10 Tech Recruiting Strategies To Attract Top Tech Talent

Like an onion’s skin, recruiters uncover multiple layers in their recruitment process: sourcing, screening, and evaluation to find the best talent with the modern tech recruiting strategies that gel into your organization.

Earlier, these layers had a traditional face.

Your company is looking for a front-end developer. You create a job description → publish it on job boards → scan the resume of applicants → shortlist the right fit candidate → call them for a walkthrough interview.

But with changing times, traditional talent acquisition has transformed in and out. Now, you can’t *just* hire tech candidates who are willing to work. You need candidates who align with your company values and have relevant skills and attitude to get the work done—which make the attributes of the best tech talent.

The process is complicated and draining. But we have 10 best recruiting practices outlined to help you navigate and find the right fit for your organization.

10 tech recruiting strategies for technical positions

Let’s break down each talent acquisition strategy and how to implement them to make your organization’s recruitment process seamless.

Strategy#1—Look for people who already fit the culture

You need people who understand your company’s vision and align with your values. These people make the best employees who fit into your company culture.

To hire based on culture fit, do this:

Be clear on the kind of employees you are looking for based on their skill sets, values, good word habits, and personality.
Ask the candidates to add a cover letter to their job applications. Observe cover letters that emphasize on company aspirations the candidate is attracted to
Once the candidates are filtered based on their cover letter, give them a brief test to see if they fit into the company culture.
Ask them specific questions based on their resume to understand their attitude and personality.
In your interview process, talk about the company culture in detail and highlight what makes your company better than your competitors. Be transparent about the salary, benefits, work schedule flexibility, and type of job.

Strategy #2—Understand how candidates approach their work

Picture this: a software developer kickstarts a new project. No specific requirements have been communicated. There is a high chance that the project will go haywire. That’s where great communication and questioning skills come into play—to scour information from their client to get the project on track.

No matter the tech role you are hiring for, assess their work approach by asking them problem-solving questions.

Few ideas to start with:

When was the last time you failed a project?
Share your recent best project and how did you approach it
Tell about an uncomfortable event or experience in your life that reshaped your work approach

Strategy #3—Review and optimize your job description

Your job descriptions should be able to do two things: be searchable and be easy to understand

When reviewing your job description, make sure:

The job titles are easily searchable.
Highlight the must-have skills and experience
Use white spacing and bullet points for a quick scan

Take a look at how this job description focuses on two things—the roles and responsibilities and the best fit eligibility for the role.

Tech recruiting strategy: optimize job descriptions

Why this works: We have started by introducing our company and the work done—to give the tech candidate an idea of who we are and the kind of work we have done. Plus, the job description is formatted with bullet points, white spaces, and sections in bold.

Strategy #4—Use recruitment software to save time

Imagine sorting through multiple job applications and selecting qualified candidates for the role of Java developer.

The process can leave you drained. The result? You take a longer time to select qualified candidates—leading the candidates to lose interest. An alternative to enhance this tech recruitment strategy is using the best recruitment tools and improving your hiring performance without losing out on the best talents.

Technology in recruiting like HackerEarth’s Assessments helps you create coding test interviews, evaluate the developers accurately and shortlist them based on an auto-generated leaderboard after every coding test.

Also Read: Redefine Remote Work Management With These 6 Automation Tools

Strategy #5—Use reference screening calls

The reference screening call approach involves setting up a call through your cloud phone system or other available communication channels to a candidate’s former workplace to get more information on the candidate’s performance and skills. By doing so, you get two things:

Ensure the candidate has the relevant qualifications needed for the job role
Understand if their attitude and values are the right for the organization or not

To utilize this recruiting tip, ask the candidate to share the contact details of their colleagues you can reach out to. When you reach out to the candidate’s colleagues to know more about them, ask:

What was the best project that the candidate worked on?
What are the behavioral traits of the candidate you like?
What’s one weakness of the candidate?
What’s the strength of the candidate?

