Codility 2018 Developer Report Reveals Insights for Attracting, Recruiting, and Retaining Tech Talent

Report provides recommendations for 2019 hiring and retention strategies informed by findings from survey of 2,000+ tech workers


SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Codility, a worldwide leader in tech recruiting software, today released its 2018 Developer Report and corresponding recommendations to help HR teams, recruiters, and hiring managers create well-informed tech talent strategies.

Based on a global survey of more than 2,000 developers, the report reveals their preferences, frustrations, motivations, and more.

“Developers are a unique segment of the candidate pool, and strategies used to attract and retain talent for other roles are often unsuccessful,” said Greg Jakacki, founder and CEO of Codility. “We designed Codility’s Developer Report to identify ways companies can adapt their hiring processes and employee programs to meet the current needs of job seekers, and increase retention, in what will continue to be an ultra-competitive market.”

Key findings from the report and related recommendations include:

Become More Discoverable: Most respondents (62%) said that they initiated their last job move by actively searching for jobs themselves. That’s more than four times those that said their job opportunity came through networking. Recruiting teams that think like marketers and invest in employer branding and inbound recruiting tactics may see greater improvements in the performance of their top-of-funnel hiring metrics than those investing more in outbound sourcing tactics.

Revisit Professional Development Programs: The possibility of professional development beat salary as the most important factor for choosing an employer (52% and 46%, respectively). The ability to work on interesting projects is close behind at 42%. Employers need to appeal to both short-term and long-term professional goals of new hires, and ensure employees get to work on projects that interest them. When preparing employer branding and careers pages, teams should consider customizing content to attract both senior and junior developers, providing information and testimonials that speak to their interests directly.

Create More Accurate Job Descriptions: Over half of respondents reported that the job they were hired for was not accurately portrayed – at least to some extent – compared to its reality. Poor expectation-setting of the role at the onset of the hiring process appears to play a part in job satisfaction, especially for women, who reported higher rates of job misrepresentation and lower satisfaction rates than men. For a foolproof way to reduce turnover, increase the accuracy of job descriptions and be transparent during interactions with candidates.

Ease Candidate Frustrations: The most common candidate complaint was not receiving any feedback, with 63% of people naming it in their top three. Prioritize providing feedback to candidates because humanizing the process is how you will build meaningful relationships with people applying for your jobs and create a positive employer brand. Undergoing an assessment that does not match the actual job came in second, with 52%. Ensure assessments accurately evaluate the skills needed for the job by removing all the noise and bias that might exist in each recruiting stage.

The complete Codility 2018 Developer Report is now available for download here: https://www.codility.com/resources/research/ebook-2018-developer-report-0

For on-demand access to free ebooks, webinars, and more expert content and advice on tech hiring, visit the Codility Resource Hub at https://www.codility.com/company/resources.

About Codility:
Codility is the industry’s leading Tech Recruiting Platform. It helps businesses accurately and efficiently assess the technical skills of candidates and identify the most promising hires. The Platform includes hundreds of coding tasks, featuring multiple languages and real-life scenarios with varying levels of difficulty. More than 1,200 organizations including Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BMW, Citi, ClassPass, Deloitte, EA, Ericsson, Flatiron, Intel, Ocado, PayPal, Rakuten, TomTom, Twitch, Volvo, Zalando, and Zoosk use Codility to evaluate candidates and improve technical hiring decisions. Since its inception in 2009, Codility has completed over six million assessments worldwide, in industries spanning consumer technology to financial services. Programmers of all experience levels can register with Codility for free to learn new skills, take lessons, and participate in global coding challenges. For more information, visit codility.com.

Media Contact:
Grayling PR for Codility