5 reasons recruiting at hackathons is the answer to your company's needs

Carrying out in-person job interviews is a tried and true method for hiring new people for your company. That is the way things have been handled for years and many employers don’t seem to realize other options are available. It is time, however, for recruitment hackathon to become the widespread method of sourcing new employees, and here’s why.

Hackathons, more specifically, in-person ones, are 24 to 48 hours events where programmers, data scientists, designers, basically people specializing in any field, gather to solve problems set out by the organizers of the competition. The contests aim to source solutions to the problems in question, and participants fight for the prize that could come in form of money, gadgets, or job offers. Why exactly should your business recruit at hackathons?

Observing people work

While in-person interviews allow for a very valuable assessment of potential employees soft skills, there aren’t enough opportunities to properly assess their skills necessary for the job. This is where hackathons take the lead. From the perspective of an employer, your workers’ most valuable assets is their input in the company, what they can do, and how efficiently, for your business to grow. This can only be achieved through their hard work. Observing people during hackathons will tell about their work ethics more than any interview will ever allow to uncover. Those who stand out from the crowd by being calm, inventive, and focused are the people you should consider recruiting.

No stress, no problems

An in-person talk is the key element of traditional job interviews, it is not something that can be just dismissed entirely. A big disadvantage to that element, however, is how stress-inducing in case of some candidates it is. While dealing with stress is a valuable skill, it’s also unpredictable and can erase the chances of landing a job. Hackathon recruiting creates the opportunity to talk to candidates in a different environment allows for more relaxed conversations that help the participants better present themselves for who they are as future employees.

Fewer applications, more valuable interviews

Your business is big, desired, and prestigious, people really want to work for you, but you can’t simply hire the first person to apply. You seek for the best of the best to complement your successful company. There are hundreds of people sending in their CVs, and inevitably, a fraction of those will not be suitable for the position in question. Those applications only waste time and resources of your HR department. Technical recruitment at hackathons gives you the advantage of only approaching the people you, or your team, deem suitable. It means that after a conversation with potential employees when you offer them to submit a CV you know it will be relevant. No more going through tens of resumes and interviewing tens of people in order to find that one employee. Hire top tech talents you want. 

Save time, interview at hackathons

When you aim to be as efficient as possible interviewing right at the recruitment hackathon might be something for your business. When members of your HR department notice a potential valuable candidate for a position in your company they should jump at the opportunity straight away and interview the person in question at the hackathon. An impromptu interview like that, while certainly surprising for the interviewed, should open the opportunity for the conversation to be more honest, which will show the potential employee from their true side.

Find only the most dedicated ones

People who participate in hackathons are the ones who will go the extra mile to achieve their goals. They are ready to face the challenges beyond their regular set of responsibilities. If there’s one type of employee you’d have to choose, it’s this one. Hackathon participants are full of ideas, determined to stay on top of the game, perfect match for your business. Not only that, but them taking part in such an event means they are passionate about the subject, which, all in all, is an even more positive aspect.

The possibilities of hackathon recruiting are endless, all your business needs is to hold one. At ChallengeRocket we are eager to work with you. All it takes is for you to get in touch with us. Naturally, one does not organize such an event without any prior knowledge of how it might be handled. Case studies of four of our biggest hackathons and challenges will shed some light at what you might expect in terms of hackathons.