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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.
In a digitally-native hiring landscape, online assessments have proven to be both a boon and a bane for recruiters and employers.
The ease and efficiency of virtual interviews, take home programming tests and remote coding challenges is transformative. Around 82% of companies use pre-employment assessments as reliable indicators of a candidate's skills and potential.
Online skill assessment tests have been proven to streamline technical hiring and enable recruiters to significantly reduce the time and cost to identify and hire top talent.
In the realm of online assessments, remote assessments have transformed the hiring landscape, boosting the speed and efficiency of screening and evaluating talent. On the flip side, candidates have learned how to use creative methods and AI tools to cheat in tests.
As it turns out, technology that makes hiring easier for recruiters and managers - is also their Achilles' heel.
Cheating in Online Assessments is a High Stakes Problem
With the proliferation of AI in recruitment, the conversation around cheating has come to the forefront, putting recruiters and hiring managers in a bit of a flux.
The problem becomes twofold - if finding the right talent can be a competitive advantage, the consequences of hiring the wrong one can be equally damaging and counter-productive.
As per Forbes, a wrong hire can cost a company around 30% of an employee's salary - not to mention, loss of precious productive hours and morale disruption.
The question that arises is - "Can organizations continue to leverage AI-driven tools for online assessments without compromising on the integrity of their hiring process? "
This article will discuss the common methods candidates use to outsmart online assessments. We will also dive deep into actionable steps that you can take to prevent cheating while delivering a positive candidate experience.
Common Cheating Tactics and How You Can Combat Them
Using ChatGPT and other AI tools to write code
Copy-pasting code using AI-based platforms and online code generators is one of common cheat codes in candidates' books. For tackling technical assessments, candidates conveniently use readily available tools like ChatGPT and GitHub.
Using these tools, candidates can easily generate solutions to solve common programming challenges such as:
Debugging code
Optimizing existing code
Writing problem-specific code from scratch
Ways to prevent it
Enable full-screen mode
Disable copy-and-paste functionality
Restrict tab switching outside of code editors
Use AI to detect code that has been copied and pasted
Enlist external help to complete the assessment
Candidates often seek out someone else to take the assessment on their behalf. In many cases, they also use screen sharing and remote collaboration tools for real-time assistance.
In extreme cases, some candidates might have an off-camera individual present in the same environment for help.
Ways to prevent it
Verify a candidate using video authentication
Restrict test access from specific IP addresses
Use online proctoring by taking snapshots of the candidate periodically
Use a 360 degree environment scan to ensure no unauthorized individual is present
Using multiple devices at the same time
Candidates attempting to cheat often rely on secondary devices such as a computer, tablet, notebook or a mobile phone hidden from the line of sight of their webcam.
By using multiple devices, candidates can look up information, search for solutions or simply augment their answers.
Ways to prevent it
Track mouse exit count to detect irregularities
Detect when a new device or peripheral is connected
Use network monitoring and scanning to detect any smart devices in proximity
Conduct a virtual whiteboard interview to monitor movements and gestures
Using remote desktop software and virtual machines
Tech-savvy candidates go to great lengths to cheat. Using virtual machines, candidates can search for answers using a secondary OS while their primary OS is being monitored.
Remote desktop software is another cheating technique which lets candidates give access to a third-person, allowing them to control their device.
With remote desktops, candidates can screen share the test window and use external help.
Ways to prevent it
Restrict access to virtual machines
AI-based proctoring for identifying malicious keystrokes
Use smart browsers to block candidates from using VMs
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Former employees who return to work with the same organisation are essential assets. In talent acquisition, such employees are also termed as ‘Boomerang employees’. Former employees are valuable because they require the least training and onboarding because of their familiarity with the organization’s policies. Rehiring former employees by offering them more perks is a mark of a successful hiring process. This article will elaborate on the talent acquisition strategies for rehiring former employees, supported by a few real-life examples and best practices.
Why Should Organizations Consider Rehiring?
One of the best ways of ensuring quality hire with a low candidate turnover is to deploy employee retention programs like rehiring female professionals who wish to return to work after a career break. This gives former employees a chance to prove their expertise while ensuring them the organization’s faith in their skills and abilities. Besides, seeing former employees return to their old organizations encourages newly appointed employees to be more productive and contribute to the overall success of the organization they are working for. A few other benefits of rehiring old employees are listed below.
Reduced Hiring Costs
Hiring new talent incurs a few additional costs. For example, tasks such as sourcing resumes of potential candidates, reaching out to them, conducting interviews and screenings costs money to the HR department. Hiring former employees cuts down these costs and aids a seamless transition process for them.
Faster Onboarding
Since boomerang employees are well acquainted with the company’s onboarding process, they don’t have to undergo the entire exercise. A quick, one-day session informing them of any recent changes in the company’s work policies is sufficient to onboard them.
Retention of Knowledge
As a former employee, rehired executives have knowledge of the previous workflows and insights from working on former projects. This can be valuable in optimizing a current project. They bring immense knowledge and experience with them which can be instrumental in driving new projects to success.Starbucks is a prime example of a company that has successfully leveraged boomerang employees. Howard Schultz, the company's CEO, left in 2000 but returned in 2008 during a critical time for the firm. His leadership was instrumental in revitalizing the brand amid financial challenges.
Best Practices for Rehiring Former Employees
Implementing best practices is the safest way to go about any operation. Hiring former employees can be a daunting task especially if it involves someone who was fired previously. It is important to draft certain policies around rehiring former employees. Here are a few of them that can help you to get started.
1. Create a Clear Rehire Policy
While considering rehiring a former employee, it is essential to go through data indicating the reason why they had to leave in the first place. Any offer being offered must supersede their previous offer while marking clear boundaries to maintain work ethics. Offer a fair compensation that justifies their skills and abilities which can be major contributors to the success of the organization. A well-defined policy not only streamlines the rehiring process but also promotes fairness within the organization.
2. Conduct Thorough Exit Interviews
Exit interviews provide valuable insights into why employees leave and can help maintain relationships for potential future rehires. Key aspects to cover include:
Reasons for departure.
Conditions under which they might consider returning.
Feedback on organizational practices.
Keeping lines of communication open during these discussions can foster goodwill and encourage former employees to consider returning when the time is right.
3. Maintain Connections with Alumni
Creating and maintaining an alumni association must be an integral part of HR strategies. This exercise ensures that the HR department can find former employees in times of dire need and indicates to former employees how the organization is vested in their lives even after they have left them. This gesture fosters a feeling of goodwill and gratitude among former hires. Alumni networks and social media groups help former employees stay in touch with each other, thus improving their interpersonal communication.Research indicates that about 15% of rehired employees return because they maintained connections with their former employers.
4. Assess Current Needs Before Reaching Out
Before reaching out to former employees, assess all viable options and list out the reasons why rehiring is inevitable. Consider:
Changes in job responsibilities since their departure.
Skills or experiences gained by other team members during their absence.
It is essential to understand how the presence of a boomerang employee can be instrumental in solving professional crises before contacting them. It is also important to consider their present circumstances.
5. Initiate an Honest Conversation
When you get in touch with a former employee, it is important to understand their perspective on the job being offered. Make them feel heard and empathize with any difficult situations they may have had to face during their time in the organization. Understand why they would consider rejoining the company. These steps indicate that you truly care about them and fosters a certain level of trust between them and the organization which can motivate them to rejoin with a positive attitude.
6. Implement a Reboarding Program
When a former employee rejoins, HR departments must ensure a robust reboarding exercise is conducted to update them about any changes within the organization regarding the work policies and culture changes, training them about any new tools or systems that were deployed during their absence and allowing them time to reconnect with old team members or acquaint with new ones.
7. Make Them Feel Welcome
Creating a welcoming environment is essential for helping returning employees adjust smoothly. Consider:
Organizing team lunches or social events during their first week.
Assigning a mentor or buddy from their previous team to help them reacclimate.
Providing resources that facilitate learning about any organizational changes.
A positive onboarding experience reinforces their decision to return and fosters loyalty.
Real-Life Examples of Successful Rehiring
Several companies have successfully implemented these strategies:
IBM: The tech giant has embraced boomerang hiring by actively reaching out to former employees who possess critical skills in emerging technologies. IBM has found that these individuals often bring fresh perspectives that contribute significantly to innovation7.
Zappos: Known for its strong company culture, Zappos maintains an alumni network that keeps former employees engaged with the brand. This connection has led to numerous successful rehiring instances, enhancing both morale and productivity within teams6.
Conclusion
Rehiring former employees can provide organizations with unique advantages, including reduced costs, quicker onboarding, and retained knowledge. By implementing strategic practices—such as creating clear policies, maintaining connections, assessing current needs, and fostering welcoming environments—companies can effectively tap into this valuable talent pool.
As organizations continue navigating an ever-changing workforce landscape, embracing boomerang employees may be key to building resilient teams equipped for future challenges. By recognizing the potential benefits and following best practices outlined above, businesses can create a robust strategy for rehiring that enhances both employee satisfaction and organizational performance.
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Developers are pretty awesome. Think of all those times that a developer had come to your rescue. As the keepers of code, they have incredible skills to create some amazing things.
While we all can agree that they just seem to be superheroes among men (developing lightning-fast code and fixing loose ends without even wrinkling their capes), most of us forget the ‘Clark Kent’ side of them—what they want, like, and dislike just like any of us.
We went behind the scenes to understand both these alter egos - what truly makes them the superheroes we look up to as well as the little joys they seek when they go about saving your day. Here are the findings of The 2020 HackerEarth Developer Survey, where we highlight the priorities and concerns of over 16,000+ developers from across 76 countries.
Data Science is still the demigod
From student developers (63%) to experienced ones (61%), everyone wants to have a slice of the Data Science pie. No wonder this is the most sought after developer skill. According to Glassdoor, the national average salary of a data scientist in the United States is $1,17,345, and Firstround.com says that in a competitive field like Data Science, strong candidates often receive three or more offers.
Other skills that student developers are looking out for include Cybersecurity and IoT, while professionals are interested in IoT and BlockChain.
Everyone wants Go in their arsenal
Go is this year’s most sought-after and popular programming language, with 29% of students and 32% of experienced developers seeking to add it to their programming arsenal. Other popular programming languages that student developers prefer are JavaScript, Kotlin, and C#. On the other hand, experienced developers want to learn Python and Kotlin.
The survey showed us that the top programming languages that student developers currently know include C++, Python, and HTML/CSS, while senior developers frequently code in SQL, Java, and HTML/CSS.
Use LinkedIn for your next coding mission
Are you looking for a new coding project? 56% of student developers and 57% of working professionals use LinkedIn more frequently than other channels, such as job boards and referrals, to find new coding gigs.
