters: please don’t call, we’d rather hear from you by email)
25. “If you are a recruiter calling about a vacancy, we’d rather deal with you by email. Please hang up now, and email careers@scalefactory.com"
26. I ignore connection requests from recruiters I haven’t met in person
27. RECRUITER APPROACH_ Warned off in job ads Warned off on website Warned off in recorded phone message Warned off on LinkedIn Canned email responses Name and shame policy
29. OUR OPTIMAL HIRING PIPELINE_ Stop recruiters wasting your time Write your job description Advertise the role Visualise the pipeline Open the funnel Make your selection
30. WE’RE HIRING! “ ” Also us
31. KEEP IN TOUCH_ http:/ /www.scalefactory.com/ https:/ /github.com/scalefactory @jtopper / @scalefactory jon@scalefactory.com