The ketchup effect

It’s been a slow spring for me. Quite a few weeks have past without a single hire. Not for lack of trying. The sourcing gods know I’ve tried. (If anyone has any hint of how to get a hold of a great Android developer in Stockholm, let me know!). But as Sweden is slowing down for the summer (no-one works in July!) luck is finally on my side. June alone has seen 6 hires! Not bad at all even if I do say so myself.

We are all humans

So what’s the point of me writing this post?
It’s a bit like the news always being bad. A lot of us who blog about sourcing and recruitment will showcase our success but we fail to mention all the hard work and failures behind the scenes. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed Matt Bradburn‘s talk at Hired!BCN so much. He spoke about his mistakes and what he’s learnt from them.

Just because you get it right once doesn’t mean you get it right every time. What I’m trying to say is that just because one way of doing things works great for one particular role you are recruiting for doesn’t mean the same way will work for the next one. I’ve previously given the example of how I contacted 14 people and hired 2. Yes, I did that. I did it ONCE. I honestly haven’t got a clue how many Android developers I have contacted, but I know it’s more than 14 (feels like 1400), and I haven’t hired a single one.

I shouldn’t beat myself up about it as Android developers are notoriously tricky, at least in Sweden. I even publicly asked for advice on Linkedin as to why Android is so friggin hard. I got quite a few comments and messages related to that post. Some great, some crap. But all in all, I was given some great insights into Android developers and what’s important to them. So don’t be afraid to show that you are struggling, there are people out there willing to help!

It would occur that hiring Android developers is trickier than web developers, and the same approach does not work for both (who knew!). We need to take time experimenting and finding new ways. Not only is experimentation a great way to learn, but it’s fun too! I mean, who actually enjoys staring at Linkedin profiles day in and day out?

The ketchup effect

To finish off this slight ramble of a post I’ll leave you with this. I might have been a slow spring, but I know I have worked really hard. The important thing to remember when you feel like you’ll never make another hire again is that hard work pays off. So, I think I can be allowed to enjoy my month’s holiday with my head held high. Not a single Android developer though. I’m waiting for that ketchup bottle to explode come autumn.