Human Resources Blog - Spark Hire

3 Things You Can Learn From Mark Zuckerberg On Hiring Developers

After watching The Social Network and seeing how Mark Zuckerberg chooses to operate, some may not want to follow in his path directly. That’s a warranted choice, but when you see how successful he was and how he built his company and site from the ground up, you might want to think twice about that. At the core of any web-based company you are going to have developers. They are the ones building your site, so you obviously want the best talent you can find. As a result, competition between companies for great developers right now is fierce. So how can you find the best developers for your company? Well, you can take a couple cues from Zuckerberg’s hiring process and start getting the top talent on your team.

Competition
Competition in hiring developers is already pretty fierce, so why not up the ante a bit? In The Social Network, Zuckerberg held a competition where potential programmers were hacking under time limitations and taking shots every three minutes- and at random intervals- at the same time. The one who got over all of the hurdles and accomplished the task in ten minutes- while being pretty intoxicated, mind you- earned their spot on the team. Talk about unconventional, eh? Now, no one is saying that this is the best way to hire your developers, but if you can come up with your own kind of challenge and see to it that the best one standing is hired, you may find yourself some really great talent. Of course, in order for these highly sought after developers to even want to compete for a chance to work for you, you have to have some pretty great work for them.

Offer Cubicle Space
If your company has the room, a great way to potentially bring in new talent is to offer up space to independent or freelance programmers. That way there are already programmers in your midst, and if a new position comes up you can tap into the talent you already have residing in your building. At the very least, they can be there to offer advice or assist on small projects. You would, of course, pay them for their services. If they like you and you like them, it might be the start of a great employee-employer relationship- and you didn’t even have to search for them!

Offer Great Incentives and Perks

It’s not difficult to see that the companies with some of the top developers have awesome perks. Google? At this point, everyone should know what kind of perks they enjoy: free food, free gym, free laundry service, free, free, free! Netflix? They have unlimited vacation time. If these kinds of perks just aren’t feasible for your company, think out of the box. Offer perks and incentives that you are capable of offering and make sure you are taking care of your employees. At the very least though, you should make sure that your programmers and employees alike know that their work is appreciated. Employee appreciation and recognition goes so far and if you are great at that, you don’t necessarily have to offer up free concierge service. A simple “we really appreciate you and your hard work” goes a long way. Plus, word gets around and other potential job seekers will know that you are a great employer to work for- or the opposite. However, free food every day doesn’t sound so bad does it?

If you can find a way to implement any of these tips, you may be closer to snagging that highly talented and motivated developer you need to build your team- and your company. Happy hiring!

How do you go about hiring your developers? Have you found it increasingly difficult to snag talented programmers? Let us know in the comments section below or tweet me @nicole_spark.

SOURCE
: Inc.

Nicole Nicholson

Nicole is the Content Editor for Spark Hire and mainly writes for and edits the work for the Spark News blog. She graduated in 2010 with a BA in Journalism from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. She has a passion for writing, editing, and pretty much anything to do with content. In her free time she frequents the Chicago music scene and writes reviews on shows for her own personal blog. Connect with Nicole and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter