Hiring managers and company leaders are faced with this dilemma on a regular basis. Reviewing a developer applicant’s suitability is about so much more than just matching up key phrases from your job description to the applicant’s resume. A comprehensive resume review is critical, and it requires a fair amount of technical knowledge on the part of the reviewer.

The hiring process is complicated further because companies must consider more than just the individual’s tech skills and experience. Let’s take a look at what else you should look at, and these factors affect the resume review process.

How Do You Review a Software Developer Resume?

There are many different issues to keep in mind as you review a developer’s resume. Consider the following:

• Is the candidate proficient in the programming languages that are required to complete your project?
• Has the candidate worked on projects that are similar both in terms of nature and scale?
• What development methodology does the candidate utilize?
• How do the applicant’s past development projects compare to your software development needs? Does the individual have experience developing the functions and features that you require?
• Has the developer worked on apps or software programs in your unique business niche? (i.e. if you’re in the healthcare sector, you want developers with experience in healthcare).

These key points must be evaluated whether you’re hiring for a full-time or part-time position, a temporary or permanent position.

Going Beyond the Developer’s Resume

While it can be useful to evaluate the talent’s experience and proficiencies relative to your unique requirements, a good fit requires more than just the right skill set. This is particularly true for temporary staff or short-term staffers, who are expected to achieve maximum productivity right out of the gate.

Cultural fit is critical to the hiring process. Cultural fit refers to the alignment between your company’s personality and environment and the talent. For example, you might have a candidate who is accustomed to a very relaxed environment where staff work flexible hours, bring their pets to the office, wear casual attire and often work remotely. If you seek to hire that individual to work in an office that’s more formal, with precise office hours, a ban on pets, more formal dress code and an all-around more rigid environment, then you may see a failure to thrive. For this reason, an increasing number of companies are turning to tech and IT staffing firms for help finding the right person for the job.

Another essential element relates to the talent’s team player capabilities, or lack thereof. Some developers thrive in a small, highly collaborative group, where the team members work very closely throughout the project. That same individual may feel lost if he or she is plopped in the middle of a large team. Although the situation would still be collaborative, but would also requires a high degree of independence and a good understanding of the big picture. An experienced IT staffing services provider will appreciate the need for alignment between your current staff and the candidate whom you’re considering. This is one of our many areas of expertise at iTech.

iTech specializes in consulting and insourcing as we search worldwide for the best talent and then dispatch those experts to work onsite for clients on a temporary basis. So you’re not getting the best local talent; you’re getting the best talent anywhere. Not every client needs temporary staffing, but many companies can see a significant benefit from this strategy. If you’re among them and are ready to hire IT staff, then we invite you to contact iTech to learn more.

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Today’s tech industry is very collaborative and cooperative, with entire teams, not individuals, taking ownership of a given project. In most cases involving medium to large scale projects and enterprise level projects, it’s impossible for a developer to say, single-handedly wrote the script for this functionality, or I developed the entire front end of this app. What’s more, technology is rapidly evolving, so any work samples older than a year or two offer little insight into the person’s ability relative to today’s standards.

This makes it very challenging to assess and evaluate technical and development skills, while increasing the chances of costly hiring mistakes. Fortunately, HR professionals in search of IT talent can leverage a number of software staffing strategies to accurately evaluate skills and abilities.

The Anatomy and Cost of a Bad Hiring Decision

When hiring IT staff, app and software developers or other tech professionals, an individual’s capabilities could easily be misrepresented, exaggerated or misconstrued. Sure, you can review a person’s CV, LinkedIn profile and recommendations. You can interview the candidate in person and speak with references. But it’s rare to find a clear, true testament to one’s capabilities. This makes staffing decisions far more challenging. And the stakes are significant.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh once indicated that his company has lost well over $100 million to bad hiring decisions. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that bad hiring decisions have a price tag of at least 30 percent of the individual’s annual salary. The cost is even higher for industries, including the tech industry with complex onboarding processes, which according to recruiter Jorgen Sundberg, carry an average cost of $240,000. These figures will make any company leader cringe, impressing upon them the necessity of hiring the right talent.

IT and Software Staffing Strategies to Maximize Your Chances of Making the Right Hiring Decisions

Strategic staffing approaches allow companies to evaluate talent in effective and accurate ways, and often include the following strategies.

Involve team leaders in the interviewing process. As a HR professional or company executive, you may lack the on-the-ground insight that’s required to determine if an individual will be well-suited to the company. Many major corporations, including Google (which is well-known for its hiring successes), now involve a person’s prospective supervisors in the interview process. Supervisors and other front lines staff are best-positioned to spot subtle signs that an individual’s tech skills don’t align with your company’s needs.

Let them show you their talent. With the rapid rate of technological evolution and the widespread usage of collaborative, team-based approaches, work samples just don’t work for most candidates. Instead, ask the individual to complete a test project. According to a study examining over 85 years worth of data, work sample test performance is the single best indicator of a good hire. Many believe that it’s best to include a timed element with the work sample test, as this adds an element of stress. The theory is that if someone can perform well under pressure, then they’ll perform well under other circumstances, too.

Take the time to call past employers and references. While a CV, LinkedIn recommendations and written references are useful, they only scrape the surface. What’s worse, they can sometimes be deceptive. So take the time to speak with a candidate’s past employers or clients to get a feel for their prior work experience and their skill level and range. You’ll also get insight into soft skills, such as reliability and communicativeness.

Test the waters in terms of interpersonal dynamics. In some cases, you may even ask the individual to join your team for a brief trial period. This allows you to evaluate tech skills, soft skills (like communication abilities) and their overall dynamics with your team. This is an opportunity to gather useful feedback that will help you determine whether they’re apt to be a good fit for your company culture. Tech skills matter little if the individual can’t mesh with your team in a productive way.

Another tech staffing strategy is a bit outside the box: Don’t hire anyone at all. Companies are often hesitant to outsource, and for good reason, as this model has numerous downsides. But another option is to turn to a company like iTech, which offers insourcing IT staffing solutions.

Instead of hiring new talent or sending a project off-site, insourcing entails calling in a qualified, pre-vetted team to work alongside your staff to complete the project in-house. Once complete, the team departs and moves on to their next endeavor. This innovative HR practice ensures you pay for resources only when you need them. We handle all aspects of the staff augmentation process, allowing clients like you to avoid the expense and hassle that’s associated with the hiring process. Contact iTech today to learn more about insourcing, consulting and our high-tech and IT staffing solutions.

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