Imagine this: You went to a restaurant for lunch.

There is a 30 min wait period and you decide to wait since you heard great things about their food.

After 45 minutes, you get a table but there is no waiter in sight to request a menu card.

A waiter finally comes up to you, looks disinterested in taking your order, and doesn’t even get you a water bottle.

You wait 20 more minutes after placing your order and decide you had enough. You get up and leave—without even tasting the food.

Now, the figurative restaurant is your job application process. If the process is slow, lengthy, and complicated, candidates will not have the patience to see it through.

If you as recruiters do not show an interest in them, keep them in the loop proactively, and nurture them, your candidates will go elsewhere for a job.

Moreover, even if your organization has a reputation as a great place to work, candidates will never find out because getting in itself is so problematic.

Good employer branding and robust corporate culture mean nothing if the candidate experience you provide is not up to the mark. It is a large part of your business and even if you are doing all the right things, there will always be improvements to be made.

By improving candidate experience, you can increase conversion rates and reduce cost per hire. The best way to do so is to collect and use candidate experience metrics and insights.

Use the data you gather to see how candidates interact with job postings, h ow they click through the application form, and what their profile looks like at different stages of the application process.

Shift your focus to improving your candidate experience! Let’s start with the basics and discuss how hiring metrics and insights can help create an awesome candidate experience.

Candidate experience metrics: Which are the most relevant?

#1 Time-to-hire

Time-to-hire is the length of time it takes to fill a vacancy. This is one of the most important candidate experience metrics because if you’re unable to fill positions quickly, you may be losing valuable resources in terms of productivity, morale, and revenue.

Time-to-hire is a metric that measures the average length of time it takes to fill an open position. You can measure this in days, weeks, or months, depending on your industry and how quickly you need to fill the vacancy.

For example, if you run a fast food restaurant with long lines of hungry customers waiting for their lunch orders and only one person is working the register while another employee is off sick with the flu, it would be important to find someone new as soon as possible.

If you can improve or make your time-to-hire metric quicker, you’ll be able to hire new employees faster. This will allow you to fill positions more quickly, increasing productivity and revenue.

Also read: Data-Driven Recruiting – All You Need To Know

#2 Interview-to-offer ratio

The next metric to track is the number of interviews it takes before you make an offer to a new employee. This is the number of interviews you conduct divided by the number of offers you make.

For example, if you conduct 10 interviews and hire only one new employee, your ratio is 10/1. This will help you determine whether your interview process is thorough enough or needs more work.

For example, if it takes, on average, three interviews for every hire in your company and there are only two people interviewing candidates at any given time, then you’re not going to be able to fill positions as fast as possible.

You can improve this by adding more interviewers or by training existing employees to conduct interviews. Once this metric is enhanced, your candidate experience will also improve because you can fill positions faster and more efficiently.

The speed at which you can fill a position is an important metric because it has a direct impact on your company’s bottom line. If you have to fill 10 positions and each position takes three months to fill, then that’s 30 months of lost productivity.

#3 Interview experience

This is a measure of how well you’ve trained your interviewers. You want to make sure that your interviewers are aware of their biases and that they work hard to eliminate them from the interview process. If an interviewer is biased against women, for example, this will show up in their interviews with female candidates. This is also an important candidate experience metrics.

Automated tools are a great way to reduce bias in the interview process. By using these tools, you can ensure that your interviews are more consistent and fair. Automated tools also help with candidate screening by allowing recruiters to quickly identify candidates who don’t meet the company’s requirements.

If you don’t have a structured interview process, it can be easy for bias to creep in. The best way to prevent this from happening is by hiring a professional recruiter who knows how to create a structured interview process that will help you identify the most qualified candidates.

Also read: 5 Steps To Create A Remote-First Candidate Experience In Recruitment

#4 Net promoter score (NPS)

NPS is another metric that can help enhance the candidate experience. It’s a simple question that you can ask at the end of an interview: “On a scale of 1-10, how likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague?”

The answer will give you insights into how your company is viewed by candidates. If your score is low, then there are areas where you must improve. You may need more training for interviewers or offer more information about what life at your company looks like.

On the other hand, a high NPS score doesn’t mean there’s no need for you to improve your candidate experience. It’s a good indicator that there are ways that you can make the process more seamless, and it will help you identify them. A LinkedIn study found that 78% of candidates say that their entire candidate experience is a clear indication of how a business values its employees.

For example, if many candidates say that they didn’t have all of their questions answered during the interview, then consider creating an FAQ page or providing more information about what life at your company looks like.

