The Tricks and Tools of High Tech Hiring

There is no question that high tech companies use their own tools and knowledge of technology to farming out the best candidates for positions in their ranks. It would be shocking to find one company among this group that doesn't take advantage of data mining through various types of resume filtering systems and similar. However, the simple resume database isn't the only approach these companies have to find exceptional talent. They also use a mix of high tech and traditional face-to-face vetting to pick out the best candidates for their needs.

Pay Someone Else to do the Filtering

Plenty of companies utilize third-party databases to cull out potential recruitment targets when seeking talent proactively. Whether it's through LinkedIn, Monster.com or similar, these third parties provide searchable bodies of candidates for a fee. This method works well for HR shops that don't maintain their own database or feel it is more efficient to get ready-made reports from a third party. However, this tool only works for initial findings; companies still have to maintain their own internal second line pool of candidates for closer review.

Social Media is Fashionable

For those companies, particularly startups and those in hyper-growth mode, that want to catch the younger crowd, social media hiring tools have come into vogue. Leveraging the power of social media's ability to not only connect personally but to also be able to instantly vet the background of the candidate connecting, companies can pick out who they want to talk to before an application has even changed hands. The major risk, however, is that some of these methods may run afoul of federal labor laws if relied on too much for hiring. For example, how does a company prove it has met equal employment opportunity requirements when just picking people on personal quirks via their Facebook pages? It doesn't hold water very well legally.

Traditional Values Still Matter

Yahoo's CEO, Marissa Mayer personally vets each incoming employee to be aware of the skill sets the company is taking on. Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, likes to go on outdoor walks with new employees while closing a hire to share his personal company vision in a personal discussion with them. Others choose different methods but the theme is the same: a personal touch or connection is still desired to ensure a new hire fits. Culture-fitting is critical for high tech companies; ill-fitting hires are considered below the bubonic plague because they foul up team productivity. So the face-to-face factor still matters greatly, but it often comes as the very last filter before hiring.

Applicant Tracking Systems

Unlike a basic resume filter system that goes by the same name, an advanced applicant tracking software takes principles of a customer management system and applies them to a recruitment tracking software. That allows HR managers to include far more information to a candidate file for review than just a scanned resume and pre-determined flagging of buzzwords. It creates a far more holistic file that, when pulled, shows a hiring manager a better picture of a person based on a resume and independent research. This type of system is also becoming common in high tech companies big and small.