7 Awesome Talent / Recruiting Hacks

1. Spotify reach out to developers

First, take a look at Andre Hellström‘s  Twitter page. Ladies & gentleman meet Andre Hellström, Recruiter @ Spotify and one of the most creative talent / recruiting hackers I have seen in my career. Famous for: ‘I used to be a recruiter like you, then I took an arrow in the knee’. Check this shit out:

2. Unclegray.dk hunting for developers in online game Team Fortress 2

This one is pretty classic, also featured in my first ever sourcingmonk blog post and still one of my favorites. Check this shit out:

Brilliant idea by Daniel Nicolajsen, Unclegrays’ former Art Director.

3. Find almost anyone’s email address on Github

The Github API is so open you can virtually get anyone’s email address out of it who did a public commit over the last 12 months (even the people who hide theirs). Pretty neat talent hack.

Go to https://api.github.com/users/XYZ/events/public and replace ‘XYZ’ with the username of the guy. ⌘ + F Email and voilà, the email. Or automate it, check this shit out:

4. Javascript bookmarklets to quickly cross reference people

Add this simple Javascript to a bookmarklet, the text you will select will be found on LinkedIn. You can also use these for Github, Stackoverflow, etc., etc.:

javascript:(function(w,d) {w.open('http://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?keywords='+encodeURIComponent(d.getSelection()), '_blank');})(window,document);

Check this shit out:

5. Using your WiFi to let talent know you are hiring

When I was in Atlanta I did this simple hack; my Mac was discoverable on open networks with the name: ‘Do you code Javascript? Come see the guy with the long hair ;)’

And my phone was sending out an SSID with the name: ‘Javascript pro? Come see me (knot)’

Also, Jobbox.io is sending out a strong WiFi SSID in their building, well done Pedro Oliveira:

6. Stackoverflow SQL search

This one is not for the “normal” people out there, so I urge you founders, CTOs & managers to get you brightest SQL guy and write you some queries. Check this shit out:

7. Billboards next to competitors buildings

Old, but I like it. Check this shit out:

The billboard was placed in front of a competitor’s building. The headline tells (in ASCII code): “Now Hiring”.

The final answer takes you to a recruiting page. Pretty clever hack from Google right?

That is it, my list of nice recruiting hacks. If you have some, share them with me in the comments!

This article was originally posted on Sourcingmonk.com and was written by Willem Wijnans About the Author: Willem Wijnans Willem builds the product and platform teams at Improbable.io, an a16z backed startup from London. He is also a mentor at Rockstart, a startup accelerator in Amsterdam. Follow him on Twitter or add him on LinkedIn!