We also came across some interesting job avenues, such as hackathons, which student developers (13%) use to find new jobs. If you’re new to hackathons, this guide will equip you with some much-needed info.
Up for a challenge? Try a take-home coding test
Most experienced developers favor take-home coding tests, followed by an onsite interview for assessing coding skills. Surprisingly, 10% of developers who took the survey said that they wanted an option to decide their interview process.
A majority of developers, 70% of students, and 53% of working professionals, make use of coding assessment platforms such as HackerEarth to upskill themselves.
If you’re leaving developers hanging after an interview, you need to stop, now! Developers hate it when no feedback is conveyed to them. 45% of the developers said that recruiters need to stop doing this right away.
Other reasons that irked them the most include too many interview rounds and misleading job descriptions.
Meetings are like kryptonite to developers’ productivity
You’d want your developers to be a ‘Jack of all trades’, but very often we forget that this comes along with a ton of ideation meetings that could very well spell doom for developers’ productivity. It is no surprise that when asked what they’d need to achieve 100% productivity at work, 70% of the developers opted for fewer meetings.
Other options that could help developers be more productive include multiple monitors, clutter-free working spaces, and a no interruption policy when they have their headphones on.
Developers play foosball and watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S in their fortress of solitude
When they are not coding, most developers spend their time playing indoor games such as foosball and table tennis (29%). They also love watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S (42%). Other TV shows they spend downtime watching include Game of Thrones and Big Bang Theory.
Developing is hard work, and it takes a coding superhero to do it well. Developers, keep using your powers to the best of your abilities to create powerful stuff. We at HackerEarth will always be cheering for you from the sidelines. Here’s to creating code that matters! :)
Let’s consider the increasingly high demand for remote positions today, and the fact that location is no longer relevant when it comes to hiring candidates. However, just as managing a remote team is slightly different from managing an in-house team, hiring one has its unique challenges too.
It’s no secret that HackerEarth has helped several organizations successfully hire top tech talent, with customer obsession at the center of it all.
To take this further, our team has worked tirelessly over the past few months on amazing features to optimize the user experience and make video interviews more fun. Here’s unveiling new product enhancements in FaceCode to help you streamline your remote hiring process.
Multiple interviewers—the wisdom of the group
Ever heard of the expression, “the wisdom of the group”? That’s the principle behind adding multiple interviewers. Adding multiple interviewers has its benefits, especially in remote interviews where any hint of biased hiring must be eliminated.
Having extra interviewers on board helps keep things impartial. Also, it brings more perspectives on the selection process and saves time. Additionally, having multiple interviewers gives some insight into how well a candidate can handle group dynamics and a variety of people.
Now, while scheduling an interview on FaceCode, you can add up to 4 more interviewers, before or during an interview, to analyze the skills of a candidate. Additionally, to provide better user experience, FaceCode has separate video feed for candidate and interviewers.
Evaluation parameters—hiring isn’t just a game of chance
Everyone knows the cost of a bad hire. But you know what's also pretty frustrating? Not having a clue about what went wrong in the decision-making process.
Smart hiring managers have processes in place and know that hiring isn't just a game of chance. Additionally, savvy recruiters know that conducting structured interviews is an excellent way to screen and find the best candidates. Asking a set of questions in a structured interview format helps recruiters and hiring managers collect useful information from each interviewee that they can easily compare with other candidates' responses.
To help you do just that, FaceCode now supports evaluation criteria, allowing you to conduct structured interviews. While scheduling an interview, you can manually enter evaluation criteria such as technical abilities, communication skills, problem-solving skills, etc., which act like interview scorecards.
When the interview is over, a pop-up with these criteria is shown to the interviewers, and candidates are evaluated based on a five-star rating system against each criterion. The hiring team can compile the rating for every candidate, compare rankings, and identify the strongest ones.
A collaborative online diagram board to help you seamlessly conduct system design interviews
When interviewers visualize a candidate’s thought process, it's easier to understand, streamline, and communicate with them. A great way of transforming what's in a candidate’s mind into an easily-shareable idea is through diagrams or system design interviews.
However, we all know how hard it can be to conduct system design interviews even on a video call. We heard your feedback and we have integrated draw.io that allows you to create block diagrams and architecture design in a live interview. Thus, interviewers can evaluate a developer’s system design, problem-solving, and role-specific skills.
Once an interview is over, the final diagram is saved for interviewers and admins to preview later.
Speech to text conversion—Say goodbye to distractions
Sometimes, recruiters take notes during an interview to keep track of what is being discussed. However, if recruiters rely heavily on this technique, they may get distracted, reduce their involvement in the conversation, and miss out on important things. Also, it may sometimes be difficult to understand what the participants are saying or you may come across participants who are hearing impaired.
FaceCode can automatically convert spoken words to written text during interviews. You can also turn on the Highlights feature that shows important information in the transcript, thus allowing you to focus on key parts of the conversation.
We are excited to announce the following upcoming feature updates:
To help interviewers pen down their thoughts during an interview, a new feature called “Notes” will be added on the interview page. This feature will allow interviewers to note down highlights of the interview without navigating from the interface or moving to a pen and paper option.
When an interview is being set-up, there will be an option to add the candidate assessment report. The assessment report link will be available to the interviewers during the interview in the form of a button.
Try FaceCode to refine your remote hiring process. If you need any help using this feature, write to us at support@hackerearth.com. If you’re new to HackerEarth and want to create accurate coding assessments, sign up for a 14-day free trial.
In our second episode of Breaking 404, we caught up with Johan Andersen, Engineering Director, Citadel (Former Google SRE Manager) to understand the best practices of managing distributed systems as well as distributed systems engineers.
Arbaz: Hello everyone and welcome to the second episode of Breaking 404 by HackerEarth, a podcast for all engineering enthusiasts, professionals, and leaders to learn from top influencers in the engineering and technology industry. This is your host Arbaz and today I have with me Johan Andersen, an ex-Googler (or Xoogler as they call it) and currently the Director of Engineering at Citadel, a global financial institution headquartered in Chicago, United States, with offices throughout North America, Asia, and Europe.
Johan: Hey Arbaz! I’m glad to be here. Thanks for inviting me.
Arbaz: So let’s get this episode up and running by giving our audience a little sneak-peak into your professional journey. So what has your professional journey been like?
Johan: Varied. I started as a systems and networks engineer in academia, worked at university for ~5 years trying to build cheap versions of products that were too expensive to buy. I moved from there into finance, worked as an IT security engineer at a major investment bank. I learned a lot about large systems and how to work effectively across teams, as security was supposed to be a part of any large project being developed at the bank. Switched to Google around 2009, and stayed there for 10 years working a wide variety of applications and infrastructure projects. I learned a lot about SRE best practices and scaling things both for traffic and for an operational load. Last year I moved to Citadel to help drive the SRE team here and spread some of that culture.
Arbaz: Now that our audience knows you much better, it’s time to get into the technicalities. You have previously been a Senior Engineering Manager at a tech giant, Google and now you are with Citadel, a top company in the financial space. What was the biggest challenge for you during this transition? As in how different has your experience been working in the engineering teams of two different industries (Tech and FinTech)?
Johan: The major change I noticed was more related to the relative sizes of the two companies. When I left Google, there were roughly 100x as many full-time engineers as there are at Citadel. This means that it's much faster to get effective changes rolled out, but that there's less pre-built infrastructure for teams to leverage. So more work is spent on establishing best practices, but also it's easier to get consensus on those practices and get them into production. Another change was the difference in the regulatory climate between the two. Google had lots of regulations on safeguarding user privacy and data, but fewer concerns around things retaining communications and desktop technology. I really miss Google Docs.
Arbaz: Well, Google Docs is very close to everyone using the GSuite globally, so we can totally understand your pain here. Moving on, it’s said that as one grows as a professional they tend to develop a greater fear of things going wrong. So what is the biggest fear that you have, being the Director (Engineering) at Citadel?
Johan: My biggest fears are not really Citadel specific; anyone building an engineering organization today has to think about them. One is a competition for talent: strong engineers have never been in more demand than they are today. One is keeping up with a changing ecosystem. SRE in particular, being partnered with multiple engineering teams, really ends up having to have a breadth-first approach to learning, and ends up being a conduit for best practices throughout the organization. Finally, and somewhat topical, is preparing for the unexpected. How well have you load tested the services you use to support remote workers? With the recent news, a number of "baseline assumptions" around both technology and support models are being tested.
Arbaz: Very well said, Johan. All the 3 points here are bang on point and very relatable for all those working in engineering teams globally. And as you rightly pointed out, the competition for talent is fierce and it’s really important for all companies to build great engineering teams. We, at HackerEarth, are proud to help companies in getting top technical talent. Just deviating a little from your professional life and getting to know you more as a person, what would be your favorite leisure-time activity that you love to do when not working?
Johan: I read a lot of science fiction. I play some video games. I like to sail, but don't get a chance very often! And I like to bicycle around New York City.
Arbaz: That’s really interesting. A mix of reading, playing video games and sailing is a pretty unique combination. I believe having a hobby is much needed for everyone to keep calm and motivated. Now that we are talking about hobbies and interests, we often see engineers (at least I do at HackerEarth) lost in their laptop/computer screens, writing lengthy codes. All this while, they have their headphones plugged in, listening to music. What songs or music genre best describes your work ethic?
Johan: Wow, this is tough for me! Maybe classical, Baroque stuff that moves quickly through different movements. My day is rapidly changing, and I like to think it has a similar underlying order.
Arbaz: Coming back to Johan, the Engineer at work, considering the current scenario around the COVID-19 outbreak where companies have asked their employees to work remotely, what do you think is the biggest problem/challenge with remote work for an engineering team?
Johan: I think the biggest challenge nowadays is kind of maintaining the sense of team and comradery that you had during normal operations. It’s really easy in an environment where you spend all of your time at home and only communicate via instant messenger or email or the occasional video conference to get lost in work and to not have a good way to separate your personal time from your work time. It’s really important for leaders to reach out to the people on their teams to make sure that people are doing well in their assigned projects and also in their home lives and try to make accommodations as this is a challenging period for everyone.
Arbaz: The outbreak is pretty serious and we don't know when it's gonna end. Wishing all our listeners the best of health and please stay safe. Now comes a question that I love asking all my guests on this podcast. Code quality and technical debt are two terms that we often hear from engineering leaders. Keeping them in mind, how do you maintain a balance of technical stability (minimize technical debt) while still delivering high-quality code?
