As seen on LinkedIn….What if, instead of people applying to jobs, the jobs applied to people? If you’re a recruiter competing in a tight market for software engineers, this could be your new reality.
First came the six-figure salaries and the stock options. Now, some software engineers are making one more demand: If recruiters want to connect, they’ll have to complete an application first.
The idea, called Reverse Apply, is the brainchild of Laskie, a hiring platform startup that specializes in placing senior software engineers. Laskie has created a templated application — a Google Doc — that candidates can attach to their LinkedIn profiles, email accounts, websites, and GitHub profiles.
Mission: Have recruiters provide job info up front
The form asks recruiters to answer 15 straightforward questions on such topics as what a job pays, where the employee would be located, and what programming languages and tools are required for the position. The goal is to give software engineers important facts so they don’t spend their time responding to jobs that wouldn’t make a good fit. Candidates can customize the Google Doc to meet their own specific requirements and desires.
Since its launch in September, the Reverse Apply link has been copied hundreds of times as software engineers attached it to their websites and social media accounts.
It’s easy to see why. Despite the slowing job market, tech workers remain in high demand, allowing them to be choosy about which recruiter solicitations, if any, they’ll respond to.
Recruiters may soon find themselves having to decide whether it’s worth their time applying to a candidate. One of the best ways to make that decision is by testing this approach and monitoring the results, says GitLab’s Rob Allen.
“It will all come down to the data and the return on investment,” he says. “Recruiters will need to try this approach for a 90-day period and see if despite spending more time filling out information, they get more engaged and interested candidates coming back to them.”