Strategy #6—Work with an industry specialist recruiter

Having an industry specialist or niche recruiter acts as an amplifier to your current tech recruitment strategies. When you work with them, you can expect comprehensive market advice from them—salary expectations, current market trends, and available skill sets.

Also, they have an active network—which gives you immediate access to the niche talent pool.

A simple way to find niche recruiters is through LinkedIn. Search with keywords like “technology recruiter”, “technical recruiter”, and “tech recruiter”. Filter down the searches based on your requirements and check the recruiter’s LinkedIn profiles.

Tech recruiting strategies: finding tech recruiters on LinkedIn

Strategy #7—Hire a recruitment agency

When your company’s hiring requirements include hiring at scale, a single person cannot handle mass assessments. That’s where you need to hire a recruitment agency over a niche recruiter.

To find the right recruitment agency:

Look for agencies with (at least) some amount of experience in the technology industry.
Check the agency’s website, Glassdoor reviews, testimonials, case studies, experience, and socials like LinkedIn
Explain to them your hiring requirements
Interview the agency and ask relevant questions to understand if they are the right fit. Some questions include:

how long does it take to find the best talent
what does your hiring process look like?

Check the portfolio and testimonials of each recruiter and see how the recruiters of the agency work.
Confirm the recruitment agency’s budget before finalizing them.

Strategy #8—Leverage social recruiting

Socially active people are always on the lookout for new opportunities, and that’s where you can fill the gap by leveraging social media as an effective tech recruiting strategy. Social recruiting is all about sourcing and hiring candidates via social channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit.

There are two ways you can recruit via social channels:

By activating your LinkedIn profile and constantly sharing job roles your company is hiring for
By scanning the LinkedIn profiles of users who match the keywords your company is currently hiring for.

Sidenote: Combine both—activate your profile and do LinkedIn outreach for great conversions.

Let’s understand this with an example of Laura, a tech recruiter hiring Java developers for her company.

To hire the candidate, she created a job posting on LinkedIn and published a hiring post on her LinkedIn profile.

Next, she looked up candidates by adding the keyword “Java developers” to the LinkedIn search bar and selecting the LinkedIn profiles from relevant results. She then reached out to these people who aren’t actively looking for opportunities. She shares the details about the job profile with them and forwards the details of the interested candidates for the next stage i.e, candidate screening.

But here’s the catch: you need to have an effective social recruiting strategy for maximum results.

Here’s how you can do it:

Define the candidate persona—one who has the expertise and fits your company culture
Choose the social media platform where your ideal candidate persona is active
Create an outreach strategy and a list of candidates you’ll reach out to
Activate your social media profile by posting content about your company culture and the work you do
Start the planned recruitment activity based on the strategy
Measure how well your strategy is performing and review the KPIs; if not working well, tweak the strategy

Strategy #9—Invest in employer branding

Your employer brand defines your values and POV as a person and how it aligns with your company—attracting people who want to work with you.

With the changing recruitment practices, having an impactful employer brand is an effective tech recruiting strategy which helps the candidates decide if they would like to work with your company or not. According to CareerArc’s 2021 Future of Recruiting Study, 82% of candidates consider employer brand and reputation before applying for the job. Clearly: investing in employer branding is part of tech recruiting strategy crucial to building trust and getting the right candidate for your organization.

Shield’s Founder and CEO, Andreas Jonsson has built an engaged audience of 40K+ where he talks about personal branding and LinkedIn content creation. Because he actively creates content on LinkedIn, people who read his content know his aspirations and values.

And knowing Shield, and working with the company comes as a by-product. The impact of his employer branding is amplified by his employees too—who talk about their company, personal branding, and LinkedIn—the same content pillars the company is known for.

Because the employees enthusiastically talk about it, their connections got to know about the company, what it does, and the value it serves—which instantly attracts them to work with the company.

Also Read: Building An Employer Brand: Everything You Need To Know

Strategy #10—Organize hackathons

Hackathons are a gateway to hiring employees by testing their skills and selecting the best candidate who gives proof of their expertise. To hire employees through hackathons: create a problem statement for the candidate persona. Candidates who bring you the best solution to the problem statement are the right fit for the role.

