Hiring in technology is tough: it’s that simple. Like many recruiters sourcing for candidates with unique skill sets, I’m always looking for ways to speed up the process without sacrificing on quality. And because I can have as many as 40 active requisitions at a time, I need not only speed, but also a real ability to scale.
Between July and August of 2010 I found myself in a sourcing dilemma. I was supporting the Web Development team here at LinkedIn, who needed to immediately fill several engineering positions to ensure an on-time delivery of essential projects. These requisitions weren’t for just any engineer: we needed experienced professionals who had object-oriented JavaScript skills, within the context of a high-traffic consumer website—a complex skill set that many web developers simply don’t possess. To make things more difficult, several other high-profile technology companies in the Bay Area were looking for that exact type of talent, so an already small candidate pool was getting smaller by the day.