#5 Offer acceptance rate

A good offer acceptance rate is a strong indicator that candidates are satisfied with your interview process. If you have a low acceptance rate, then it’s likely that there are ways you could improve candidate experience.

For example, if many candidates didn’t feel like they had enough time to prepare for their interviews or weren’t sure what kind of questions they’d be asked, consider creating an FAQ page or providing more information about what life at your company looks like.

This metric is especially important to large companies that receive a lot of applications. It’s easy to ignore the candidates who aren’t right for your company, but if you want to improve the candidate experience, it’s important to find ways of making the process more personal.

For example, consider inviting applicants who were rejected back into the process as mentors or interviewers. You could also send them thank you notes and other forms of recognition for their efforts even though they weren’t selected. Remember, a study found that 73% of candidates say the job search is very stressful, so give it your best to make your candidate experience stress-free.

Also read: Joel Soucy’s Roadmap To Creating A Seamless Employee Experience

#6 Candidate drop-off

A bad candidate experience directly contributes to a high candidate drop-off rate. The candidate drop-off rate is the percentage of applicants who visited your career site but didn’t apply or those who abandoned filling out an application midway.

You’ll want to track this metric over time to see if it’s decreasing or increasing. If it’s going up, consider what you can do to keep candidates engaged and interested in applying for jobs with your company.

Make sure that your job listings are relevant and current, or create new ones based on feedback from applicants.

If your candidate drop-off rate is declining, you can celebrate this by highlighting the decrease in your recruiting efforts.

Expert tips for a memorable candidate experience

• Consider how the hire will fit in the company

When you begin efforts to improve your candidate experience, you must consider not only what the person will contribute to your organization but also how they will get along with existing employees.

Will this person be performing a specific function? If so, are there any metrics you can use to measure their performance? What is the salary range for this position? How important is it that we fill this vacancy quickly? Can we afford to take our time and find the perfect candidate?

Answer all these questions before you begin the search for your ideal hire.

Also read: Optimize Your Hiring Process With Recruitment Analytics

• Keep candidates well-informed

Make sure that your candidates know how their applications are doing. From the initial contact, until the current status of their application, your candidates should know where they are in the process. Use candidate relationship management software to keep your candidates well-informed.

Send a detailed offer letter that includes all pertinent information about the position to candidates. This can include salary, benefits, and other relevant details.

Give candidates a timeline of when they should expect to hear from the company. This will help them plan their lives around this new job opportunity, which is important to both parties involved.

If you need more time to make a decision about your candidates, be honest about it. This will help them move on with their lives as well as keep your company’s reputation intact.

• Adapt schedules to candidates’ needs

Schedule interviews and assessments so they match your candidates’ needs. For example, if you need to set up an interview with someone who works nights and weekends, do it during their off hours.

This will help keep everyone happy. Sometimes, the candidate can’t make it on time because of a sick child or some other emergency. Let them know that you understand and will reschedule for another day (or week). This can be advantageous to both parties. Because it shows that you care about their needs as well as the company’s needs.

You can effectively address these scheduling requirements by leveraging the efficiencies that HR technology tools offer. To ensure you get to use only the top platforms, ensure to check out the best HR software lists available in reputable review platforms.

• Ensure new hires’ eagerness to onboard

When it’s time for onboarding, make sure your new hire feels welcome and happy about joining the team. You can do this by creating an employee onboarding kit and sending a welcome email that includes the necessary information they need to get started. This could be the company’s mission statement, a list of benefits and perks, or even an overview of their role in the company.

This is the time to educate them on the company’s culture and values, as well as their role within it. It’s also an opportunity to show them what they can expect from you and your team. If they’re new to customer support, example scripts will help them get started quickly.

Be sure to go the extra mile to keep their enthusiasm high. Right from the time they learn they have been hired until they start their onboarding. If you can sustain this, your new hires will likely perform well in their work from day one onward.

• Job simulation

This is a great way to get your new hires ready for their first day of work. Job simulation helps them learn about their job and the tools they’ll use on it, as well as how it fits into the company’s operations. You can also use it to test how well they grasp procedures and policies.

Job simulations are a growing trend among employers, who view them as the most effective way to assess candidates’ abilities. With job simulations, you can replicate the conditions of real-world jobs. They can be used in a variety of roles, from help desk agents to marketers to technicians.

A job simulation can be as simple as walking them through their day with you. Or it could involve a more elaborate simulation that includes training materials and other tools.

Why candidate experience matters

Candidate experience is not just a part of the recruitment process; it’s a critical element that can significantly impact an organization’s ability to attract top talent. The way candidates perceive and interact with a company’s recruitment process can have far-reaching consequences.

