choong pw

According to Wikipedia for the great resignation, the time scale of this event happens around early 2021. Writing this post today, make me a little late into it. But I would like to share my general thought about hiring as an Engineering Manager in Malaysia throughout 2021.

To start, yes is challenging to hire throughout the year 2021. I am grateful that the company I am working with is prospering during the covid period. With that, the revenue continues to grow, thus the need to scale the team to build more things on the software. Even with all this black swan, we have been constantly hiring. And changing our hiring strategy to cater to the remote workforce.

Hiring is hard

Throughout the period of 2021. Our recruiter managed to source many leads. Mainly through LinkedIn. Just that candidate is not responding to his reach.

We make some guessing that people working in our industry (software) have many choices. We know this because we are also constantly being approached by recruiters ourselves. At the same time, we also saw other company sending out their technical leader to reach out. And it does seem more genuine.

This method works! But, it takes too much effort. That at least has helped us to get more candidates to respond to our initial Job description (JD).

Screening

I am proud to say the screening process that we have established is quite reliable here. We screen mainly for their ability to learn and culture fit. And for the senior role, we also would take into account their experience and technical skills. There is 2 round of assignment to go through. The first is a shorter version and the second would require the candidate to spend more time working on it.

Again, I do feel that based on the submitted responses. The quality of the answer is not impressive at all. Again, not too sure whether is a time constraint or just outright couldn’t care less because of the opportunity that is available.

For the senior. Yes, don’t mind paying more. However, most of them really lack the leadership quality to carry the team. Or at least, show self-awareness of what and how their work is able to bring impact to the team and business. And most importantly, a growth mindset. That too, I found it rare to get by.

In a nutshell, most of the time we have to deal with high expected salary demand and are not able to match with the competency of the skill they suppose to be in.

Our hire

Our way of thinking is always to reflect back on the work we do and make it better. Most of the time, we always will ask back. Why they decided to join us.

What makes us different is our culture. The #thinkteam and the high importance of learning and growth. We walk our talk by allocating time for playday and hack week. Last but not least, being genuine and transparent.

A story from one of our new hires said. “I have been to many interviews. Most of the interviewers do not turn on the webcam. He is not able to see the boss or colleague he will be working with. It just feels weird.”

Thankfully, we are the opposite. Despite being in a remote environment, we still emphasize the importance of people. And making sure that we people who join us are able to build bonds and friends in the process.