Johan: This is a really great question. A lot of people think that SRE is the team that exists to say no. And certainly, no system is more stable and reliable as one that never changes. But systems like that are seldom very useful. I think that SRE exists to make changes as easy and fast as possible without the wheels flying off the car. So if you have robust testing, a release system that lets you canary changes effectively, and can roll back changes quickly and easily, deliver as fast as you can. It's only when you start to see gaps in these areas that SRE starts to recommend being more cautious. I'd much rather own a project where we made frequent changes through a well-understood and tested process than own a more "Stable" service that only released quarterly.
A colleague of mine who I respect a lot once said that a service can't have "haunted graveyards". If there's a place or thing you're afraid to touch or change, it is your responsibility to exercise it until it is understood well enough to change it safely. Otherwise, you risk having to make such a change when you are least prepared to under fire.
Arbaz: With all the new advancements in technology, the introduction of concepts like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, how do you see the technical landscape changing over the next few years and how will you prepare engineering for that?
Johan: Oh, man, I'm terrible at this. I mean, obviously, things continue to move to the cloud. Maintaining either expensive on-premises data centers or expensive offices for engineers is going to be seen as more of an unnecessary cost. It's currently justified by "We've always done it this way" or "there's no other way to meet our regulatory burdens", but if you imagine starting a new business today, how much would you invest in building your own on-premises services for things the SDLC, authentication, email, etc? I know I'm not saying anything novel or profound here, but trying to keep a grasp on what the state of the market is and moving away from capital-intensive "build our own" is probably what's in the cards for anyone not in a gigantic cloud provider.
Arbaz: Taking you back in time, around 20-25 years, just a fun question here, what was the first programming language you started to code in?
Johan: I did some Pascal very early on, and my first "real" code was in C.
Arbaz: A few minutes ago we talked about getting the right talent for building a strong and performing engineering team, what according to you is the most challenging part of any technical assessment/interview from a Hiring Manager perspective?
Johan: Assessment of a new system, or of an engineer? For a system, probably trying to determine dependencies as well as establish the best SLIs.
For a person, I am most interested in trying to evaluate how well they learn, rather than their expertise in any particular technology. Technology, as you talked about before, is constantly changing, and a good engineer will be able to pick up what is needed. This means less "what are the various list functions in Python" and more "in whatever language you are familiar with, help me solve this general problem".
Arbaz: If not engineering, what alternate profession would you have seen yourself excel in?
Johan: Maybe teaching? I really enjoy explaining how things work to people and working through problems with them. You learn a thing best by teaching it to others.
Arbaz: Finally before we sign off and end today’s episode one last question for you - What would be your 1 tip for all Developers, Engineering Managers, VPs, and Directors of Engineering for being the best at what they do?
Johan: One piece of advice for everyone? Probably something about humility/willingness to listen. People who ask questions or express reservations aren't attacking you. It's easy, especially for leaders, but even smart engineers on teams, to be super-confident in your own abilities and ideas. But even if you ARE 100% right, if you are shooting other people down when they bring you questions or concerns, it trains the people around you to not bring you new information, and that's the last thing someone who is trying to be the best wants.
Arbaz: It was a pleasure having you as a part of today’s episode, Johan. It was really informative and insightful to hear from a leader like yourself.
Johan: Arbaz, it was a real pleasure. Thank you for inviting me. I had a really good time.
Arbaz: This brings us to the end of today’s episode of Breaking 404. Stay tuned for more such awesome enlightening episodes. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel ‘Breaking 404 by HackerEarth’ on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, SoundCloud and TuneIn. This is Arbaz, your host signing off until next time. Thank you so much, everyone!
About Johan Andersen:
Johan Andersen is an engineering leader with a broad experience creating and developing teams to focus on improving the reliability and scalability of large distributed systems. Johan is currently an Engineering Director at Citadel, where he manages several teams with responsibility for the middle and back-office operations for the firm. Before that, he was a senior SRE manager at Google, where he worked on a wide variety of infrastructure and application teams from Storage to Docs to Search Indexing. Prior to Google, Johan led the Security Architecture team at Morgan Stanley. He has a BS and MS in Computer Science from Columbia University.
We are excited to announce that HackerEarth has integrated with yet another ATS—Jobvite—to help recruiters get the best of HackerEarth Assessment. It is a comprehensive ATS that accelerates recruitment efforts with an easy-to-use interface.
HackerEarth and Jobvite: Benefits of the integration
Jobvite helps HackerEarth reach out, follow up, and maintain a connection with candidates at each step of the hiring process. Additionally, it helps recruiters and hiring managers advertise jobs, manage the recruiting process, and much more. Ready to learn how Jobvite improves the speed and quality of your talent acquisition? Let’s get started!
When integrated, you can:
Create any type of job requisition to fit your needs
You can create and add any type of job requisition to fit your business needs by tailoring attributes such as posting type, location, custom workflow, and more. You can also edit a requisition that you have created, as and when required.
Track job openings and prospective candidates
After you create a requisition, Jobvite automatically posts your job openings on the web. It allows recruiters and hiring managers to track a company's job openings as well as the candidates who apply to the company’s open positions.
Screen prospects quickly
The recruiter CRM organizes all your lead generation and sourcing results in one place. Additionally, the screening and ranking tools in Jobvite help recruiters identify the most qualified talent in a jiffy.
Map multiple HackerEarth tests to job requisition
After a new requisition is added on the Jobvite platform, you can map a test to it via the recruiter API ID. You can create and add multiple tests and invite candidates to fill a job position (there is no upper limit on the number of candidates that you can test at a time). All this can be done directly from Jobvite’s interface.
Learn more about setting up assessments in Jobvite here.
View detailed candidate reports in the workflow setup
Hiring managers love having all candidate information saved in a single, easy-to-view record, while candidates are impressed by fast and informative responses from their potential employer. After candidates have completed the test, you can view their scores and other performance data in their Jobvite profile, making the selection process hassle-free. Additionally, if a candidate is shortlisted or rejected, the status is updated automatically in both Jobvite and HackerEarth platforms.
Jobvite has intelligence and automation built right in, making it efficient and easy to use for both recruiters and hiring managers. Try the Jobvite integration with HackerEarth and let us know how it works for you. If you need any help using this feature, write to us at support@hackerearth.com. If you’re new to HackerEarth and want to create accurate skill-based developer assessments, sign up for a 14-day free trial.
In our first episode of Breaking 404, a podcast bringing to you stories and unconventional wisdom from engineering leaders of top global organizations around the globe, we caught up with Ajay Sampat, Sr. Engineering Manager, Lyft to understand the challenges that engineering teams across domains face while tackling large user traffic. Through this episode, Ajay shares his personal experiences and hardships that developers/engineers face in their day-to-day tasks.
Arbaz: Hello everyone and welcome to the first episode of Breaking 404 by HackerEarth, a podcast for all engineering enthusiasts, professionals and leaders to learn from top influencers in the engineering and technology industry. This is your host Arbaz and today I have with me Ajay Sampat, Sr. Engineering Manager at Lyft, a ridesharing company based in San Francisco, California.
Ajay: It’s great to be here and share my journey with the global HackerEarth community.
Arbaz: So let’s get started with a little bit about yourself? How has your professional journey been?
Ajay:
I moved from Mumbai, India to the United States when I was 18.
I graduated with bachelor's & master's degrees in computer science & engineering from Ohio State & Santa Clara University respectively where I had a deep interest in how computers interacted with each other at lightning speed across the globe over the internet.
I started my career working on block storage and supercomputers at HITACHI.
I learned a lot from the Japanese work culture about focus, dedication, and quality.
KIXEYE
I knew I wanted to work on a consumer-focused product and hence took a leap of faith in online and mobile games with KIXEYE.
I learned about growth culture and tactics from KIXEYE - building out a full stack team that focused on Growth Funnel of Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referrals.
TEXTNOW
I took those learnings to the telecommunication vertical with TextNow building out the Business Intelligence and growth teams building products on user segmentation and insights, attribution, lifetime value prediction, experimentation, user engagement.
LYFT
Currently, I head the Marketing Automation team at Lyft focusing on the top part of the funnel for strategic investments across paid and owned channels to scale both drivers and riders in a two-way marketplace.
Throughout my professional journey, I have had moments of introspection and self-discovery. I have asked myself:
What do I really enjoy? Product Management or People Management?
Do I want to work for a small, midsize or large company?
What culture and values do I want the company to embody?
What skills do I want to develop?
What personal brand do I want to create?
Arbaz: One thing that all engineers would be inquisitive to know is, what is the biggest fear that you have, being the Sr. Engineering Manager at Lyft?
Ajay: This is not specific to Lyft but my biggest fear is not being able to create a highly functional team that delivers impact on the business. There are a lot of sub-dimensions to this but the key point I would like to highlight is the ability to hire and retain top talent in the competitive bay area market.
Arbaz: The burning question that everyone would love to know from someone working in the Lyft engineering team is: how does Lyft bring up a robust and scalable platform for managing high user traffic at certain times of the day?
Ajay: This is a culmination of years of hard work and learning from hundreds of engineers at Lyft encompassing Infrastructure, Developer productivity, and platform teams. I am fortunate to work with amazingly bright people who are passionate about their craft and the problems they are solving every day. Lyft shares a lot of in-depth articles regarding our technical challenges and our approach to solving those problems in our engineering blog - eng.lyft.com. I would also like to mention that Lyft is a major contributor to the open-source community. You can find our latest and greatest advancements in networking, security, data management at lyft.github.io.
Arbaz: That’s great to know. On the personal side, what is your favorite leisure-time activity that you love to do when not working?
Ajay: Spending quality time with my son - reading him stories, taking him to the park with our dog, working on puzzles and experiencing nature during our camping trip. “This is the greatest joy of my family's life.”
Arbaz: That’s really wonderful. Back to Ajay, the professional, one thing that all tech companies globally are looking for is to minimize technical debt. So, how do you maintain a balance of technical stability (minimize technical debt) while still delivering high-quality code?
Ajay: We like to use this question in our manager interviews. I think this depends a lot on the maturity and criticality of the feature. E.g: Tier 0 core rides API should not be held to the same quality standard of a tier 2 funnel conversion feature. In the early stages of a new feature, it is important to experiment a lot in beta, with small rollouts to gather customer feedback. This might lead to some interim shortcuts and tech debt but once it's decided that an experiment is going to be turned into a long-lasting feature it is important to scope it holistically with test coverage, edge cases, scaling, fallback plan and so on. When it comes to mid to long term planning - it is important to view all workstreams with the same lens - engineering effort vs business impact. This requires that one is accurately able to quantify the impact of working on tech debt or the addition of a new feature and help the business make the appropriate tradeoff.
Arbaz: With all the innovation and new technologies coming up, how do you see the technical landscape changing over the next few years and how will you prepare engineering for that?