The recruitment process is often the first interaction a candidate has with a company. A positive experience can enhance the company’s brand, while a negative one can tarnish it. In the age of social media and online reviews, candidates are quick to share their experiences, and these shared experiences can influence a company’s reputation.

A smooth and engaging candidate experience attracts top-quality candidates. Talented individuals have multiple options, and they tend to gravitate towards organizations that value and respect their time and efforts during the recruitment process.

Candidates who have a positive experience are more likely to accept job offers and remain with the company longer. A negative experience, on the other hand, can lead to declined offers and a higher turnover rate, which is costly for any organization.

The candidate experience is a reflection of a company’s culture and values. A respectful, transparent, and engaging process suggests a positive work environment, whereas a disorganized and impersonal process may indicate systemic issues within the organization.

In industries where competition for talent is fierce, the candidate experience can be a significant differentiator. Companies that invest in creating a positive candidate experience stand out and are more likely to attract the best talent.

Feedback from candidates can be invaluable in refining recruitment processes. Understanding where candidates face challenges or discomfort can help companies make necessary adjustments to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Use candidate experience metrics to leave lasting impressions

There you have it! The key candidate experience metrics and insights that you must consider to help improve candidate experience.

You only get one chance to make a first impression. Working on enhancing the candidate experience is one way to do it.

It won’t be an overnight change, but if you stay consistent in your efforts, it will pay off.

You won’t attract most candidates – no matter how hard you sell or how much employer branding content you drown them in (even if it’s dipped in caramel chocolate).

They’re just not your piece of cake.

If candidates aren’t impatiently picking up what you’re throwing down, know this:

You don’t have a funnel problem.

Or a reputation problem.

You don’t have a recruiting strategy problem.

No, it’s not a candidate outreach problem either.

You don’t have a candidate experience problem.

Neither do you have a talent market or competition problem.

These are all symptoms of a bigger problem.

The problem is a threatening, scary, bleak (but easily fixable) VALUES-SHAPED crater in your recruiting. A crater you can turn into the hottest destination for top talent – yes, even if you work at the most boring, basic company on the planet.

But you have to be ready to show the real company…by embracing your company’s unique values and communicating them. By adopting values-based recruitment.

What is values-based recruitment?

Values-based recruitment is a recruitment strategy that focuses on matching the values of the current and envisioned company culture with the values of the applicants. This strategy turns communication in recruiting upside down. Instead of evaluating the values in the later stages of the recruiting process, the organization communicates its values starting at the first touch point with candidates. That means job profiles turn into values-ambassadors of the company and create meaning for candidates.

Advantages of value-based recruitment strategy

A values-based recruitment strategy is a method of hiring that focuses on finding candidates who share the same values as the company. This can be done by incorporating values into the job description, interview process, and pre-employment assessments.

There are many advantages to using a values-based recruitment strategy, including:

Improved employee engagement: Employees who share the same values as their company are more likely to be engaged in their work. This is because they feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves and that their values are aligned with the company’s mission.

Reduced employee turnover: Employees who are happy and engaged in their work are less likely to leave. This can save companies a lot of money in recruiting and training costs.
Stronger company culture: A values-based recruitment strategy can help to create a strong company culture. This is because it brings together employees who share the same beliefs and values. A strong company culture can lead to a number of benefits, such as increased productivity, improved customer service, and a more positive work environment.

Better decision-making: Employees who share the same values are more likely to make decisions that are in the best interests of the company. This is because they are all working towards the same goals and objectives.

Enhanced employer brand: A values-based recruitment strategy can help to enhance a company’s employer brand. This is because it shows potential candidates that the company is committed to its values and that it is a good place to work.

Process of setting up a value-based recruitment strategy

Here are some tips for implementing a values-based recruitment strategy:

1. Start by defining your company’s values. What are the most important things to your company? What kind of work environment do you want to create? Once you have a clear understanding of your values, you can start to incorporate them into your recruitment process.
2. Include your values in your job descriptions. This will help potential candidates to understand what your company is looking for and whether or not they would be a good fit.
3. Use pre-employment assessments to screen for values. There are a number of pre-employment assessments that can be used to assess a candidate’s values. This can help you to identify candidates who are a good fit for your company culture.
4. If you’re working with external recruitment agencies, ensure they understand and align with your company’s values so they can pre-screen candidates effectively.
5. Ask values-based questions during interviews. Develop structured questionnaires or surveys that evaluate a candidate’s alignment with company values. Use these during the application or interview process. This will help you to get to know the candidate’s values and how they align with your company’s values.
6. Frame questions that prompt candidates to describe past situations where their values influenced their actions. For instance, “Describe a time when you had to make a difficult decision that tested your core values.”
7. Present candidates with hypothetical, but realistic, job-related scenarios that challenge their values. Observe their problem-solving approach and decision-making process.
8. When checking references, ask specific questions about the candidate’s values and how they’ve manifested in previous roles.
9. Introduce new hires to the company’s values from day one. Use onboarding sessions to further assess their alignment and adaptability.

