Tech hiring strategies for finding the right fit

Tech hiring is tough. While 40% of developers say they’re looking to change jobs in 2025, open roles have decreased by about a third since 2020. This means that hiring managers are flooded by inbound applications, fielding around 350 submissions per role and interviewing an average of 18.2 candidates per successful hire.

To make the task a little less daunting, we sat down with Brian van Vuuren, Software Development Manager at Allan Gray, and Jade Venter, Naked Insurance Chief Technology Officer, and discussed how tech hiring managers can cut through the noise and find the best fit for their open roles.

The challenge in today’s tech hiring market

Time is of the essence when you’re trying to hire top talent. That said, with the influx of developers into the tech market since 2021 – and 69% of developers admitting they apply to jobs that they’re not fully qualified for – companies are now spending 40% more time screening talent in interviews only to find that the majority of applicants don’t fit the bill.

“Over the last year, we’ve seen the job market change dramatically. There’s definitely a surge in junior talent and there are a lot more generalists with just a few years of experience under their belts. So there’s plenty of talent, but a lot of that talent requires some development,” Brian said.

This, paired with what Brian calls the “democratisation of job searching” not only makes it more difficult to hire new developers, but also to keep top talent on your team.

“You’ve got platforms, like OfferZen, where developers can build profiles and put themselves out there and they’re being actively sought out by other companies. So as much as you’re on the hunt for new talent, the market is on the hunt for our talent. That creates an interesting conundrum in terms of holding onto talent,” he explained.

How to find quality among the quantity

You definitely want to move fast during the hiring process, but you probably don’t want to break anything within your business. To ensure that you can make the right hire in record time, Brian and Jade suggest tweaking your hiring approach and championing great cultural fits.

Reconsider your recruitment process

Considering the likelihood that you’ll have hundreds of CVs flying into your inbox once you’ve posted a job ad, you may need to adjust your hiring process to find the right fit.

“You’re getting a lot of people playing around across the entire stack, so we’re sitting in a space where there’s a lot to get through. That’s required us to shift the way that we actually filter and bring people in,” said Jade.

“What you have to ask yourself is, ‘What kind of individual are you trying to bring on board?’ At Naked, for example, we’re looking for candidates who can solve technical problems but think and communicate like product people. That has a massive impact because it automatically shrinks the number of candidates we’re going to consider,” he added.

It’s also important to treat the recruitment process in the same way you would the development process: iterate, iterate, iterate.

“As hiring managers and hiring teams need to constantly review the recruitment process. You need to be asking yourself whether it’s still fit for purpose, if there’s anything you can be doing better and how you can be more effective. And don’t be apologetic about looking for exactly the right fit for your business,” said Brian.

Commit to your culture

Besides being confident that the potential hire can fill the technical need that you have, it’s important to ensure that you’re onboarding developers who want to grow with your business. That requires them to align with your company culture.

“It’s no longer good enough to look at a CV and make a call. We want to know whether someone is the kind of person that would fit into our environment,” Brian said.

“What we’ve done is double down on the personal approach during the interview process. We work closely with our dedicated recruitment team to try get to know the candidates so that we can figure out, first and foremost, whether they’re a cultural fit in addition to being a skills fit.”

Pinning down whether a developer will work well on your team can be tough to do. One of the key strategies here, said Jade, is to establish open and honest communication with the interviewee.

“We need to make sure that we’re absolutely clear about what it looks like to work with us – the good, the bad, and the ugly. You need to be very open because that will give the candidate the ability to be able to communicate how they see themselves fitting into your environment,” he explained.

“That gives us the opportunity to ask, ‘Why do you actually want to be part of this team?’ by keeping that at the core of the interview process, we can identify whether how they work and what problems interest them resonate with us and whether that will make them a success at Naked.”

The AI effect

More than half of software developers say that they use AI to get things done. While these tools are extremely useful for boosting productivity, they can make it difficult to assess developers’ skills during the hiring process.

Brian and Jade agree that AI use in itself isn’t problematic, but it does mean that you need to drill down into the thought process behind the solutions that a developer presents.

“When it comes to things like a take-home assessment, I’m not particularly bothered whether you use AI to solve a problem. What I do care deeply about is that you understand how the problem was solved,” said Jade.

“What’s really important for us is that the person shows up when we’re in that post-assessment conversation,” added Brian. “We don’t want to know whether you can quote a definition of, say, Big O notation, but we do want to see that you can identify computational complexity in an early-stage design thinking problem.”

Top hiring tips from the experts

Approaching the recruitment process with consistency and commitment will go a long way to helping you find the right fit for your open roles. Here are some adages Brian and Jade advise you keep in mind when you’re searching for top talent:

• Hiring is a marathon and not a sprint: “You're looking for people to join your team, and that is going to be a time and cost-intensive process. Once you make peace with that, you have the best possible chance of actually figuring out whether someone is the right fit.” – Brian.
• Speed matters, but stick to your process: “The hiring process is imperfect and not everyone is going to like every stage, but you will find someone who is willing to invest the time and that’s probably the person you want on your team.” – Jade.
• Take a people-centric approach: “Approach the process with an open mind and understand that each candidate is bringing something different to the table, because that’s where you can really uncover the hidden gems.” – Brian.
• Don’t shop hungry: “Try to stay ahead of critical needs, because if you’re trying to fill those roles in a rush, you’re probably going to regret it afterwards.” – Jade.