In today’s world, every software company is looking for developers who will bring quality results for the team. Likewise, many startups are wanting to hire junior developers to assist the senior developers and increase the pace of the production.
But hiring a junior developer is not easy. First of all you have to have the concise idea of a Junior Developer. If you are in need of hiring junior developers then you should have the idea of roles and responsibilities, list of Junior developer’s roles, knowledge on
A new startup is launching every other day. Who do you think these companies hunt in the endeavor to reach the peak? They hire junior developers. Because they are fresh out of college, with new ideas to design, build and implement. And if you hire one junior developer with passion, he might be a real booster for your company. It is one of the reasons why you should hire the most eligible and competent candidate. It will not only increase your ROI but also the environment of your tech team.
To hire junior developers is a crucial step. But hiring junior developers is a daunting task. It gets a bit tricky from the beginning. This blog will take you through all the tips and tricks related to hiring junior developers for your company.
Things to look out for before you hire junior developers
The recruiting process is time as well as resource consuming. This is why there are some basic questions that you need to ask yourself before you set your journey to hire junior developers.
It is fine if you are a big company and need to hire a junior developer for assistance. But what about startups wanting to hire junior developers?
The first question comes to this, why does our company need to hire a junior developer? This is the basic question and you should have the answer ready with you. Otherwise there’s no use going further.
What will be the contributions of this junior developer for this company? This junior developer will practically learn software development procedures and help to increase the ROI in the long run. A quick learner and passionate junior developer is what every startup needs these days.
What best skills can a junior developer possess? The question clarifies the task you will be handing over to this junior developer. If you want to hire a front-end junior developer then you would look for skills such as CSS, JavaScript, PHP and a little bit of database management. These are what we also called Hard Skills. A quick learner, better communicator, well presenter, good time manager are what we call soft skills. And as a recruiting officer, you have all the right to ask about both soft and hard skills.
Some other deeper questions are such as:
- What kind of projects will be assigned to this junior developer?
- What roles and responsibilities will this new junior developer have to follow?
The other easier option is to talk with the existing team and receive feedback if the team needs a junior developer. If your team is failing to achieve the tasks and need some assistance, then that might be the time you need a junior developer in the project. Talking with the team will clear such things and you will have a straight vision whether to hire junior developers or not.
Two Different Ways to Hire Junior Developers
In this competitive job market, you can still hire junior developers but you will have two ways:
Hire an Agency
There’s no doubt that hiring an agency for a junior developer will be costly. But it will be time efficient. On the other hand, hiring junior developers in-house is costlier as well as time consuming.
The quick way to hire a remote junior developer is by contacting an agency. After you contact them to hire a junior software developer, they will want your full requirements such as Junior developers roles, soft skills, hard skills, availability etc. Then the agency will need some time to prepare the CV according to your requirements of junior software developer or junior web developer or other junior developers by sorting the CVs . Then they will send you the CV for you to decide. After you look through all the CVs of those junior developers and choose your required junior developers, there would be an introduction meeting to formalize the done deal.
In-House Hiring
As I mentioned, in-house hiring is costlier and time-consuming. But in-house hiring can be effective. First of all, you have to have faith on the recruiting officer that he or she will bring a quality candidate for the team. Your hiring officers should be well-experienced and should have the knack to decide if the candidate answering the interview questions is suitable or not.
A better recruiting officer will change the methods of in-house hiring using some clever and efficient methods.
Now let’s discuss the methods of in-house hiring.
Inbound and Outbound Methods to Hire Junior Developers
1. Inbound Method to Hire Junior Developers
In simple way, Inbound Method is where the developers find you and reach you for a job at your company. To achieve this level, the company needs to establish a strong presence across the web.
Everyone searches job sites and constantly scrolls through them. Everyone is trying to upgrade. Everyone of us are constantly looking for better opportunities. Likewise, if you want to hire junior developers then it is recommended you make a strong presence across social media as well.