Also read: What Leadership Means To Us At HackerEarth

Values-based campaigns excel

Data best reveals the power of this strategy. We analyzed LinkedIn outreach campaigns with the goal to attract senior talent for HR, marketing, legal, and IT roles. On one side, we looked at best practice campaigns. You know the ones that everyone is doing.

On the other side, we had campaigns that communicated values first. These values-based campaigns achieved 20 times higher application rates than best-practice campaigns. From 100 prospects, more than 30 responded, and of those more than 20 applied. But they did much more than that.

Even people that were happy with their current employer applied (“I was not looking for a job, my application just happened”).

There were people that applied that you never see in the open job market. The top 0.1% of talent with CVs that leave you shocked in awe, make you wonder if conspiracy theorists are right. Maybe aliens are amongst us after all, because no human being is able to achieve these results.

Candidates were so excited about the possibility of landing these jobs. They even took the time to write 1 to 2 pages about what they need to be productive and happy as the first step of their application.

The magnetic effect of those values-based campaigns was so strong that top candidates even kept applying 6 months later. They knew that the chance to get a job advertised 2 seasons ago was 1/∞ (“I know when you divide 1 by infinity the universe might collapse, but I had to risk it because your company is what I have been looking for all my work life”).

Aside from communicating values first, how were the values-based recruitment campaigns different?

1. The job profiles were designed like landing pages, not like boring requirement lists
2. The value proposition of the job profiles was derived from the company’s culture
3. The LinkedIn messages were very concise (3-5 lines maximum) and had a non-intrusive tone of voice

Before we can understand how values-based recruitment works, we need to understand how the world has changed.

Also read: Go Beyond Compensation – 10 Employee Benefits for Developers

Why aren’t you happy?

“Quiet quitters” make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce. And the number is increasing, especially among younger generations.

But what’s behind this? Think about all the desolate and gray workplaces that exist. Those employers believe that a solid paycheck satisfies all work needs (Why aren’t you happy? You’re getting paid on time).

At these places, the individuality of an employee isn’t what counts. They force employees to fit into a structure designed by last century’s mechanic management theories. There, employees sit out time to wait for their paychecks. If they have not found their best friend in the organization with whom they can make fun of bad leaders, they suffer in silence or leave the company.

Why are you so lazy?

Let me tell you: there are two fundamental ways of looking at humans. You can assume that everyone is lazy by nature. That’s wrong as it’s damaging. It leads to a management style of control and a culture of distrust. The cost of control is exceptionally high. Think about all the surveillance systems you need to install and manage!

Management of control replaces intrinsic motivation with extrinsic “carrots and sticks”-motivation. People only jump as high as they need to avoid the stick or to catch the carrot.

Today, many companies are complaining that millennials are lazy. They assume that millennials tend to speak out more about their needs than previous generations, so they want the benefits without working.

That’s absurd. Actually, they are doing exactly the opposite. By telling you what they need to be sustainably productive and innovative in a world of digital overwhelm. They help you to create a work environment in which productivity can flourish.

Older generations communicate their needs less because their upbringing left them believing they have no right to ask for individual needs. As businesses set the rules of the game. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have needs. When you adopt values-based recruitment, you’ll see that people of all ages are excited to apply.

Also read: 10 Key Employee Retention Strategies In Tech

Define your blue talent ocean with values-based recruitment

Simon Sinek explains that people don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it. That’s the foundation of why Apple attracts loyal customers and is one of the most valuable companies on the planet. The same applies to recruiting and talent marketing. People don’t apply for tasks. They apply for why they should perform them.

In other words, people crave to contribute to something larger than themselves. They want to be with people who share their beliefs and feel a sense of belonging. Your people want a workplace where they are NOT treated as exchangeable machine parts. Recognize and embrace their weird individuality. The people want to be seen, heard, understood, and respected. They want to enrich their lives with meaning.

This is great news for you. Because if you can turn your recruiting activities into “values windows” of your company, you’ll stop fishing in the pond of meaninglessness like everyone else. You’ll be fishing in the blue ocean of meaning.

