Among tech recruiters and hiring managers, it’s a common problem.
You find a candidate who looks great on paper: a relevant degree from a respected school, an impressive list of skills and qualifications. Based on their resume, they should be a perfect fit for the role… but they aren’t. Their great resume didn’t accurately predict how well they would perform on the job, and you have to go back to the drawing board to find another candidate.
So, what went wrong?
Resumes simply don’t tell the whole story. In a field where new technologies are evolving rapidly, many tech candidates have valuable skills and experience that aren’t obvious in a traditional resume screening process.
HackerRanker’s 2018 Tech Recruiting Report, which surveyed nearly 1,000 technical recruiters and hiring managers, suggests that there are more effective ways than resume-based hiring to find ideal candidates. The report states:
“Tech hiring managers and recruiters are finding that resume-bolstering factors, like degree, prestige, and skill keywords aren’t good measurements of whether someone will be successful on the job. So, they’re looking to indicators that demonstrate ability, such as previous work experience, years of experience, and personal projects. While these qualifications aren’t perfect, they’re actually closer to the heart of what makes a good programmer: skill.”
In fact, 75.4% of those surveyed said they’ve hired a successful candidate who had a non-traditional background. They pointed to examples of talented employees they’ve hired who were self-taught or had limited work experience, who showed their passion and skills through coding challenges, boot camps, and an aptitude for learning.
At York Solutions, we are big believers in hiring for the skills that matter. If you only look at candidates who have a computer science degree from a top-tier university or a laundry list of qualifications, your company will miss out on a huge talent pool.
We look at the full picture when evaluating candidates’ potential. What transferrable skills and work experience do they have? What aptitudes and soft skills do they possess? How curious and eager to learn are they? What do they need to be brought up to speed?
In York Solutions’ Barriers to Entry (B2E) program, we provide extensive training to smart, motivated individuals interested in entering IT and tech careers. Many B2E participants are veterans, people changing careers, and stay-at-home parents or caregivers re-entering the workforce. They would likely be overlooked in traditional hiring processes, but they prove to be indispensable team members once hired.
In the words of one York Solutions’ B2E Program adopters, a VP at a Fortune 100:
“The Barriers to Entry Program enables us to bring aboard resources at a very reasonable cost with tremendous upside. I would not hesitate to recommend York Solutions’ services.”
Interested in accessing a new pipeline of tech talent? Learn more about the B2E program.