This material was originally published on Codica Blog, as part of the article: How We Hire Software Developers: Finding a Perfect Teammate.

When it comes to custom software development, the agencies need the best specialists to build fast, scalable, and reliable solutions.

However, the question arises: how recruiters can find and hire the rockstar software developers? What distinguishes them from ordinary coders?

This post contains the best recruiting practices from Codica’s Co-Founder and Business Partner, Natalya Klymenko. You will find out what the hiring process looks like in our company and how we manage to hire the people who fit our team best.

The 6 steps of our hiring process

Codica's history starts in 2015. Since then, we have come a long way from a tiny outsourcing team of committed individuals to a software consultancy. The staff has increased from five to thirty professionals, and we are planning to grow even more.

We actively encourage gifted but inexperienced specialists to join our team by offering them internship programs. They will help rookies in the field of custom software development grow into competent professionals and loyal employees.

Below you can see a photo taken at the celebration of Codica’s birthday last year. Our great achievement is such a committed team of professionals. We consider each employee an important part of our success and progress.

We know how hard it can be to find a perfect candidate that will match our company and vice versa. For this reason, our recruiting process consists of 6 stages.

Step 1. Writing a detailed and accurate job description

At the initial stage, we make a list of responsibilities, qualifications, and requirements for a specific role. This information is followed by the detailed description of a project our future employees will be working on, its challenges and opportunities.

When it comes to requirements for the applicants, we focus on both hard and soft skills. This comprehensive approach helps us find a candidate who will perform the job duties successfully and be a great fit for our team.

Step 2. Active search for candidates

We have several recruiting channels. The first one is our network of contacts. It contains personal details of applicants who had sent us their resumes in the past or had had an interview with us but did not get the job offer.

Another channel is job search websites where we publish our vacancies. Besides, we harness the power of social media.

Our tactic is to combine all available channels to quickly fill the positions. However, we are strongly against aggressive headhunting and draining human resources from other companies.

Step 3. Screening

At this stage, we start considering relevant resumes. We talk with an applicant on the phone, if we get a chance. Thus, it is getting easier for us to define whether a candidate is interested in our company or not.

Step 4. Test task (if necessary)

Usually, when we need to fill an entry-level position, we ask to do a test assignment at home. A completed task shows us how candidates think and what approaches they choose. However, this stage can be omitted if an applicant can perform an assignment at our office.

Step 5. Interview

We know how important it is for applicants to get immediate feedback. For this reason, we usually hold single-stage interviews.

As a rule, our interview consists of two parts. The first one supposes a brief conversation with the HR manager. The second part is a technical interview with our experts in the field of custom software development.

As soon as a candidate’s personality and qualifications are clear for us, we give our feedback. We value applicants’ time and do not want to keep them waiting.

Step 6. Job offer

This is the most exciting part of the recruitment process. It means that our expectations meet the expectations of our candidates.

Final thoughts

At Codica, we follow the above mentioned 6 steps to hire a perfect programmer. They help us understand the candidate’s personality, qualifications, and provide them with feedback as soon as possible.

For more information about our best hiring practices, read the full article How We Hire Software Developers: Finding a Perfect Teammate.