It’s a market that you create with your identity. And if on top, you can make people feel appreciated and valued, you’re going to drown in applications. Then you’re offering a way of life, a committed community, a home, a destination. This comprehensive guide on values-based hiring can help you walk the first steps.

What happens when you have been consistently ordering a Margherita pizza and a Choco lava cake every time you visit Domino’s Pizza? Well, you know the exact order you want to place. You know the crust and toppings you want over your pizza. You don’t waste much time thinking about what to order. Isn’t it? That’s what happens with lateral hiring too. Lateral hiring is nothing but hiring specialists in your organization for a particular job role instead of investing time in training entry-level employees—you know the skills and experience level you need in a candidate to fill this job role. In other words, you know your order! Many organizations believe it’s good to have a few specialist employees who know every next step they take at their job. And that’s why the majority of recruiters are switching to lateral hiring. In this article, we share everything about what lateral hiring is and the 8-step process we follow at HackerEarth to conduct lateral hiring.

What is lateral hiring?

Lateral hiring is a method of finding an employee who can do a similar job to the vacant one—with a comparable experience and background. Simply put, lateral hiring is the process of sourcing passive candidates to fill niche, specialized or executive positions. However, you may not find these people in your talent pool or on job boards. They are neither active in the job market nor actively seeking opportunities. Earlier, such hiring used to happen in specific industries like law, medicine, big businesses, and the government sector. But, with the pandemic, many tech companies have adopted the unconventional method of lateral hiring to fill vacant positions. Adrienne Couch, Human Resources Analyst, LLC Services emphasizes the same.

“Lateral hiring is becoming more and more popular. In fact, I’ve seen studies that say it’s set to overgrow by over 20% in the next five years. Lateral hiring is also a great way for companies to tap into the passive candidate market. These are people who may not be looking for a new job but could be open to new opportunities. By reaching out to them, companies can snag top talent they may have missed out on otherwise.”

How does lateral hiring work?

Assess your workforce and conduct a skills gap analysis:

• what skills do they currently have?
• what skills are they currently missing (but crucial for the company’s growth)?

Once you have studied the skills, define the skills you need from your lateral hire. For example, after studying the skills of web developers in your company, you realize they are well-versed in four languages: JavaScript, C, C++, and SQL. But, you need to upgrade the product, which requires a PHP developer. Now you have two options to do this: train your existing employees, invest financial resources, time, and effort in them to learn it, or onboard a new hire with these skills. Next, define what the role of this lateral hire would look like:

• what are the tasks and responsibilities they carry out?
• what would their OKRs look like?
• how would this role benefit the organization?

Why use lateral hiring to hire top tech talent?

In a study by University of Bristol – School of Economics, Finance and Management, it was found that lateral hiring helps employers acquire, develop and retain human capital—to help improve the competitiveness and reduce the effects of outward staff mobility. Therefore it should be included as a part of recruitment marketing strategy. Let’s understand in detail how lateral hiring can elevate the growth of employers and organizations:

Reduces training costs

There are two ways you can fill in the requirement for new skills in your organization:

1. train your current employees
2. recruit new employees

Training your employees requires a lot of heavy lifting. You need funds, time, and effort to prepare them and develop these skills. Still, there is no guarantee that your employees will master them correctly. They’ll take time to learn and implement the skills. This is exactly what Cynthia Davies, CEO and Founder of Cindy’s New Mexico LLC points out.

“Lateral hiring can be beneficial for a company as it reduces training costs. Employees who are already familiar with the company and its culture, as well as the industry in general, require less training. They can hit the ground running in their new roles. Lateral hires can be more efficient and productive in their new roles quicker than external hires because they already know the company’s processes and systems.”

Reduces the risk of hiring the wrong person

Picture this: you want to hire a web developer with PHP expertise the traditional way. You post on job boards, publish the job ad and receive several applications. You scan the applications and shortlist a few developers. They have *only* basic knowledge of the subject and aren’t up-to-date with industry trends. Upon onboarding them, you realize that you still need to train them. Why? Because they have a strong theoretical understanding of PHP but need training on a few practical aspects of the job. That’s when you realize you have hired the wrong person. You needed an experienced employee who knows the ins and outs of what works and what does not and is not restricted to entry-level PHP expertise. With lateral hiring, you can scan the candidate’s profile, and check if their experience fits your requirements. Only then proceed with the next steps in your hiring process.

Also, read: 10 Tech Recruiting Strategies to Find the Best Tech Talent

The 8-step process for lateral hiring at HackerEarth looks like

Preethi Saakre, the Talent Acquisition Manager at HackerEarth shares an extensive 8-step approach for lateral hiring that we use in our organization.