To create the problem-solving statement for your hackathon, do this:

Define the theme of the innovation
Specify the pain points
Narrow down the problem
Define the eligibility rules for candidates to participate

Take a look at how Cogito runs its hackathon on HackerEarth. They have mentioned the job profile in their headline and highlighted the AI solution they want to build (the problem statement).

Also Read: 5 Lessons From Running 200 Remote Hackathons

Use these technical recruiting strategies to take recruitment to the next level

To amplify your recruitment and selection process, club 3-4 of these tech recruiting strategies together. For example, identify the candidates that fit into your work culture. Once identified, screen them and understand how they approach work issues. To screen them further, contact their former workplace to know about their skills and attitude better.

So, what are you waiting for? Solidify your recruitment system with these technical recruitment strategies.

FAQ About Tech Recruiting Strategies

1. What are the most effective tech recruiting strategies?

The most effective tech recruiting strategies include leveraging AI-driven tools, offering flexible work arrangements, enhancing employer branding, focusing on diversity and inclusion, and utilizing data-driven recruitment analytics.

2. How can I improve my technical recruiting strategies to attract top talent?

To improve your technical recruiting strategies, focus on building a strong employer brand, using targeted social media campaigns, participating in tech conferences and hackathons, and offering competitive compensation packages.

3. Why is employer branding important in tech recruiting strategies?

Employer branding is crucial in tech recruiting strategies because it helps attract top talent by showcasing your company culture, values, and career growth opportunities. A strong employer brand differentiates you from competitors and appeals to skilled tech professionals.

4. What role does diversity and inclusion play in technical recruiting strategies?

Diversity and inclusion are essential components of technical recruiting strategies. By promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace, you attract a wider range of candidates, foster innovation, and improve employee satisfaction and retention.

5. How can data-driven approaches enhance tech recruiting strategies?

Data-driven approaches can enhance tech recruiting strategies by providing insights into candidate behaviors, optimizing recruitment processes, and enabling better decision-making. Using analytics tools, you can track the effectiveness of your strategies and continuously improve your hiring outcomes.

Revolutionizing Mobile Talent Hiring: The HackerEarth Advantage

The demand for mobile applications is exploding, but finding and verifying developers with proven, real-world skills is more difficult than ever. Traditional assessment methods often fall short, failing to replicate the complexities of modern mobile development.

Introducing a New Era in Mobile Assessment

At HackerEarth, we're closing this critical gap with two groundbreaking features, seamlessly integrated into our Full Stack IDE:

Now, assess mobile developers in their true native environment. Our enhanced Full Stack questions now offer full support for both Java and Kotlin, the core languages powering the Android ecosystem. This allows you to evaluate candidates on authentic, real-world app development skills, moving beyond theoretical knowledge to practical application.

Say goodbye to setup drama and tool-switching. Candidates can now build, test, and debug Android and React Native applications directly within the browser-based IDE. This seamless, in-browser experience provides a true-to-life evaluation, saving valuable time for both candidates and your hiring team.

Assess the Skills That Truly Matter

With native Android support, your assessments can now delve into a candidate's ability to write clean, efficient, and functional code in the languages professional developers use daily. Kotlin's rapid adoption makes proficiency in it a key indicator of a forward-thinking candidate ready for modern mobile development.

Breakup of Mobile development skills ~95% of mobile app dev happens through Java and Kotlin — This chart illustrates the importance of assessing proficiency in both modern (Kotlin) and established (Java) codebases.

Streamlining Your Assessment Workflow

The integrated mobile emulator fundamentally transforms the assessment process. By eliminating the friction of fragmented toolchains and complex local setups, we enable a faster, more effective evaluation and a superior candidate experience.

Old Fragmented Way vs. The New, Integrated Way — Visualize the stark difference: Our streamlined workflow removes technical hurdles, allowing candidates to focus purely on demonstrating their coding and problem-solving abilities.

