How to Find Qualified Developer Candidates in 2022

“How do I find qualified developers?” or “Where do I find qualified developers?” are some of the questions tech hiring managers or tech recruiters ask whenever there are tech job openings they have to fill.

And it’s not a secret that as a hiring manager or recruiter in the tech industry, one of the biggest challenges when hiring developers is not just sourcing or finding developers alone but finding candidates who are actually qualified.

According to Qubit, there are currently 26.8 million developers in the whole world this 2022. And the State of the Developer Nation expects the number to reach 45 million by 2030. There are a lot of developers out there, but only a few are qualified to fill the job openings in your company.

Here are a few tips for finding qualified developer candidates:

1. Check your company’s previous candidate list

Not well-mentioned, but this should be the first step you should take when there’s a job opening. Before you do anything else, consider past candidates.

If you are new to a company, check if they already have a list. Or, if you’ve been in the company for a while now, review your previous list. A lot on that list are probably hired already, but there should be some of them who are either not yet employed or passive seekers.

They are already sourced, so you must contact them and hope for someone available. This would save you time and effort.

2. LinkedIn Sourcing

LinkedIn is among the most used platforms by recruiters in any industry. In fact, 89% of recruiters find LinkedIn one of the most effective platforms for candidate sourcing in 2021. There are many ways to source qualified candidates on LinkedIn and here are some of them:

• Post your job openings
• You can either wait for your target audience to see your job post or pay for LinkedIn ads to ensure your post will reach your target audience.
• Manual searching
• You can manually search for LinkedIn software developer profiles with skills matching your job descriptions and then message them to set an interview appointment.
• Join LinkedIn Groups
• When you join a group, you can either post your job ads or just browse people who are posting in that group, check their profiles, and if they qualify, you message them to extend your job position offer or interview appointment request.

One of the benefits we can get from LinkedIn is that profiles can act as people’s initial resumé. By just checking their profiles, you get a glimpse of what they can do, and if their skills match the qualifications your job opening requires.

3. Use Freelancer Platforms

The rise of freelancing is no joke. Currently, there are 1.1 billion freelancers in all industries. And 1.5 million of these freelancers are developers. That’s 5.57% of the 26.8 million developers today.

This is why freelancing platforms are good places to source candidates. Potential candidates are there, waiting for employers, recruiters, or hiring managers to hire them.

Here are some of the top freelance websites:

1. Fiverr

2. Toptal

3. Jooble

4. Freelancer.com

5. Upwork

Hiring per-project basis candidates can lead to full-time employment. If not, it can widen your network or list of candidates for future reference.

4. Take Advantage of Github

This is not a common way of sourcing candidates, but sourcing in Github is a game-changer and definitely underrated. There are over 40 million users in the GitHub community with 190 million code repositories. All users must set up a public profile to complete their sign-up.

Here’s how to source in GitHub:

1. Create an account
2. Run a search ( based on the skills or languages required in your job opening)
3. Click on results
4. Review profiles and codes
5. Contact developers

This can take a while, especially since there’s no guarantee everyone or anyone will reply to you. But it’s still an excellent way to source potential candidates.

5. Hire Third-party or Freelance Tech Sourcers

If you want to spend less time and effort sourcing for talent acquisition and have the budget to hire someone to source for you, do it. When you hire third-party sourcers, you save time and effort in finding, reviewing, and trying to get an interview with potential hires.

Here are some of the tasks sourcers would do for you:

• Data mine or search for candidates from social media, LinkedIn, online communities, and more.
• Convince talents or potential candidates for an interview or to apply.
• Do the cold calls, phone screening, and initial assessment to identify qualified candidates who fit the job description of your job opening.

One more thing, a lot of sourcers most likely already have a list of ready-to-hire candidates. This could mean a faster hiring process if the candidates they recommend pass all interviews and assessments (if you have any.)

6. Make Use of Social Media

Social media is one of the most used platforms for talent searching. Careerarc reported that 86% of job seekers use social media for job hunting. In addition, 94% of recruiters and 92% of companies are already using social media to find candidates.

Almost everyone has social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Your potential candidates are there.

You can join up to 6,000 Facebook groups of your target audience and post a job ad to attract potential candidates. You can also post it on your own profile or Facebook page if you have one. You can then ask your employees or co-workers to share your post on their profiles to increase your audience and widen your post’s visibility to users.

If you have the budget, you can boost your Facebook page’s job posts to reach more potential candidates.

7. Ask for Referrals from Your Network

This is probably one of the most effective ways to source candidates. 88% of employers rate employee referral programs as the best source of applicants.

Many people voluntarily refer someone in their network, but you can directly ask them for referrals.

When you ask for referrals, you should:

• Know when to ask
• Make sure they are available to talk to you. This way, they are not preoccupied with anything else and can focus on thinking about who they can refer to you.
• Provide the information about your job opening
• The job opening or role.
• The requirements.
• The number of candidates needed.
• The benefits and salary (if only they require it or if you are comfortable with sharing it with them).
• How to apply
• (Optional) Let them know what they can get from referring someone
• If you have the budget, you can pay your employees or someone who can refer a candidate once or ONLY when their referral is hired. This way, they are more enthusiastic about referring qualified candidates.

Getting or asking for referrals is cheaper, faster, and requires less effort than doing all the sourcing yourself. So make use of your network! Because your network has its own networks, too.

8. Add Coding Bootcamps or Training Programs to Your Network

Coding Bootcamps are tech training programs that teach aspiring developers the necessary and industry-level skills like Full-Stack Web Development, Data Science, UX/UI Design, and more. Usually, coding bootcamps last from one week to over six months.

In a short time, these aspiring developers become skilled developers because of the program’s intensive and extensive training. This allows them to land their developer jobs faster which means they will be available to be hired by companies with job openings like you.

Contact coding bootcamps or training programs for lists of their alumni who are available to be hired. Now, most — if not all — bootcamps or programs may require payment, so be sure to have a budget prepared for the list.

Final Thoughts

“Strategic sourcing in the simplest terms — leveraging all resources to get the best value for the company.” -EverythingSupplyChain.com

Sourcing is not easy, but it shouldn’t be stressful. You can use the methods mentioned above to make your sourcing process and experience less stressful. Some of these methods are free, and some may be paid, but they save you the time and effort to find the qualified candidates you need.

You can check out Village 88 Employer Network to hire vetted frontend developers and Software QA Test Engineers trained with the curriculum used by one of the leading coding bootcamps in the US, Coding Dojo, designed by its founder, Michael Choi, whose alums work in almost all of the Fortune 500 Companies. Our developers are all proficient with at least 30 up-to-date and industry-relevant technologies.

In Village 88 Employer Network, we ensure our partner companies hire the best-fit candidates for their job openings by giving shortlisted developer recommendations from our coding training program alumni. We’ll be happy to help you source easier and faster. Plus, we’ll help you save up to 60% of your hiring cost!

You can check us out at www.village88.com/ph/employer_network/.