Step 1: Get approval for the role

As a first step, the hiring manager identifies and approves the job role and the skills needed for a lateral hire—which is shared with the talent acquisition team. The talent acquisition (TA) team then works with the hiring manager to confirm the job description (JD). If it’s an existing role, they check with the hiring manager if any changes need to be made to the existing JD. If it’s a brand-new role, the hiring manager will share the roles and responsibilities, and the TA will add these roles and responsibilities to the set template. Next, the talent acquisition team creates the position on Trakstar and sends it for the CEO’s approval.

Step 2: Collect important details

Once the lateral hire’s position is approved, the talent acquisition team conducts an intake call with the hiring manager to understand the need for the role. To collect details about the job role, the TA team fills out a Requirement Gathering Form. They enter all the necessary details and share them with the hiring manager. Next, the hiring manager identifies panel members to be involved in the hiring process. They make sure that each member is aware of the expectations of the candidates and will be interviewing the candidates based on these expectations. They also identify who will handle the competency evaluation process at different levels of interviews.

Step 3: Share data about the talent pool

The talent acquisition team shares data on the overall talent pool available for the role with hiring managers. The TA team then creates a sample screened profile for the lateral candidate along with the hiring manager. This ensures that the sourced and inbound applications they share with the hiring manager are in line with their expectations.

Also, read: Optimize your Hiring Process with Recruitment Analytics

Step 4: Publish the approved position

The talent acquisition team publishes the approved position on job boards—LinkedIn, Glassdoor, IIM Jobs, and Instahyre. On the same day, the talent acquisition team shares the lateral hiring strategy and plan with timelines. They send an email to the hiring manager with the finalized timelines and the other details discussed over the call.

Step 5: Screen the candidates

The talent acquisition team conducts a candidate screening check. During the process, they make sure to follow all the set guidelines:

• checking the communication skills
• asking the role screening questions
• communicating the CTC and notice period expectations
• evaluating for culture fit
• understanding the reason for leaving

Once they have screened the candidates, they’ll forward the candidate’s application to the hiring manager for review. Sidenote: If the candidate’s salary expectation is more than the budget for the specialized role, TA needs to communicate it with the hiring manager before proceeding with the conversation.

Also, read: 4 Different Ways to Create Coding Tests on HackerEarth (+Free Template)

Step 6: Use the STAR technique for interviews

Our recruiters and hiring managers at HackerEarth use the STAR technique to answer behavioral questions. When hiring managers ask behavioral questions to candidates, candidates have to give them examples of how they handled past situations or challenges. Put simply, behavioral questions help candidates share stories. Interviewers use these stories to identify the evaluate the candidate beyond their skills.

For example, the HackerEarth interviewer asks the candidate: “Can you tell me about a time when you went above and beyond to deliver an excellent customer experience?” Situation: “When I was working at company X, we were preparing for a video interview for a client when I learned that someone on their team was deaf. The presentation was due the next day in the morning and I was the only one left in the office after 5 PM.” Task: “I realized there was only one solution and that was for me to stay behind in the evening and add captions myself.” Action: “It took me a few hours, and around 8 PM, I was done. Then, I let our team know about the update.” Results: “In the end, the client enjoyed the presentation. They were very impressed (and surprised) by our attention to detail, and we ended up closing them soon after.” With this story the candidate shared with the interviewer, the interviewer learns about the candidate’s willingness to deal with challenging situations and their passion for work. Once the interviewers complete the interviews, they share detailed feedback and ratings on the same day. Sidenote: The interviewers record feedback on Trackstar.

Also, read: Essential Questions To Ask When Recruiting Developers Part 1 and Part 2

Step 7: Conduct reference checks

Reference checks ensure that the lateral hire the company has recruited is the right decision. For this, recruiters reach out to the hire’s colleagues and ask them about the following:

• their experience working with the person
• the candidate’s performance while working with the organization

Answering these two questions give ample information about whether or not the right decision has been made.

Step 8: Send the offer letter

First, we make a verbal offer to the candidate, followed by an offer letter via Adobe. The candidate reviews the offer letter, signs it and it automatically gets recorded in the company’s records and the candidate receives a copy of the signed offer letter. Here’s how our talent acquisition team sent the offer letter to the new hire via Adobe.

It’s not discreet. It’s not different

If you have ever been told to carry out the lateral hiring process discreetly, it’s time to change that. Lateral hiring is just like the traditional hiring process you carry out in your company. The only difference: you hire specialists. So, whether you’re hiring internal or external candidates as lateral hires, the process remains the same except for a few tweaks in some hiring phases and policies.

