Managing hiring process in tech-sector

Recently we used a five stages hiring process to fill two openings for .Net Senior Developers. The process was based on Jeff Atwood’s article "How to hire a programmer" to minimize our time waste on unqualified candidates and find the good fit.

The idea was to dedicate our time only to candidates who passed online technical test. We didn’t bother to study the received CVs as recruitment agencies already used to filter applicants to match our job specs (well, maybe just short glance to ensure the candidate claims the relevant experience).

Each candidate had to go through five stages listed below:

• Online technical test (15-30 minutes) – we used Interview Zen where we created the test with three programming questions (SQL, C# collections, JavaScript).
• Portfolio check - successful candidates had to share some code they wrote (open-source / personal projects, blog posts, etc.)
• Phone interview (20-30 minutes) – a few programming related questions such as: What is SOLID? When do you know your code is ready for production? Etc.
• Audition project (few hours to complete) – we asked candidates if they are willing to solve the real business problem in their spare time.
• Face interview (1 - 1.5 hours) – face to face interview to confirm the candidate is the right person.

This process has worked quite well for us and we hired interesting and skilled people. The problem was in preparing and managing the hiring process. We had to use some system (SharePoint website) to store and update the list of candidate details, interview results, and team feedback. Searching for correct test questions and preparing audition project was not easy. Manually sending email notifications to the candidates to ensure they notified on all stages if they are succeeded or rejected.
We definitely could save our time and be more efficient if we’d had some system to organize and manage the hiring process. After some research I came to conclusion that we need a web-based hiring management system that will help to manage the entire hiring process in one place.

So, let me introduce ManageHiring.com – A cloud-based Hiring Management System that will help manage the hiring process in tech-sector. The system will allow

• Manage job advertisements
• Store candidate details and interview history in systematic order
• Track all candidate's activities
• Keep Interview configurations for the future
• Customize the Hiring Process
• Create on-line technical tests and audition projects
• Prepare questionnaires for interviews
• Manage interview stages
• Remind about scheduled interviews
• Automatically send email alerts and notifications
• Collaborate on candidate performance with team members

I have setup the landing page here where you can find the more detailed description of features with some screenshots. Please subscribe to the mailing list if you think the system will be useful or leave your comments!