Quantifiable Impact on Hiring Success

A seamless and authentic assessment environment isn't just a convenience, it's a powerful catalyst for efficiency and better hiring outcomes. By removing technical barriers, candidates can focus entirely on demonstrating their skills, leading to faster submissions and higher-quality signals for your recruiters and hiring managers.

A Better Experience for Everyone

Our new features are meticulously designed to benefit the entire hiring ecosystem:

For Recruiters & Hiring Managers:

Accurately assess real-world development skills.
Gain deeper insights into candidate proficiency.
Hire with greater confidence and speed.
Reduce candidate drop-off from technical friction.

For Candidates:

Enjoy a seamless, efficient assessment experience.
No need to switch between different tools or manage complex setups.
Focus purely on showcasing skills, not environment configurations.
Work in a powerful, professional-grade IDE.

Unlock a New Era of Mobile Talent Assessment

Stop guessing and start hiring the best mobile developers with confidence. Explore how HackerEarth can transform your tech recruiting.

A New Era of Code

Vibe coding is a new method of using natural language prompts and AI tools to generate code. I have seen firsthand that this change makes software more accessible to everyone. In the past, being able to produce functional code was a strong advantage for developers. Today, when code is produced quickly through AI, the true value lies in designing, refining, and optimizing systems. Our role now goes beyond writing code; we must also ensure that our systems remain efficient and reliable.

From Machine Language to Natural Language

I recall the early days when every line of code was written manually. We progressed from machine language to high-level programming, and now we are beginning to interact with our tools using natural language. This development does not only increase speed but also changes how we approach problem solving. Product managers can now create working demos in hours instead of weeks, and founders have a clearer way of pitching their ideas with functional prototypes. It is important for us to rethink our role as developers and focus on architecture and system design rather than simply on typing c

The Promise and the Pitfalls

I have experienced both sides of vibe coding. In cases where the goal was to build a quick prototype or a simple internal tool, AI-generated code provided impressive results. Teams have been able to test new ideas and validate concepts much faster. However, when it comes to more complex systems that require careful planning and attention to detail, the output from AI can be problematic. I have seen situations where AI produces large volumes of code that become difficult to manage without significant human intervention.

AI-powered coding tools like GitHub Copilot and AWS’s Q Developer have demonstrated significant productivity gains. For instance, at the National Australia Bank, it’s reported that half of the production code is generated by Q Developer, allowing developers to focus on higher-level problem-solving . Similarly, platforms like Lovable enable non-coders to build viable tech businesses using natural language prompts, contributing to a shift where AI-generated code reduces the need for large engineering teams. However, there are challenges. AI-generated code can sometimes be verbose or lack the architectural discipline required for complex systems. While AI can rapidly produce prototypes or simple utilities, building large-scale systems still necessitates experienced engineers to refine and optimize the code.

The Economic Impact

The democratization of code generation is altering the economic landscape of software development. As AI tools become more prevalent, the value of average coding skills may diminish, potentially affecting salaries for entry-level positions. Conversely, developers who excel in system design, architecture, and optimization are likely to see increased demand and compensation.
Seizing the Opportunity

Vibe coding is most beneficial in areas such as rapid prototyping and building simple applications or internal tools. It frees up valuable time that we can then invest in higher-level tasks such as system architecture, security, and user experience. When used in the right context, AI becomes a helpful partner that accelerates the development process without replacing the need for skilled engineers.

This is revolutionizing our craft, much like the shift from machine language to assembly to high-level languages did in the past. AI can churn out code at lightning speed, but remember, “Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” Use AI for rapid prototyping, but it’s your expertise that transforms raw output into robust, scalable software. By honing our skills in design and architecture, we ensure our work remains impactful and enduring. Let’s continue to learn, adapt, and build software that stands the test of time.

Ready to streamline your recruitment process? Get a free demo to explore cutting-edge solutions and resources for your hiring needs.

What is Systems Design?

Systems Design is an all encompassing term which encapsulates both frontend and backend components harmonized to define the overall architecture of a product.

Designing robust and scalable systems requires a deep understanding of application, architecture and their underlying components like networks, data, interfaces and modules.