This article was written by Travis Gravette, CEO of Abenity—an employee perks program

In today’s modern world, the benefits package of old that our grandparents and even parents (depending on the age) raved about is no longer enough for today’s workforce.

As a business owner or HR manager, keeping up with the perks that engage and motivate today’s developers is an ever-evolving task. Developers are in higher demand than ever, so there’s a lot of competition for the good ones.

Losing top talent to a competing company is a huge concern and a major financial hit to any company. The cost of recruiting, hiring, and training a new employee can be well over $60,000!

So, providing employee perks that really speak to today’s recruits and current developers is no longer just an additional benefit, it’s imperative to the overall prosperity of the business.

These days, it goes a long way with people to exceed the traditional benefits we’re all accustomed to and add additional perks that speak to the type of employee you would typically hire.

So, here are some additional perks that will really speak to your developers. Showing that you care, you’re innovative and you listen to your developers can be one of the most profitable things to your company if it keeps your best people around indefinitely.

Employee benefits to attract and retain developers outside of compensation

Fact: Compensation is not the *only* component that attracts best people to your company and work with you. Here are 10 benefits beyond a paycheck that drive developers to work with your company:

1. Personal growth potential: Providing the path to more money, mentorship programs, and ultimately a higher role in your company

If you are hiring motivated employees (which is always the goal), you’re going to want to provide them with opportunities to grow.

Finding developers in today’s world that care about your product and/or company can be similar to catching lightning in a bottle – not the easiest task. And when you do catch that lightning, you want to give them every reason to believe they can grow. Why? Because talented people want to grow.

Use this as an opportunity to mentor them yourself or, provide a mentorship program where they can learn, grow, and ultimately become a bigger asset to you and your company.

Mentorship programs are a powerful way to pay it forward. Not only that, statistics show that ALL Fortune 50 companies provide mentorship programs, and 97% participating in those programs say it is a valuable experience.

Almost 90% of individuals who have been mentored say they will pay it forward by mentoring others coming up in their industry. Sadly, only 37% of working professionals today actually have a mentor.

Professional development programs fall into this category as well. Typically, a professional development program offers the opportunity for developers to attend extracurricular training like management and leadership courses or technical skills training.

It can also include additional professional certifications and even team building and interpersonal development-related conferences.

These employee assistance programs can help to expand the knowledge base and abilities of your developers while also promoting teamwork and overall positive culture in the office.

Also read: How to Assess Programming Skills Before Hiring

2. Making an impact

According to a recent study, approximately three-fourths of the entire U.S. population donates to a charity or non-profit on a regular basis.

People want to be a part of giving back and helping those in need. If an employee knows their company also shares and supports this passion, they develop a deeper loyalty and respect for the organization.

In fact, this same study shows that 84% of millennials give to a charity on a monthly basis and 64% volunteer in their community at a local level.

As a company, showing a strong commitment to a certain non-profit organization that aligns with your organization’s beliefs, convictions, and values will not only encourage and motivate the members of your organization, it will also speak volumes to new prospective hires who want to join your team.

3. Technology stipend

A technology stipend is a huge perk for today’s developers. There really aren’t many jobs in 2023 that do not require some form of technology to run the day-to-day.

And in a post-COVID world, most developers work from home. So, providing a stipend for things like computers, phones, and internet access can go a long way.

If you don’t have a physical office, providing an opportunity for developers in the same area to meet together and work as a team can be a great added benefit. It can even be considered a crucial part of mental health as we saw the depression and overall loneliness statistics during COVID.

4. Above and beyond: Providing unique health benefits

Providing additional health benefits over and above the typical health benefits the average company makes provisions for will really speak volumes to prospective top talent.

You may be wondering what those additional benefits could be, so let’s talk about them.

Childcare

There is a considerably large portion of the working population that are single mothers and single fathers.

And childcare is expensive!

Providing financial support to parents (even those that are not single) goes a long way. And can even be a key determining factor in whether a prospect will move forward with a position in your company.

Financial assistance and flexibility in working from home when children are sick provide relief and security for the working parent.

Adoption

On the flip side, there is another large portion of the population that cannot have children for one reason or another.

Providing care and financial support throughout the process of adoption is a huge deal for those that want children but cannot have them naturally. Being able to have a family can be a huge stress point and financial concern for many. A company that shows support through that process is a considerable employee benefit.

5. Wellness benefits

Today’s average American is very concerned and educated on overall mental and physical wellness.

More and more people are seeking non-traditional forms of treatment including chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and other forms of treatment. Providing an opportunity for your developers to seek alternative forms of healthcare that would otherwise not be covered in a traditional healthcare plan shows that you care about their values. There is no one-size-fits-all solution in the healthcare industry.