Ajay: Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO once said: “Software Is Eating the World, but AI Is Going to Eat Software”. It is getting increasingly clear that we are moving from a Mobile-first to an AI-first world. It’s all around us from the intelligent vacuum cleaners at home to the smart cars we drive.
Two main areas that intrigue me:
The first is AI plug-ins & IDEs like Kite and PyCharm which are making coding easier and more accessible. They are significantly reducing the barrier to entry to coding and now almost anyone with basic training can build web and mobile apps.
The second is AutoML which is democratizing Machine Learning and providing ML as a service. With advancements in ML libraries like sklearn, tensorflow, xgboost, and tools like DataRobot and H2O.ai, major resource-intensive activities like feature engineering, model selection, training, and tuning are being automated, leading to faster and higher accuracy models.
These technologies will continue to make great strides in the years to come.
Arbaz: Now, taking you a few years back and trying to get the fresh graduate developer out of you here. From a candidate’s point of view, what do you think is the most challenging part of any technical job assessment or interview?
Ajay: My belief is - that for most people it is Anxiety. Let's take a coding interview, for example. Obviously, you need some basic technical knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and problem-solving to do well in a coding interview which I feel most software engineers do. Where most people suffer is they let self-doubt or anxiety get the best of them. I feel if people stay calm and focused during a technical assessment, they will be able to hear the question properly, recollect their learnings, ask the interviewer the right questions and perform their best!
Arbaz: Very well said! Taking you further back in time, what was the first programming language you started to code in?
Ajay: I got my first computer which was a Pentium III in 1999, over 20 years ago. The first programming language I coded in was HTML which was self-taught so I could build a website and have my presence known on the Internet.
Arbaz: What would be your 1 tip for all Developers, Engineering Managers, VPs and Directors for being the best at what they do?
Ajay: Albert Einstein said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying”. The technology landscape is constantly evolving. This makes it very important for everyone to stay up to date with the latest trends that interest them so they can continue to sharpen their skills. That could be the latest front end coding language, cloud service or growth tactic. Luckily, this is much easier now with the plethora of knowledge consumption mediums like blogs, e-magazines, videos & podcasts.
Arbaz: Engineers and Hiring Managers are usually thought of as really serious people who are engrossed in their work and not very social. Although we see most developers plugged in with their headphones and listening to songs. What songs or music genre best describes your work ethic?
Ajay: It has to be deep house with its high momentum and tempos. And like real work and life it has buildups and drops.
Arbaz: Lastly, If not engineering, what alternate profession would you have seen yourself excel in?
Ajay: I can see myself being in stock or commodity trading which runs in the family. Our family business has been an integral part of my childhood and has had a lasting impression on me. It has taught me the value of honesty and hard work. Trading requires constant researching, building long term strategies and relationships which I enjoy a lot.
Arbaz: It was a pleasure having you as a part of today’s episode. It was really informative and insightful to hear from you.
Ajay: Thank you for having me Arbaz and HackerEarth.
Arbaz: This brings us to the end of today’s episode. Stay tuned for more such enlightening episodes. This is Arbaz, your host signing off until next time.
About Ajay Sampat:
Ajay Sampat is a seasoned growth engineering professional with expertise in scaling companies with state-of-the-art growth technology stacks. Ajay currently heads the Marketing Automation team at Lyft. Prior to Lyft, he started the SF office for Canadian startup TextNow and led its Business Intelligence & Growth teams, making it a top 30 Android app and top 100 iOS App, tripling their DAU and revenue. Before TextNow, he spent three years at KIXEYE building out the Growth engineering organization managing multiple successful desktop and mobile game launches. Ajay started his career at Hitachi working on block storage and supercomputers. Ajay has a BS in Computer Science from The Ohio State University and an MS in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University.
Every corporate job opening receives about 250 applications. Google receives millions. And only about five thousand candidates are actually hired every year. Though Google’s hiring process is quite similar to any other company, some specific features make it unique.
The most essential one is Google’s automatic screening process and this article will help you learn more about it. Knowing how to get through it will prepare you for landing any corporate job as a programmer.
What You Need to Know About the ATS
What is Google or any other company looking for in their potential employees? Does age or social background matter much? First and foremost, organizations are on the lookout for talented, creative, team-oriented candidates who can think outside the box and resolve complex issues to get meaningful results.
Apart from the importance of standing out during an interview, let’s first consider some preliminary processes of sorting out candidates’ resumes. It’s about beating the ATS! The interview may be hard, but getting to it is still much harder. However, a great programmer resume can help you overcome this hardship.
An ATS is applicable for enterprises and small-level businesses. It works similar to customer relationship management (CRM) systems and is used for recruitment tracking purposes. An ATS uses special criteria such as keywords, information about schools attended, former employers, years of experience, and skills to filter applicants. These criteria should be considered while optimizing a resume to the needs of a specific company. The whole system is a screening bot, and your first task is to get past it.
That is why you need to focus on creating a perfect resume. Try to make it as short and clear as possible, highlighting your hard and soft skills, gains and achievements, and successful school projects and coursework if you are a newbie in the job market.
In the case of Google, no one knows for sure how its automatic screening process is organized due to the “super-secret” search algorithm. However, there are some keywords that are undoubtedly relevant to a specific job description.
So, to start with, read the job description thoroughly and visit the corresponding website to get some extended information about the job opening and its requirements. Some other minor tips may hint at making your resume as concise and well-organized as you may need to improve the chances of your resume getting through bots.
To beat any job tracking system, you need to follow some essential recommendations concerning structure, style, and keywords.
Structure is everything
The first tip is about making your resume structured and easily browsable. Keep it as simple and friendly-looking as possible. Bear in mind the following key features to get this result:
Start your resume with your full name and the job desired/you are applying to.
Use common headings and subheadings like education, skills, work, experience, etc.
Try to avoid tables and charts, columns and graphs, pictures and other images.
Do not utilize specific colors and fonts (keep it black, Font 12).
Avoid spelling mistakes because they can prevent your resume from being scanned accurately.
Place your contact details in the resume body.
In short, avoid everything that may confuse the bot.
Focus on keyword optimization
Bots are usually looking for keywords, and this is indisputable. Hence, do the research! Find keywords that are most relevant for your industry and for the position you are applying for. Try to provide plenty of them to be sure, but keep your resume sounding natural.
You may want to visit the company’s website and find the list of qualifications needed for the vacancy. If you do not want to be tracked immediately while doing this research, use a reputable VPN that allows P2P traffic to make yourself unrecognizable. If there is still a lack of information, regarding reviewing some other vacancy descriptions on reliable job sites or use a certain keyword finder to make this optimization process easier.
Stay away from buzzwords
Don’t use generic terms or buzzwords such as ‘engaged’ or ‘highly motivated.’ They have become so trite that some companies put them in their blacklists.
When describing your soft skills, try to use words that highlight your personality and some specific traits that may be useful or required for the software developer or programmer position you are applying to.
Career consultants often recommend using AI resume builders to avoid clichés, grammar, and spelling mistakes, and help you pass the ATS and land your dream job.
LinkedIn profile matters
Most companies will check your social media profiles before hiring you. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is perfect because it is the first place they will look at. Take care of all the information and photos there—they need to be consistent and relevant to the purpose. If you still don’t have a LinkedIn profile, try to get it instantly because this is a basic tool used by employers to search for their potential candidates.
Even if you know how to answer all the basic programming interview questions, you may get lost while being asked about some specific details in your profile which do not coincide.
Pro tip
Last but not least, don’t be too specific. Of course, you should not omit all your employment dates, experience and education, personal qualities, and contact information from your resume. However, all this data needs to be relevant to the position you are applying for.
Show that you can provide value for the company, and HRs may get interested in hiring you even if you do not have all the necessary skills for the job. On the other hand, if the information given by you in the resume contains many minor details and specifications that do not correspond with the requirements of the position at all, you may be rejected by screening bots at the first stage of hiring already.
To conclude, proofread and check the relevance of your resume to the company’s needs and requirements. Remember that your task is to go through the whole recruitment process smoothly and to bag the position you have been dreaming about for a long time.
Even if you don’t mean to get hired by Google, getting past the ATS is the primary concern because it is widely used by companies nowadays. Using some tips from this article, you may spare yourself from the need of rewriting your resume over and over again.
Once you learn how to avoid common mistakes in your great programmer resume and how to make it friendly and acceptable for any screening bot, you will feel that your further interviews will become the easiest part of the whole hiring process.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has permeated virtually every industry, transforming operations and interactions. The tech recruitment sector is no exception, and AI’s influence shapes the hiring processes in revolutionary ways. From leveraging AI-powered chatbots for preliminary candidate screenings to deploying machine learning algorithms for efficient resume parsing, AI leaves an indelible mark on tech hiring practices.
Yet, amidst these promising advancements, we must acknowledge the other side of the coin: AI’s potential malpractices, including the likelihood of cheating on assessments, issues around data privacy, and the risk of bias against minority groups.
The dark side of AI in tech recruitment
The introduction of AI in recruitment, while presenting significant opportunities, also brings with it certain drawbacks and vulnerabilities. Sophisticated technologies could enable candidates to cheat on assessments, misrepresent abilities and potential hiring mistakes. This could lead to hiring candidates with falsifying skills or qualifications, which can cause a series of negative effects like:
Reduced work quality: The work output might be sub-par if a candidate doesn’t genuinely possess the abilities they claimed to have.
Team disruptions: Other team members may have to pick up the slack, leading to resentment and decreased morale.
Rehiring costs: You might have to let go of such hires, resulting in additional costs for replacement.
Data privacy is another critical concern
Your company could be left exposed to significant risks if your AI recruiting software is not robust enough to protect sensitive employee information. The implications for an organization with insufficient data security could be severe such as:
Reputational damage: Breaches of sensitive employee data can damage your company’s reputation, making it harder to attract clients and talented employees in the future.
Legal consequences: Depending on the jurisdiction, you could face legal penalties, including hefty fines, for failing to protect sensitive data adequately.
Loss of trust: A data breach could undermine employee trust in your organization, leading to decreased morale and productivity.
Financial costs: Besides potential legal penalties, companies could also face direct financial losses from a data breach, including the costs of investigation, recovery, and measures to prevent future breaches.
Operational disruption: Depending on the extent of the breach, normal business operations could be disrupted, causing additional financial losses and damage to the organization’s reputation.
Let’s talk about the potential for bias in AI recruiting software
Perhaps the most critical issue of all is the potential for unconscious bias. The potential for bias in AI recruiting software stems from the fact that these systems learn from the data they are trained on. If the training data contains biases – for example, if it reflects a history of preferentially hiring individuals of a certain age, gender, or ethnicity – the AI system can learn and replicate these biases.