Systems Design, in its essence, is a blueprint of how software and applications should work to meet specific goals. The multi-dimensional nature of this discipline makes it open-ended – as there is no single one-size-fits-all solution to a system design problem.

What is a System Design Interview?

Conducting a System Design interview requires recruiters to take an unconventional approach and look beyond right or wrong answers. Recruiters should aim for evaluating a candidate’s ‘systemic thinking’ skills across three key aspects:

How they navigate technical complexity and navigate uncertainty
How they meet expectations of scale, security and speed
How they focus on the bigger picture without losing sight of details

This assessment of the end-to-end thought process and a holistic approach to problem-solving is what the interview should focus on.

What are some common topics for a System Design Interview

System design interview questions are free-form and exploratory in nature where there is no right or best answer to a specific problem statement. Here are some common questions:

How would you approach the design of a social media app or video app?

What are some ways to design a search engine or a ticketing system?

How would you design an API for a payment gateway?

What are some trade-offs and constraints you will consider while designing systems?

What is your rationale for taking a particular approach to problem solving?

Usually, interviewers base the questions depending on the organization, its goals, key competitors and a candidate’s experience level.

For senior roles, the questions tend to focus on assessing the computational thinking, decision making and reasoning ability of a candidate. For entry level job interviews, the questions are designed to test the hard skills required for building a system architecture.

The Difference between a System Design Interview and a Coding Interview

If a coding interview is like a map that takes you from point A to Z – a systems design interview is like a compass which gives you a sense of the right direction.

Here are three key difference between the two:

Coding challenges follow a linear interviewing experience i.e. candidates are given a problem and interaction with recruiters is limited. System design interviews are more lateral and conversational, requiring active participation from interviewers.

Coding interviews or challenges focus on evaluating the technical acumen of a candidate whereas systems design interviews are oriented to assess problem solving and interpersonal skills.

Coding interviews are based on a right/wrong approach with ideal answers to problem statements while a systems design interview focuses on assessing the thought process and the ability to reason from first principles.

How to Conduct an Effective System Design Interview

One common mistake recruiters make is that they approach a system design interview with the expectations and preparation of a typical coding interview.
Here is a four step framework technical recruiters can follow to ensure a seamless and productive interview experience:

Step 1: Understand the subject at hand

Develop an understanding of basics of system design and architecture
Familiarize yourself with commonly asked systems design interview questions
Read about system design case studies for popular applications
Structure the questions and problems by increasing magnitude of difficulty

Step 2: Prepare for the interview

Plan the extent of the topics and scope of discussion in advance
Clearly define the evaluation criteria and communicate expectations
Quantify constraints, inputs, boundaries and assumptions
Establish the broader context and a detailed scope of the exercise

Step 3: Stay actively involved

Ask follow-up questions to challenge a solution
Probe candidates to gauge real-time logical reasoning skills
Make it a conversation and take notes of important pointers and outcomes
Guide candidates with hints and suggestions to steer them in the right direction

Step 4: Be a collaborator

Encourage candidates to explore and consider alternative solutions
Work with the candidate to drill the problem into smaller tasks
Provide context and supporting details to help candidates stay on track
Ask follow-up questions to learn about the candidate’s experience

Technical recruiters and hiring managers should aim for providing an environment of positive reinforcement, actionable feedback and encouragement to candidates.

Evaluation Rubric for Candidates

Facilitate Successful System Design Interview Experiences with FaceCode

FaceCode, HackerEarth’s intuitive and secure platform, empowers recruiters to conduct system design interviews in a live coding environment with HD video chat.

FaceCode comes with an interactive diagram board which makes it easier for interviewers to assess the design thinking skills and conduct communication assessments using a built-in library of diagram based questions.

With FaceCode, you can combine your feedback points with AI-powered insights to generate accurate, data-driven assessment reports in a breeze. Plus, you can access interview recordings and transcripts anytime to recall and trace back the interview experience.

Learn how FaceCode can help you conduct system design interviews and boost your hiring efficiency.

10 Tech Recruiting Strategies To Find The Best Tech Talent