Find Talented Professionals for Your Startup Program through Hackathons
Unless you’ve been sleeping for the last five years, you probably know what a hackathon is. This new, vogue word that has become increasingly popular in the tech world opens up new channels for talent recruiting. Today, apart from helping people grow their coding skills, hackathons amp up the recruiting of ambitious professionals for young businesses.
Hackathon: Definition
Rooted in open source projects, hackathons have evolved into the concept of gathering a team of programmers together for the purpose of developing projects through intense coding. Such coding marathons usually last for a few days but no longer than one week. Despite all the sleeping and eating concerns, hackathons hold great promise for self-expression and the collaborative development of new solutions.
What are the benefits of hackathons?
There’s a myth that hackathons are for total beginners who want to learn how to code. Well, it’s time to dispel this myth. From tech department students to experienced coding geeks, hackathons attract diverse groups of tech-guys. The reason for that is quite simple: hackathons give tech-guys just what they need despite their backgrounds. Beginners go there for skills. Professionals go there for ideas. Loners go there for establishing contacts. And companies go there for hackathon recruiting.
Why you should organize hackathons?
Hosting a company hackathon helps businesses increase ROI through innovative solutions and recruitment. Here’s why you shouldn’t miss the chance to set up a coding sleepover:
- Change. In modern business, if you stand in one spot longer than your competitors, you’re doomed. Meaningful change is the driving force of company growth in the market. Hackathons are short events that can bring your products up to ship-shape over the weekend.
- Find. Recruiting at hackathons is another great asset that new startups should leverage. Long coding sessions help recruiters observe fresh minds and innovative ways of solving tech problems. However, don’t turn hackathons into job fairs because they can be game changers for how people approach tasks and collaborate with each other. Think of the mission, encourage someone from your company to participate, and make key connections behind the scenes.
- Learn. Hackathons are also the best platforms for training. Although excellent background and skills are the first-priority, they’re not always enough. There are hundreds of tech wizards just like those working at your company out there. Diving deeper into other sciences like behavioral psychology or public speaking through hackathons helps professionals strengthen their expertise.
The types of hackathon recruiting
The explosion in tech recruitment caused the development of the brand-new ways of finding professionals at hackathons. Here are some of the key “hackathon for recruiting” formats:
- Industry hackathons. For those going on a targeted talent hunt, industry hackathons are the best choice. Narrow your hackathon themes down to your targeted industry and find people who are familiar with it.
- Internal hackathons. To tweak your company’s strategy or renew the knowledge of your employees, run internal recruiting hackathons. Encourage people to pitch some new product solutions and see how they cope with the tasks. As a result, you tap into the skills of your team and learn how to assign internal responsibilities correctly.
- Virtual hackathons. If you strive to tap into an overseas market but can’t afford to set up an in-house recruiting hackathon, virtual space is a solution. Virtual hackathons provide good channels for accumulating expertise and expanding into foreign markets which is particularly valuable for startups.
How to find talents for a startup program by organizing hackathons
If you’re on the verge of launching your exciting startup story, you probably expect the best team to take a hold of it. Here is a short guide to hackathon recruitment that can help you find the best babysitters for your startup child:
Find the righ audience ahead of time
The theme of a hackathon doesn’t always attract the right professionals for your startup. However, you can craft your perfect hackathon attendee profile ahead of time.
Start by developing detailed goals for your hackathon and the vision that the participants should embrace. Organize several test meetups before the major event to observe the interests of the professionals who could show up. If you see that your hackathon idea does not empower the target audience, try to tweak it or come up with a new one. Look into trending topics like AI or cryptocurrency development to get inspired. The more prepared you are before entering the game, the more chances for successful recruitment you get.
Hire a platform for automation first
To enable top-notch connectivity, collaboration, and understanding of the rules, choose an automated platform for contest management. If you’re running a virtual hackathon, a software for contest management could be your best assistant for bringing participants together. In terms of in-house events, use awards management solutions to collect and rate submissions online. This way you’ll ensure that people with resonating ideas get registered for your hackathon.
Simple things can spoil the deal
Operational efficiency is gold when it comes to organizing long-term events like hackathons. Organize your event team, ensure that Wi-Fi connectivity is perfect and all the attendees are granted access to online resources, manage the IP range, and establish a connectivity backup. Lastly, take care of food and water supplies to avoid collaborative starvation! :-)
The best examples of recruiting hackathons
To find professionals at hackathons, look at the successful practices of other businesses and make sure to make it better for your startup:
To integrate gender diversity into recruitment, Spotify launched the Diversify hackathon that focused on equal numbers of female and male programmers developing new products for the company. This practice helped Spotify build a strong gender-balanced work team.
A Canadian insurance company, Manulife, is the guru of talent hunting. Apart from launching RED Lab as a hub for local programmers, the company regularly invests in hackathons to expand their team. One of the latest campaigns that Manulife powered was the FinTech hackathon, the winner of which was awarded with $10,000.
Conclusion
By investing in your team, you make a crucial investment in the future of your startup. With a recruiting hackathon, you can make sure that the investment pays off. Get started with Judgify to accelerate your hackathon organization!