Even with unbiased data, if the AI’s algorithms are not designed to account for bias, they can inadvertently create it. For instance, a hiring algorithm that prioritizes candidates with more years of experience may inadvertently discriminate against younger candidates or those who have taken career breaks, such as for child-rearing or health reasons.
This replication and possible amplification of human prejudices can result in discriminatory hiring practices. If your organization’s AI-enabled hiring system is found to be biased, you could face legal action, fines, and penalties. Diversity is proven to enhance creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making. In contrast, bias in hiring can lead to a homogenous workforce, so its absence would likely result in a less innovative and less competitive organization.
When used correctly, AI in recruitment can take your hiring to the next level
How do you evaluate the appropriateness of using AI in hiring for your organization? Here are some strategies for navigating the AI revolution in HR. These steps include building support for AI adoption, identifying HR functions that can be integrated with AI, avoiding potential pitfalls of AI use in HR, collaborating with IT leaders, and so on.
Despite certain challenges, AI can significantly enhance tech recruitment processes when used effectively. AI-based recruitment tools can automate many manual recruiting tasks, such as resume screening and interview scheduling, freeing up time for recruiters to focus on more complex tasks. Furthermore, AI can improve the candidate’s experience by providing quick responses and personalized communications. The outcome is a more efficient, candidate-friendly process, which could lead to higher-quality hires.
Let’s look at several transformational possibilities chatbots can bring to human capital management for candidates and hiring teams. This includes automation and simplifying various tasks across domains such as recruiting, onboarding, core HR, absence management, benefits, performance management, and employee self-service resulting in the following:
For recruiters:
Improved efficiency and productivity: Chatbots can handle routine tasks like responding to common inquiries or arranging interviews. Thereby, providing you with more time to concentrate on tasks of strategic importance.
Enhanced candidate experience: With their ability to provide immediate responses, chatbots can make the application process more engaging and user-friendly.
Data and insights: Chatbots can collect and analyze data from your interactions with candidates. And provide valuable insights into candidate preferences and behavior.
Improved compliance: By consistently following predefined rules and guidelines, chatbots can help ensure that hiring processes are fair and compliant with relevant laws and regulations.
Cost saving: By automating routine tasks for recruiters, chatbots can help reduce the labor costs associated with hiring.
Additionally, candidates can leverage these AI-powered chatbots in a dialog flow manner to carry out various tasks. These tasks include the following:
Personalized greetings: By using a candidate’s name and other personal information, chatbots can create a friendly, personalized experience.
Job search: They can help candidates search for jobs based on specific criteria.
Create a candidate profile: These AI-powered chatbots can guide candidates through the process of creating a profile. Thus, making it easier for them to apply for jobs.
Upload resume: Chatbots can instruct candidates on uploading their resume, eliminating potential confusion.
Apply for a job: They can streamline the application process, making it easier and faster for candidates to apply for jobs.
Check application status: Chatbots can provide real-time updates on a candidate’s application status.
Schedule interviews: They can match candidate and interviewer availability to schedule interviews, simplifying the process.
For hiring managers:
These can also be utilized by your tech hiring teams for various purposes, such as:
Create requisition: Chatbots can guide hiring managers through the process of creating a job requisition.
Create offers: They can assist in generating job offers, ensuring all necessary information is included.
Access requisition and offers: Using chatbots can provide hiring managers with easy access to job requisitions and offers.
Check on onboarding tasks: Chatbots can help track onboarding tasks, ensuring nothing is missed.
Other AI recruiting technologies can also enhance the hiring process for candidates and hiring teams in the following ways:
For candidates:
Tailor-made resumes and cover letters using generative AI:Generative AI can help candidates create custom resumes and cover letters, increasing their chances of standing out.
Simplifying the application process: AI-powered recruiting tools can simplify the application process, allowing candidates to apply for jobs with just a few clicks.
Provide similar job recommendations: AI can analyze candidates’ skills, experiences, and preferences to recommend similar jobs they might be interested in.
For recruiters:
Find the best candidate: AI algorithms can analyze large amounts of data to help you identify the candidates most likely to succeed in a given role.
Extract key skills from candidate job applications: Save a significant amount of time and effort by using AI-based recruiting software to quickly analyze job applications to identify key skills, thereby, speeding up the screening process.
Take feedback from rejected candidates & share similar job recommendations: AI can collect feedback from rejected candidates for you to improve future hiring processes and recommend other suitable roles to the candidate.
These enhancements not only streamline the hiring process but also improve the quality of hires, reduce hiring biases, and improve the experience for everyone involved. The use of AI in hiring can indeed take it to the next level.
Where is AI in recruitment headed?
AI can dramatically reshape the recruitment landscape with the following key advancements:
1. Blockchain-based background verification:
Blockchain technology, renowned for its secure, transparent, and immutable nature, can revolutionize background checks. This process which can take anywhere from between a day to several weeks today for a single recruiter to do can be completed within a few clicks resulting in:
Streamlined screening process: Blockchain can store, manage, and share candidates’ credentials and work histories. Thereby speeding up the verification and screening process. This approach eliminates the need for manual background checks. And leads to freeing up a good amount of time for you to focus on more important tasks.
Enhanced trust and transparency: With blockchain, candidates, and employers can trust the validity of the information shared due to the nature of the technology. The cryptographic protection of blockchain ensures the data is tamper-proof, and decentralization provides transparency.
Improved data accuracy and reliability: Since the blockchain ledger is immutable, it enhances the accuracy and reliability of the data stored. This can minimize the risks associated with false information on candidates’ resumes.
Faster onboarding: A swift and reliable verification process means candidates can be onboarded more quickly. Thereby, improving the candidate experience and reducing the time-to-hire.
Expanded talent pool: With blockchain, it’s easier and quicker to verify the credentials of candidates globally, thereby widening the potential talent pool.
2. Immersive experiences using virtual reality (VR):
VR can provide immersive experiences that enhance various aspects of the tech recruitment process:
Interactive job previews: VR can allow potential candidates to virtually “experience” a day i.e., life at your company. This provides a more accurate and engaging job preview than traditional job descriptions.
Virtual interviews and assessments: You can use VR to conduct virtual interviews or assessments. You can also evaluate candidates in a more interactive and immersive setting. This can be particularly useful for roles that require specific spatial or technical skills.
Virtual onboarding programs: New hires can take a virtual tour of the office, meet their colleagues, and get acquainted with their tasks, all before their first day. This can significantly enhance the onboarding experience and help new hires feel more prepared.
Immersive learning experiences: VR can provide realistic, immersive learning experiences for job-specific training or to enhance soft skills. These could be used during the recruitment process or for ongoing employee development.
To summarize, AI in recruitment is a double-edged sword, carrying both promise and potential problems. The key lies in how recruiters use this technology, leveraging its benefits while vigilantly managing its risks. AI isn’t likely to replace recruiters or HR teams in the near future. Instead, you should leverage this tool to positively impact the entire hiring lifecycle.
With the right balance and careful management, AI can streamline hiring processes. It can create better candidate experiences, and ultimately lead to better recruitment decisions. Recruiters should continually experiment with and explore generative AI. To devise creative solutions, resulting in more successful hiring and the perfect fit for every open role.
“Every hire is an investment for a company. A good hire will give you a higher ROI; if it is a bad hire, it will cost you a lot of time and money.”
Especially in tech hiring!
An effective tech recruitment process helps you attract the best talents, reduce hiring costs, and enhance company culture and reputation.
Businesses increasingly depend on technical knowledge to compete in today’s fast-paced, technologically driven world. Online platforms that provide technical recruiting solutions have popped up to assist companies in finding and employing top talent in response to this demand.
The two most well-known platforms in this field are HackerEarth and Mettl. To help businesses make wise choices for their technical employment requirements, we will compare these two platforms’ features, benefits, and limitations in this article.
This comparison of Mettl alternative, HackerEarth and Mettl itself, will offer helpful information to help you make the best decision, whether you’re a small company trying to expand your tech staff or a massive organization needing a simplified recruiting process.
HackerEarth
HackerEarth is based in San Francisco, USA, and offers enterprise software to aid companies with technical recruitment. Its services include remote video interviewing and technical skill assessments that are commonly used by organizations.
HackerEarth also provides a platform for developers to participate in coding challenges and hackathons. In addition, it provides tools for technical hiring such as coding tests, online interviews, and applicant management features. The hiring solutions provided by HackerEarth aid companies assess potential employees’ technical aptitude and select the best applicants for their specialized positions.
Mettl
Mettl, on the other hand, offers a range of assessment solutions for various industries, including IT, banking, healthcare, and retail. It provides online tests for coding, linguistic ability, and cognitive skills. The tests offered by Mettl assist employers find the best applicants for open positions and make data-driven recruiting choices. Additionally, Mettl provides solutions for personnel management and staff training and development.
Why should you go for HackerEarth over Mercer Mettl?
Because HackerEarth makes technical recruiting easy and fast, you must consider HackerEarth for technical competence evaluations and remote video interviews. It goes above and beyond to provide you with a full range of functions and guarantee the effectiveness of the questions in the database. Moreover, it is user-friendly and offers fantastic testing opportunities.
The coding assessments by HackerEarth guarantee the lowest time consumption and maximum efficiency. It provides a question bank of more than 17,000 coding-related questions and automated test development so that you can choose test questions as per the job role.
As a tech recruiter, you may need a clear understanding of a candidate’s skills. With HackerEarth’s code replay capability and insight-rich reporting on a developer’s performance, you can hire the right resource for your company.
Additionally, HackerEarth provides a more in-depth examination of your recruiting process so you can continuously enhance your coding exams and develop a hiring procedure that leads the industry.
HackerEarth and Mercer Mettl are the two well-known online tech assessment platforms that provide tools for managing and performing online examinations. We will examine the major areas where HackerEarth outperforms Mettl, thereby proving to be a great alternative to Mettl, in this comparison.
HackerEarth believes in upgrading itself and providing the most effortless navigation and solutions to recruiters and candidates.
HackerEarth provides various tools and capabilities to create and administer online tests, such as programming tests, multiple-choice questions, coding challenges, and more. The software also has remote proctoring, automatic evaluation, and plagiarism detection tools (like detecting the use of ChatGPT in coding assessments). On the other side, Mettl offers comparable functionality but has restricted capabilities for coding challenges and evaluations.
Test creation and administration
HackerEarth: It has a user-friendly interface that is simple to use and navigate. It makes it easy for recruiters to handle evaluations without zero technical know-how. The HackerEarth coding platform is also quite flexible and offers a variety of pre-built exams, including coding tests, aptitude tests, and domain-specific examinations. It has a rich library of 17,000+ questions across 900+ skills, which is fully accessible by the hiring team. Additionally, it allows you to create custom questions yourself or use the available question libraries.
