Recruiting tech professionals come with layers of problems. Sixty-nine per cent of companies across the world find it challenging to hire new employees. One obvious issue is the problem of choice. With multiple options available, HR departments find it challenging to keep track of all job posting platforms.
While job portals are still popular, Stack Overflow and GitHub have come up as two new ways of recruiting. However, as with any other platform, GitHub and Stack Overflow have their merits and disadvantages.
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The more important question is whether the pros outweigh the cons or vice versa. So let’s have a close look at the benefits and drawbacks of posting jobs on these online communities.
What are Stack Overflow and GitHub – and How do Recruit from these Platforms?
If GitHub is Instagram for developers, Stack Overflow is Reddit. GitHub is the most popular forum for developers to share, collaborate, and discuss codes and coding. So naturally, it is home to the best software developers in the world.
Stack Overflow is a massive online Q&A community where developers help each other out with problems. It is a popular destination to find answers about everything tech-related.
Hiring Employees from Stack Overflow and GitHub
Both these platforms are not conventionally used for recruiting. Instead, colleges, job forums, and coding boot camps remain more popular — and there are good reasons for it.
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The idea of hiring candidates from GitHub or Stack Overflow is because some of the best techies in the world frequent these forums and websites. At the same time, you will also find inexperienced coders who visit these platforms to learn and solve problems. Therefore, it would seem very likely that you will find the right candidate in these communities.
However, the lack of active recruiters and job seekers on these platforms can make it challenging to hire candidates.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Job Posting on Stack Overflow and GitHub
Here are some advantages and disadvantages of Stack Overflow and GitHub for job posting:
Pros
- These communities are great for keeping up with new trends in the tech industry. You can better understand what jobs are more lucrative to job seekers, which skills are in high demand, and what people are working on. Being aware of these developments will affect the way you plan recruitments.
- You will find many passive job seekers on both Stack Overflow and GitHub. These candidates are not actively looking for jobs but might want to join a project if it seems exciting.
- In some cases, a competent passive candidate might want to work with you, bringing their expertise and experience.
- Being a part of these communities can help you with recruitments in the long run if you can. In addition, they are great places to build a network and connect with others. A strong network will be beneficial in more than one way.
Cons
- You will have to spend a lot of time on these platforms to grasp how things work. It is not as simple as posting a job on social media or a job portal.
- Unless you understand how to use them, you will be very confused and directionless. For example, while Stack Overflow has a dedicated job board, you will not find the same in GitHub. On top of that, Stack Overflow’s job board does not function as simply as LinkedIn, for example.
- You will not find many active job seekers on these platforms. These communities are not primarily for recruitment – that’s more of an analogy.
- Finding suitable candidates can be difficult for newbies, especially on GitHub. You have to understand how to use the ‘X-Ray Search’ and other features before you can reach out to suitable candidates. It is entirely different from how things would be if you were hiring from coding boot camps or similar places.
- Since both GitHub and Stack Overflow is online communities first, it might be difficult for a newcomer to feel accepted. Furthermore, sometimes such communities can be hostile towards recruiters, especially if they do not share a tech background. As a result, paving your way through these communities can be pretty challenging.
- The hiring process can be prolonged when recruiting through these platforms. This is because you have to take care of many things, like having a presence in the community and building a network. These will take time, and sometimes you may not be able to afford that.
Parting Thoughts
Every recruitment method comes with its unique set of pros and cons. Different HR departments have different needs, and their job posting platforms vary accordingly.
With GitHub and Stack Overflow, recruiters get the added advantage of networking and becoming an insider in the community. However, they come with their fair share of problems.
Without objectively declaring them good or bad, it’d be safe to assume that it’s not the most straightforward and efficient approach.
Finding young, job-seeking coders is much simpler on other platforms like CodeQuotient. But if your needs align with how these communities function, it can be a great place to hire new talent.
CodeQuotient works with colleges and companies to train new coders and facilitate effective hiring respectively. For more tech recruitment news, ideas, and advice, head over to the CodeQuotient blog. Contact us at info@cidequotient.com for all enquiries related to hiring.