On a separate note, providing mental health care has also become a more outspoken need and an additional benefit that many companies are offering today. In a post-pandemic world, this need has become recognized. People are encouraged to seek counseling and other mental health care provisions.

Shedding light on this issue and providing a solution can set you apart in the hiring process.

If a staff member is going through a divorce – for example – providing counseling is not only a benefit to the employee but also a benefit to the employer.

If a developer is (rightly so) focused on a personal issue like a divorce, and doesn’t have an outlet to seek counsel, advice, and grief support, it will carry into the workplace and affect their ability to focus and truly be a connected part of the team.

Providing support and showing that you are invested in an employee’s overall mental health is not only a ‘benefit’, it’s a goodwill service that shows you truly care and want to celebrate the ‘ups’ and support the ‘downs’ in life.

Also read: 7 Ways to Reduce Burnout in Your Tech Teams

6. Gym memberships and company workout programs

When creating your up-to-date employee benefits package, providing a discount for gym memberships or an on-site personal trainer can ultimately be extremely beneficial to the health of your company.

The sedentary lifestyle of an employee behind a computer all day can decrease overall motivation. Providing an opportunity for developers to join a gym where they can exercise before or after work or even having a trainer come into the building to offer private and group training sessions can exponentially increase productivity.

Exercise increases endorphins in the body. When this particular “happy hormone” is activated, employee efficiency kicks into overdrive. This increase can positively affect your company’s bottom line, quotas, and overall attitude in the workplace

7. Educational assistance

Educational assistance can actually be two-fold. There’s the educational assistance that benefits the employee themselves and then there’s educational assistance that benefits the children of the employee.

As we mentioned earlier, finding top talent that wants to grow in their careers is the ultimate goal for every company. So, providing ways for those people within your company to be promoted is a great way to ensure your developers stick around.

One of the ways to show that you are invested in your developers is by providing educational assistance so that they can further their education and career possibilities.

Whether it’s a discount or scholarship to a local community college or university, it goes a long way in showing developers you want to invest in them, and this attitude from the top makes people ultimately want to join your team.

Another opportunity that some employers and larger companies provide is education assistance to the children of an employee, once they are eligible to apply for college. This is a huge way to retain your developers for the long haul!

If an employee has middle school-aged children, you can guarantee they are already starting to think about college funds and how to support that child when the time comes to go to school.

If the company they are working for provides financial support and scholarships to their children, they’re more than likely not going anywhere.

8. Lunch stipends

Everyone gets excited about lunch at the office and a free lunch is even better! Whether you decide to offer lunch stipends or lunch catered to the office, it’s still a great addition to your employee benefits package.

If lunches are catered, that provides instant community in the office. Developing a “team” culture can be challenging but it is critical to the health of your company. People build relationships and community over food, and this is a great way to do that in your office.

9. Employee recognition programs

When your developers feel appreciated and recognized for their contributions to the workplace, it creates a desire and drive to continue to go above and beyond.

Any company, no matter the size and budget, can quickly and easily implement this. It provides a great way to affordably let your developers know you recognize their hard work and you consider them a valued asset to your team.

Also read: 7 Employee Engagement Strategies For WFH Tech Teams

10. Work-Life balance

Another easy and cost-effective way to show your developers that you care is to encourage, implement and respect the boundaries of a healthy work-life balance.

Show them you respect their time away from work and with their family and loved ones.

Encouraging them to turn their phones off and enjoy their vacation time or time away from work is not only ideal but continues to prove that your organization is a company worth staying with.

Take care of your developers and they’ll take care of you

Ultimately, taking care of your developers is essential to the health and longevity of your company.

There are so many ways to create an attractive employee benefits package that speaks to the type of developer you want on your team.

Maybe you’re like Mars Pet Company, the culture of your community is 100% pet friendly, so you allow them to bring their furry friends to work.

Or, you’re a company like Lululemon with a passion and pursuit for mind//body health so you provide free workout opportunities.

The bottom line is to listen to your current developers, find out what matters to them and then provide a package that speaks to the person you want to hire in the future.

Unique life benefits like discounts on insurance, subscriptions, and other discounts where your developers are going to shop on a regular basis are also great ways to provide further financial assistance.

Give your developers real discounts and financial assistance on everything from pizza, to family fun activities and even discounts on CPAs, home security systems, and other real-life, hard expenses.

Adding perks and discounts on typical day-to-day purchased items not only provides an attractive benefits package but also makes you a highly sought-after company to work for.