Mettl: It can be challenging for a hiring manager to use Mettl efficiently since Mettl provides limited assessment and question libraries. Also, their team creates the test for them rather than giving access to hiring managers. This results in a higher turnaround time and reduces test customization possibilities since the request has to go back to the team, they have to make the changes, and so forth.
Reporting and analytics
HackerEarth: You may assess applicant performance and pinpoint areas for improvement with the help of HackerEarth’s full reporting and analytics tools. Its personalized dashboards, visualizations, and data exports simplify evaluating assessment results and real-time insights.
Most importantly, HackerEarth includes code quality scores in candidate performance reports, which lets you get a deeper insight into a candidate’s capabilities and make the correct hiring decision. Additionally, HackerEarth provides a health score index for each question in the library to help you add more accuracy to your assessments. The health score is based on parameters like degree of difficulty, choice of the programming language used, number of attempts over the past year, and so on.
Mettl: Mettl online assessment tool provides reporting and analytics. However, there may be only a few customization choices available. Also, Mettle does not provide code quality assurance which means hiring managers have to check the whole code manually. There is no option to leverage question-based analytics and Mettl does not include a health score index for its question library.
Adopting this platform may be challenging if you want highly customized reporting and analytics solutions.
HackerEarth: The security and privacy of user data are top priorities at HackerEarth. The platform protects data in transit and at rest using industry-standard encryption. Additionally, all user data is kept in secure, constantly monitored data centers with stringent access controls.
Along with these security measures, HackerEarth also provides IP limitations, role-based access controls, and multi-factor authentication. These features ensure that all activity is recorded and audited and that only authorized users can access sensitive data.
HackerEarth complies with several data privacy laws, such as GDPR and CCPA. The protection of candidate data is ensured by this compliance, which also enables businesses to fulfill their legal and regulatory responsibilities.
Mettl: The security and data privacy features of Mettl might not be as strong as those of HackerEarth. The platform does not provide the same selection of security measures, such as IP limitations or multi-factor authentication. Although the business asserts that it complies with GDPR and other laws, it cannot offer the same amount of accountability and transparency as other platforms.
Even though both HackerEarth and Mettl include security and data privacy measures, the Mettle alternative, HackerEarth’s platform is made to be more thorough, open, and legal. By doing this, businesses can better guarantee candidate data’s security and ability to fulfill legal and regulatory requirements.
Pricing and support
HackerEarth: To meet the demands of businesses of all sizes, HackerEarth offers a variety of customizable pricing options. The platform provides yearly and multi-year contracts in addition to a pay-as-you-go basis. You can select the price plan that best suits their demands regarding employment and budget.
HackerEarth offers chat customer support around the clock. The platform also provides a thorough knowledge base and documentation to assist users in getting started and troubleshooting problems.
Mettl: The lack of price information on Mettl’s website might make it challenging for businesses to decide whether the platform fits their budget. The organization also does not have a pay-as-you-go option, which might be problematic.
Mettl offers phone and emails customer assistance. However, the business website lacks information on support availability or response times. This lack of transparency may be an issue if you need prompt and efficient help.
User experience
HackerEarth: The interface on HackerEarth is designed to be simple for both recruiters and job seekers. As a result of the platform’s numerous adjustable choices for test creation and administration, you may design exams specifically suited to a job role. Additionally, the platform provides a selection of question types and test templates, making it simple to build and take exams effectively.
In terms of the candidate experience, HackerEarth provides a user-friendly interface that makes navigating the testing procedure straightforward and intuitive for applicants. As a result of the platform’s real-time feedback and scoring, applicants may feel more motivated and engaged during the testing process. The platform also provides several customization choices, like branding and message, which may assist recruiters in giving prospects a more exciting and tailored experience.
Mettl: The platform is intended to have a steeper learning curve than others and be more technical. It makes it challenging to rapidly and effectively construct exams and can be difficult for applicants unfamiliar with the platform due to its complex interface.
Additionally, Mettl does not provide real-time feedback or scoring, which might deter applicants from participating and being motivated by the testing process.
According to G2, HackerEarth and Mettl have 4.4 reviews out of 5. Users have also applauded HackerEarth’s customer service. Many agree that the staff members are friendly and quick to respond to any problems or queries. Overall, customer evaluations and feedback for HackerEarth point to the platform as simple to use. Both recruiters and applicants find it efficient.
Mettl has received mixed reviews from users, with some praising the platform for its features and functionality and others expressing frustration with its complex and technical interface.
May the best “brand” win!
Recruiting and selecting the ideal candidate demands a significant investment of time, attention, and effort.
This is where tech recruiting platforms like HackerEarth and Mettl have got you covered. They help streamline the whole process.Both HackerEarth and Mettl provide a wide variety of advanced features and capabilities for tech hiring.
We think HackerEarth is the superior choice. Especially, when contrasting the two platforms in terms of their salient characteristics and functioning. But, we may be biased!
So don’t take our word for it. Sign up for a free trial and check out HackerEarth’s offerings for yourself!
Let’s face it—cheating on tests is quite common. While technology has made a lot of things easier in tech recruiting, it
has also left the field wide open to malpractice. A 2020 report by ICAI shows
that 32% of undergraduate students have cheated in some form on an online test.
It’s human nature to want to bend
the rules a little bit. Which begs the question, how do you stay on top of cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of
malpractice during the assessment process?
How do you ensure that take-home assessments and remote interviews
stay authentic and credible? By relying on enhanced virtual supervision, of course!
HackerEarth Assessments has
always been one step ahead when it comes to remote proctoring which is able to capture the nuances of candidate
plagiarism. The recent advancements in technology (think generative AI) needed
more robust proctoring features, so we went ahead and built The HackerEarth Smart
Browser to ensure our assessments remain as foolproof as ever.
Presenting to you, the
latest HackerEarth proctoring fix - The Smart Browser
Our Smart Browser is the chocolatey version of a plain
donut when compared to a regular web browser. It is extra effective and comes packed with additional remote proctoring capabilities to
increase the quality of your screening assessments.
The chances of a candidate cheating on a HackerEarth technical assessment are virtually zero with
the latest features! Spilling all our secrets to show you why -
1. Sealed-off testing environment makes proctoring
simpler
To get started with
using the Smart Browser, enable the Smart Browser setting as shown above. This setting is available under the test
proctoring section on the test overview page.
As you can see, several other proctoring settings such as disabling
copy-paste, restricting candidates to full-screen mode, and logout on leaving the test interface are selected
automatically.Now, every candidate you invite to take the assessment will only be able to do so through the Smart
Browser. Candidates are prompted to download the Smart Browser from the link shared in the test invite mail.When the
candidate needs to click on the ‘start test’ button on the launch test screen, it opens in the Smart Browser. The
browser also prompts the candidate to switch to full-screen mode. Now, all candidates need to do is sign in and attempt
the test, as usual.
Also read: 6
Ways Candidates Try To Outsmart A Remote Proctored Assessment
2. Eagle-eyed online test monitoring leaves no room for error
Our AI-enabled Smart Browser takes frequent snapshots via the webcam, throughout the assessment.
Consequently, it is impossible to copy-paste code or impersonate a candidate.The browser prevents the following
candidate actions and facilitates thorough monitoring of the assessment:
Any candidate actions attempting to switch tabs with the intent to copy-paste or use a generative AI like ChatGPT
are shown a warning and captured in the candidate report.HackerEarth’s latest proctoring fixes
bulletproof our assessment platform, making it one of the most reliable and accurate sources of candidate hiring in the
market today.
Also read: 4 Ways
HackerEarth Flags The Use Of ChatGPT In Tech Hiring Assessments
Experience reliable assessments with the Smart Browser!
There you have it - our newest offering that preserves
the integrity of coding assessments and enables skill-first hiring, all in one go. Recruiters and hiring managers, this
is one feature that you can easily rely on and can be sure that every candidate’s test score is a result of their
ability alone.Curious to try out the Smart Browser? Well, don’t take our word for it. Head over here to check it out for
yourself!
We also love hearing from our customers so don’t hesitate to leave us any feedback you might
have.
In today’s fast-paced world, recruiting talent has become increasingly complicated. Technological advancements, high workforce expectations and a highly competitive market have pushed recruitment agencies to adopt innovative strategies for recruiting various types of talent. This article aims to explore one such recruitment strategy – headhunting.
What is Headhunting in recruitment?
In headhunting, companies or recruitment agencies identify, engage and hire highly skilled professionals to fill top positions in the respective companies. It is different from the traditional process in which candidates looking for job opportunities approach companies or recruitment agencies. In headhunting, executive headhunters, as recruiters are referred to, approach prospective candidates with the hiring company’s requirements and wait for them to respond. Executive headhunters generally look for passive candidates, those who work at crucial positions and are not on the lookout for new work opportunities. Besides, executive headhunters focus on filling critical, senior-level positions indispensable to companies. Depending on the nature of the operation, headhunting has three types. They are described later in this article. Before we move on to understand the types of headhunting, here is how the traditional recruitment process and headhunting are different.
How do headhunting and traditional recruitment differ from each other?
Headhunting is a type of recruitment process in which top-level managers and executives in similar positions are hired. Since these professionals are not on the lookout for jobs, headhunters have to thoroughly understand the hiring companies’ requirements and study the work profiles of potential candidates before creating a list.
In the traditional approach, there is a long list of candidates applying for jobs online and offline. Candidates approach recruiters for jobs. Apart from this primary difference, there are other factors that define the difference between these two schools of recruitment.
AspectHeadhuntingTraditional RecruitmentCandidate TypePrimarily passive candidateActive job seekersApproachFocused on specific high-level rolesBroader; includes various levelsScopeproactive outreachReactive: candidates applyCostGenerally more expensive due to expertise requiredTypically lower costsControlManaged by headhuntersManaged internally by HR teams
All the above parameters will help you to understand how headhunting differs from traditional recruitment methods, better.
Types of headhunting in recruitment
Direct headhunting: In direct recruitment, hiring teams reach out to potential candidates through personal communication. Companies conduct direct headhunting in-house, without outsourcing the process to hiring recruitment agencies. Very few businesses conduct this type of recruitment for top jobs as it involves extensive screening across networks outside the company’s expanse.
Indirect headhunting: This method involves recruiters getting in touch with their prospective candidates through indirect modes of communication such as email and phone calls. Indirect headhunting is less intrusive and allows candidates to respond at their convenience.Third-party recruitment: Companies approach external recruitment agencies or executive headhunters to recruit highly skilled professionals for top positions. This method often leverages the company’s extensive contact network and expertise in niche industries.