Some of the inbound methods are explained below, you can scan through it and implement the one that matches your requirements.
1. Job Postings on Job Portals
Before you begin posting the job, the following are the crucial points that you need to take care of.
- A better described JD that includes roles, responsibilities and salary information.
- Mention the technologies the junior developer has to work on.
- Explain the benefits of employment at the company
- You may include a “must have” and “nice to have” section as per your need
- Sticking to the crucial details is must— just communicate the truth via JD.
- Lastly, post the updated JD based on feedback or questions during the earlier interviews.
2. Work on Website’s Career Page
No one visits a website with the intent of scrolling. Everyone is visiting the web because they are in need of information. From the perspective of a job seeking developer, if your company website doesn’t have any career page, then the developer will probably never apply. It’s better to maintain the career page with updated job vacancies.
3. Social Media
LinkedIn, is the name that pops in the head of many when talking about social media to post or get a job. But that’s not the end. Twitter is also a great medium to find well-talented junior developers. Facebook groups are also a crucial way to find talents.
4. Ad Campaigns
Ad campaigns are another method to consider for your inbound recruitment. But this task is costly and if not effective enough then can waste other resources as well. But if one uses ads in synergy with different operations then it might lead to a better result.
Outbound Methods to Hire Junior Developers
This method is the one where you find viable candidates and attract them to apply for a job at your company.
Outbound recruitment is a difficult task, but there are tried-and-tested strategies for persuading developers to your side, from traditional LinkedIn messages to more innovative methods like workshops and hackathons.
6 Steps to Hire Junior Developers
1. Job Offers
It’s mandatory to let everyone know that you are looking to hire junior developers. Prepare a job description that contains the concise information you want you future junior developer to know such as Hiring junior developers, roles, time, benefits as well as salary.
You can use both inbound and outbound methods where some junior developers will look for you after they see your ads or you go and look for them.
2. CV Collection
As the candidates begin to apply, you will begin to receive CVs. Gather as many CVs as you want. For that, you have to make top-notch promotion of your brand using JDs, posts etc.
3. Screening
In this process go over the CVs, look carefully through their background, skills, and keep the ones that ticks all boxes of requirements. Skills, requirements, qualifications, experiences, these are the boxes that could be ticked after going through a CV.
4. The HR Interview
The HRs of a company usually get rid of the candidates who are not clearly fit for the job. Some candidates may show a well-made CV but when it comes to communication and other soft skills then the candidate doesn’t stand a chance. Talking face-to-face narrows down all the expectations from the candidate.
5. The Technical Interview
This step is to ensure the technical abilities of the candidate is upto the mark. Evaluating the skills and competencies of the candidate is the ultimate way of finding top talents across the world.
6. Final Call
The interview process comes to an end, the time for final call begins. If the data suggests that the candidate will be suitable then it’s better to not drag the process. After this point it will eventually be clear enough about whom to hire. This is the final call if you want to send an offer letter or a rejection email.
Top Reasons for Not to Hire Junior Developers With These Qualities
There are many reasons to not hire junior developers. We might weigh these reasons with our theories but the only thing remaining is identifying the better candidate for the job. The recruitment process clarifies all these confusion of selecting the top junior developers.
Here are the top three reasons that are red flags while hiring junior developers for your company.
- Absence of Soft Skills
- More Salary Expectation
- Language Barrier During Communication
The Best Way to Hire Junior Developers Within 48 Hours
This blog talks about many things, from methods of advertisement for attracting and hiring junior developers to the qualities of a junior developer.
But no matter what, hiring a junior developer on your own will cost resources such as money and time.
The easiest method is hiring an agency that understands your needs and requirements well and delivers the final product.
Optymize is such an agency with a network of remote freelance developers from around the world. Optymize has top-quality vetted candidates from many tech stack who are ready to work for you within 48 hours if the initial meetings between you and optymize is all sorted.
Visit Optymize and learn more about how to hire junior developers within 48 hours.