How does headhunting work?
Finding highly skilled professionals to fill critical positions can be tricky if there is no system for it. Expert executive headhunters employ recruitment software to conduct headhunting efficiently as it facilitates a seamless recruitment process for executive headhunters. Most software is AI-powered and expedites processes like candidate sourcing, interactions with prospective professionals and upkeep of communication history. This makes the process of executive search in recruitment a little bit easier. Apart from using software to recruit executives, here are the various stages of finding high-calibre executives through headhunting.
Identifying the role
Once there is a vacancy for a top job, one of the top executives like a CEO, director or the head of the company, reach out to the concerned personnel with their requirements. Depending on how large a company is, they may choose to headhunt with the help of an external recruiting agency or conduct it in-house. Generally, the task is assigned to external recruitment agencies specializing in headhunting. Executive headhunters possess a database of highly qualified professionals who work in crucial positions in some of the best companies. This makes them the top choice of conglomerates looking to hire some of the best talents in the industry.
Defining the job
Once an executive headhunter or a recruiting agency is finalized, companies conduct meetings to discuss the nature of the role, how the company works, the management hierarchy among other important aspects of the job. Headhunters are expected to understand these points thoroughly and establish a clear understanding of their expectations and goals.
Candidate identification and sourcing
Headhunters analyse and understand the requirements of their clients and begin creating a pool of suitable candidates from their database. The professionals are shortlisted after conducting extensive research of job profiles, number of years of industry experience, professional networks and online platforms.
Approaching candidates
Once the potential candidates have been identified and shortlisted, headhunters move on to get in touch with them discreetly through various communication channels. As such candidates are already working at top level positions at other companies, executive headhunters have to be low-key while doing so.
Assessment and Evaluation
In this next step, extensive screening and evaluation of candidates is conducted to determine their suitability for the advertised position.
Interviews and negotiations
Compensation is a major topic of discussion among recruiters and prospective candidates. A lot of deliberation and negotiation goes on between the hiring organization and the selected executives which is facilitated by the headhunters.
Finalizing the hire
Things come to a close once the suitable candidates accept the job offer. On accepting the offer letter, headhunters help finalize the hiring process to ensure a smooth transition.
The steps listed above form the blueprint for a typical headhunting process. Headhunting has been crucial in helping companies hire the right people for crucial positions that come with great responsibility. However, all systems have a set of challenges no matter how perfect their working algorithm is. Here are a few challenges that talent acquisition agencies face while headhunting.
Common challenges in headhunting
Despite its advantages, headhunting also presents certain challenges:
Cost Implications: Engaging headhunters can be more expensive than traditional recruitment methods due to their specialized skills and services.
Time-Consuming Process: While headhunting can be efficient, finding the right candidate for senior positions may still take time due to thorough evaluation processes.
Market Competition: The competition for top talent is fierce; organizations must present compelling offers to attract passive candidates away from their current roles.
Although the above mentioned factors can pose challenges in the headhunting process, there are more upsides than there are downsides to it. Here is how headhunting has helped revolutionize the recruitment of high-profile candidates.
Advantages of Headhunting
Headhunting offers several advantages over traditional recruitment methods:
Access to Passive Candidates: By targeting individuals who are not actively seeking new employment, organisations can access a broader pool of highly skilled professionals.
Confidentiality: The discreet nature of headhunting protects both candidates’ current employment situations and the hiring organisation’s strategic interests.
Customized Search: Headhunters tailor their search based on the specific needs of the organization, ensuring a better fit between candidates and company culture.
Industry Expertise: Many headhunters specialise in particular sectors, providing valuable insights into market dynamics and candidate qualifications.
Conclusion
Although headhunting can be costly and time-consuming, it is one of the most effective ways of finding good candidates for top jobs. Executive headhunters face several challenges maintaining the g discreetness while getting in touch with prospective clients. As organizations navigate increasingly competitive markets, understanding the nuances of headhunting becomes vital for effective recruitment strategies. To keep up with the technological advancements, it is better to optimise your hiring process by employing online recruitment software like HackerEarth, which enables companies to conduct multiple interviews and evaluation tests online, thus improving candidate experience. By collaborating with skilled headhunters who possess industry expertise and insights into market trends, companies can enhance their chances of securing high-caliber professionals who drive success in their respective fields.
The job industry is not the same as it was 30 years ago. Progresses in AI and automation have created a new work culture that demands highly skilled professionals who drive innovation and work efficiently. This has led to an increase in the number of companies reaching out to external sources of recruitment for hiring talent. Over the years, we have seen several job aggregators optimise their algorithms to suit the rising demand for talent in the market and new players entering the talent acquisition industry. This article will tell you all about how external sources of recruitment help companies scout some of the best candidates in the industry, the importance of external recruitment in organizations across the globe and how it can be leveraged to find talent effectively.
Understanding external sources of recruitment
External sources refer to recruitment agencies, online job portals, job fairs, professional associations and any other organizations that facilitate seamless recruitment. When companies employ external recruitment sources, they access a wider pool of talent which helps them find the right candidates much faster than hiring people in-house. They save both time and effort in the recruitment process.
Online job portals
Online resume aggregators like LinkedIn, Naukri, Indeed, Shine, etc. contain a large database of prospective candidates. With the advent of AI, online external sources of recruitment have optimised their algorithms to show the right jobs to the right candidates. Once companies figure out how to utilise job portals for recruitment, they can expedite their hiring process efficiently.
Social Media
Ours is a generation that thrives on social media. To boost my IG presence, I have explored various strategies, from getting paid Instagram users to optimizing post timing and engaging with my audience consistently. Platforms like FB an IG have been optimized to serve job seekers and recruiters alike. The algorithms of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have been optimised to serve job seekers and recruiters alike. Leveraging them to post well-placed ads for job listings is another way to implement external sources of recruitment strategies.
Employee Referrals
Referrals are another great external source of recruitment for hiring teams. Encouraging employees to refer their friends and acquaintances for vacancies enables companies to access highly skilled candidates faster.
Campus Recruitment
Hiring freshers from campus allows companies to train and harness new talent. Campus recruitment drives are a great external recruitment resource where hiring managers can expedite the hiring process by conducting screening processes in short periods.
Recruitment Agencies
Companies who are looking to fill specific positions with highly skilled and experienced candidates approach external recruitment agencies or executive headhunters to do so. These agencies are well-equipped to look for suitable candidates and they also undertake the task of identifying, screening and recruiting such people.
Job Fairs
This is a win-win situation for job seekers and hiring teams. Job fairs allow potential candidates to understand how specific companies work while allowing hiring managers to scout for potential candidates and proceed with the hiring process if possible.
Importance of External Recruitment
The role of recruitment agencies in talent acquisition is of paramount importance. They possess the necessary resources to help companies find the right candidates and facilitate a seamless hiring process through their internal system. Here is how external sources of recruitment benefit companies.
Diversity of Skill Sets
External recruitment resources are a great way for companies to hire candidates with diverse professional backgrounds. They possess industry-relevant skills which can be put to good use in this highly competitive market.
Fresh Perspectives
Candidates hired through external recruitment resources come from varied backgrounds. This helps them drive innovation and run things a little differently, thus bringing in a fresh approach to any project they undertake.
Access to Specialized Talent
Companies cannot hire anyone to fill critical roles that require highly qualified executives. This task is assigned to executive headhunters who specialize in identifying and screening high-calibre candidates with the right amount of industry experience. Huge conglomerates and companies seek special talent through external recruiters who have carved a niche for themselves.
Now that you have learnt the different ways in which leveraging external sources of recruitment benefits companies, let’s take a look at some of the best practices of external recruitment to understand how to effectively use their resources.
Best Practices for Effective External Recruitment
Identifying, reaching out to and screening the right candidates requires a robust working system. Every system works efficiently if a few best practices are implemented. For example, hiring through social media platforms requires companies to provide details about their working environment, how the job is relevant to their audience and well-positioned advertisements. The same applies to the other external sources of recruitment. Here is how you can optimise the system to ensure an effective recruitment process.
Craft Clear and Compelling Job Descriptions
Detail Responsibilities: Clearly outline the key responsibilities and expectations for the role.
Highlight Company Culture: Include information about the company’s mission, values, and growth opportunities to attract candidates who align with your organizational culture.
Leverage Multiple Recruitment Channels
Diversify Sources: Use a mix of job boards, social media platforms, recruitment agencies, and networking events to maximize reach. Relying on a single source can limit your candidate pool.
Utilize Industry-Specific Platforms: In addition to general job boards, consider niche job sites that cater to specific industries or skill sets
Streamline the Application Process
Simplify Applications: Ensure that the application process is user-friendly. Lengthy or complicated forms can deter potential candidates from applying.
Mobile Optimization: Many candidates use mobile devices to apply for jobs, so ensure your application process is mobile-friendly.
Engage in Proactive Sourcing
Reach Out to Passive Candidates: Actively seek out candidates who may not be actively looking for a job but could be a great fit for your organization. Use LinkedIn and other professional networks for this purpose.
Maintain a Talent Pool: Keep a database of previous applicants and strong candidates for future openings, allowing you to reach out when new roles become available.
Utilize Social Media Effectively
Promote Job Openings: Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to share job postings and engage with potential candidates. This approach can also enhance your employer brand
Conduct Background Checks: There are several ways of learning about potential candidates. Checking out candidate profiles on job boards like LinkedIn or social media platforms can give companies a better understanding of their potential candidates, thus confirming whether they are the right fit for the organization.
Implement Data-Driven Recruitment
Analyze Recruitment Metrics: Track key metrics such as time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, and source effectiveness. This data can help refine your recruitment strategies over time. Using external hiring software like HackeEarth can streamline the recruitment process, thus ensuring quality hires without having to indulge internal resources for the same.
Use Predictive Analytics: In this age of fast paced internet, everybody makes data-driven decisions. Using predictive analytics to study employee data will help companies predict future trends, thus facilitating a productive hiring process.
Conclusion
External sources of recruitment play a very important role in an organization’s talent acquisition strategy. By employing various channels of recruitment such as social media, employee referrals and campus recruitment drives, companies can effectively carry out their hiring processes. AI-based recruitment management systems also help in the process. Implementing best practices in external recruitment will enable organizations to enhance their hiring processes effectively while meeting their strategic goals.
The Progressive Pre-Employment Assessment is a crucial step in the hiring process, as it evaluates candidates through various dimensions including cognitive abilities, personality traits, and role-specific skills.
While employers and recruiters have this in the palm of their hand, candidates who master it will successfully navigate the assessment and have a higher chance of landing that dream job. But what does it entail in the first place?
Candidates can expect to undergo tests that assess verbal, numerical, and work style capabilities, as well as a personality assessment. Hence, understanding the structure and purpose of the Progressive Pre-Employment Assessment can give candidates a competitive edge. But before one tackles online tests, we must first dissect what this assessment is and what it consists of.
The evolution of pre-employment assessments
Pre-employment assessments have undergone significant changes over the decades, from rudimentary tests to sophisticated, modern evaluations. Let’s put the two side by side.
Traditional methods:
Initially, pre-employment assessments focused on basic skills and educational qualifications. These paper-based tests primarily assessed cognitive and verbal abilities, without any conclusions about the candidates’ output in very specific situations.
Modern techniques:
Today, online assessments are prevalent, evaluating a variety of dimensions, including cognitive skills, personality traits, and behavioral evaluations. These tools offer a more comprehensive view of a candidate's job performance potential, while, at the same time, saving precious time for both parties involved.
In today’s competitive job market, progressive pre-employment assessments play a crucial as they not only measure technical skills and knowledge but also provide insights into a candidate's ethical bias, cultural fit, and communication skills.
Likewise, assessment tests have evolved to include situational judgment tests and culture fit analyses, which are pivotal in assessing the suitability of a candidate for specific roles. And this isn’t just in terms of skillsets—they help in identifying candidates who align well with the company's values and working environment.
This is mainly for the tests’ ability to accurately gauge a candidate's interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, which are essential for roles that require teamwork and client interactions.
What are progressive pre-employment assessments?
Progressive pre-employment assessments are structured evaluations designed to judge a candidate’s abilities and fit for a role at Progressive Insurance. Unlike traditional aptitude tests, these assessments encompass various elements such as cognitive abilities, situational judgments, and personality traits.
These tests typically include verbal and numerical reasoning sections, as well as work style assessments that gauge behavioral tendencies. Through this merger of multiple dimensions, Progressive seeks to understand not just the skills and knowledge of the candidate, but also their ethical perspectives and communication skills.
Components of a progressive assessment strategy
What sets progressive assessments apart? Well, as most employers just focus on the basic credentials and competencies, the comprehensive assessment strategy at Progressive includes several key components:
Cognitive evaluations: These tests measure candidates' logical reasoning and problem-solving capabilities through verbal, numerical, and abstract reasoning questions.
Personality assessments: These tests evaluate traits and tendencies to understand how a candidate might behave in various workplace scenarios. They aim to provide insight into their ethical bias and interpersonal skills.
Behavioral evaluations: These sections analyze how candidates might act in specific situations, ensuring a good cultural fit and alignment with Progressive's values.
Role-specific skills tests: These assessments focus on the specialized skills required for the position, ensuring the candidate has the necessary technical knowledge and expertise.
Implementing progressive assessments
Successful implementation of Progressive Assessments in the hiring process requires designing an effective assessment process and following best practices for administration. This ensures accuracy, better data security, and reliable decision-making. In particular, the implementation hinges on the feasibility of the original design.
Step 1 --- Designing the assessment process
Designing an effective Progressive Assessment involves understanding the specific needs of the role and the company's approach to hiring. Each test component — verbal, numerical, and work style — must align with the desired skills and personality traits for the role.
HR teams need to define clear objectives for each assessment section. This includes establishing what each part aims to evaluate, like the problem-solving or personality assessments. Incorporating legal and policy guidelines ensures the assessments are fair and non-discriminatory, which is crucial for avoiding legal issues.
Likewise, everaging online assessment tests provides flexibility and efficiency. These tests allow candidates to complete them remotely, easing logistics and scheduling concerns. Ensuring security is also essential, and implementing testing and other recruitment tools can help enhance data security and accuracy.
Step 2 --- Best practices for assessment administration
Administering assessments effectively revolves around consistency and fairness. Establish structured guidelines for the administration process to ensure each candidate undergoes the same conditions, promoting reliability. This includes standardizing the timing, environment, and instructions for all assessments.
Training HR representatives is vital. They should be well-versed in handling the assessments, from initial candidate interactions to evaluating the results. Regular training updates ensure the team remains knowledgeable about best practices and any new tools used in the assessment process.
Administering assessments also involves maintaining better data security and accuracy. This is achieved by utilizing secure online platforms and ensuring that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive data. Leveraging top API penetration testing tools is one approach to securing candidate data and preserving the integrity of the assessment process.
Implementing consistent feedback mechanisms for candidates can also improve the process. Providing insights on their performance helps candidates understand their strengths and areas for growth, which reflects positively on the company’s commitment to candidate experience.
Benefits of progressive assessments
Progressive assessments offer significant advantages in the hiring process, such as improving the accuracy of hiring decisions and enhancing the overall candidate experience. These benefits help companies find better-fitting candidates and reduce turnover rates.
1. Improved hiring accuracy
Progressive pre-employment assessments allow companies to evaluate candidates more comprehensively. By assessing personality traits, cognitive abilities, and ethical biases, employers can identify individuals who align with the company’s values and have the necessary skills for the job.
For example, personality assessments can pinpoint traits like empathy, communication, and problem-solving abilities. This helps employers select candidates who are not only qualified but also fit well within the team. Evaluating these qualities ensures that new hires can thrive in customer service roles where empathy and effective communication are crucial.
Moreover, using tools like the DDI Adaptive Reasoning Test helps to simulate real job tasks. This gives employers deeper insights into a candidate's capability to handle job-specific challenges. As a result, the company is more likely to experience lower turnover rates due to better candidate-job fit.
2. Enhanced candidate experience
A well-structured assessment process can significantly enhance the candidate experience. Clear instructions,fair testing procedures, and timely feedback create a positive impression of the company. Candidates appreciate transparency and feel valued when the process is designed with their experience in mind.
Implementing assessments that reflect actual job roles and responsibilities gives candidates a realistic preview of the job. This reduces later dissatisfaction and turnover. Additionally, personality assessments that highlight traits such as confidence and empathy provide a more engaging candidate experience.
Companies can also strengthen their employer brand by showcasing their commitment to a fair and comprehensive hiring process. Providing resources like practice tests helps candidates feel better prepared and less anxious about the assessment, leading to a more positive perception of the company.
Common pitfalls in progressive assessments
Candidates often struggle with the cognitive abilities section, which requires strong analytical skills and problem-solving capabilities. The situational judgment tests can also be tricky as they assess empathy, decision-making, and customer service scenarios. Personality assessments can pose challenges as well, especially for those unsure how to present their personality traits aligned with the job role.
A significant issue is also misinterpretation of the test's format and expectations. Many find it daunting to navigate through various sections, such as verbal, numerical, and work style assessments. Lastly, some candidates might overlook the legal nuances of personality assessments or document redaction protocols, leading to compliance issues.
Strategies to overcome challenges
To tackle cognitive abilities assessments, candidates should engage in consistent practice with sample questions and mock tests. This helps enhance their analytical and problem-solving skills. For situational judgment tests, it is essential to practice empathy and customer service scenarios to develop a better understanding of role-specific challenges.
In personality assessments, being honest while demonstrating relevant personality traits like being a team player is crucial. Seeking guidance from study materials such as Job Test Prep can provide a realistic testing environment.
Understanding legal considerations, such as those around document redaction, is important for compliance. Utilizing a document redaction SDK can ensure adherence to required policies. Familiarity with each section's format will aid in navigating the assessments confidently and effectively.
Trends and innovations in employee assessments
There is a growing emphasis on AI-powered assessments —these tools analyze vast amounts of data to predict a candidate's job performance, ensuring a more objective and efficient selection process.
Personality assessments are evolving to include metrics like empathy and communication skills, which are crucial for roles in customer service and other people-centric positions.
Additionally, gamified assessments, which make the evaluation process engaging, are gaining popularity. They not only assess problem-solving skills but also gauge how candidates perform under pressure.
Organizations can prepare for the future by integrating cutting-edge technologies into their hiring processes. Investing in training for evaluators to accurately interpret new assessment metrics is crucial. This involves
Moreover, companies should stay updated on legal requirements to maintain compliance and ensure fair assessment practices.
Encouraging candidates to focus on developing their personality traits, such as being team players and showing confidence, can also better prepare them for progressive assessments that look beyond technical skills.
The strategic value of progressive assessments
Progressive pre-employment assessments rigorously evaluate candidates on multiple fronts, including cognitive abilities, situational judgment, personality fit, and role-specific skills. This multifaceted approach not only helps in identifying the best match for specific roles but also reduces the risk of bad hires.
By investing in these assessments, companies can significantly enhance their recruitment processes. Consistent use of these tools leads to more informed decision-making, reducing turnover rates and ensuring employee retention.
Appropriate preparation and implementation of these assessments can streamline the hiring pipeline, saving time and resources. Furthermore, this approach bolsters team performance and aligns employee roles with their strengths, promoting a culture of efficiency and productivity. While Progressive is far from the only company using this approach, they’ve set a standard in terms of looking at candidates holistically and making sure they’re truly ready for the job.
Frequently Asked Questions
This section covers common inquiries related to the Progressive Pre-Employment Assessments, including differences from psychometric tests, benefits for small businesses, legal considerations, and the role of technology.
How do progressive assessments differ from psychometric testing?
Progressive assessments typically examine a candidate's ethical bias and personality traits. In contrast, psychometric tests focus on cognitive abilities and personality dimensions. The Progressive Pre-Employment Assessment includes verbal, numerical, and work style components, offering a broader evaluation spectrum.
Can small businesses benefit from implementing progressive assessment strategies?
Small businesses can gain significant advantages from adopting progressive assessment strategies. These assessments help identify candidates that align closely with the company’s values and culture, reducing turnover rates. Additionally, they provide insights into a candidate's ethical stance and work style, which are crucial for cohesive team dynamics.
What are the legal considerations when using pre-employment assessments?
Legal considerations include ensuring compliance with equal employment opportunity laws and avoiding discrimination based on race, gender, or disability. It is essential to validate the assessment tools and ensure they are scientifically proven to be fair. Companies must also maintain transparency about the purpose and usage of the assessments.
How can technology enhance the effectiveness of progressive assessments?
Technology can streamline the assessment process by allowing candidates to complete the tests remotely. Advanced analytics help in the accurate interpretation of results, ensuring a better match between the candidate and the job role. Many platforms offer practice tests that mirror the actual assessment, aiding in preparation and reducing test anxiety.
Our AI-enabled Smart Browser takes frequent snapshots via the webcam, throughout the assessment.
Consequently, it is impossible to copy-paste code or impersonate a candidate.The browser prevents the following
candidate actions and facilitates thorough monitoring of the assessment:
