DeveloperWeek 2022 is in the books…whew! In many ways, this year’s all-virtual format was apropos for a conference that regularly attracts some of the premier developers, software architects, engineers, and related professionals and businesses from around the world.
From the comfort of home offices, kitchen tables, and living room couches (yes, we know there were a few out there!), thousands of participants flocked to virtual workshops, bootcamps, keynote addresses, panel discussions, and networking opportunities over the expo’s three days.
Hirect’s Virtual Booths
On the virtual expo floor, Vishal Kolar and Everest Damaschino manned Hirect’s booth. The pair led a series of keynote presentations and open discussions about our hiring platform, common jobs found on the app, and the recent launch of our out-of-home campaign, the largest in Bay Area history.
“DevWeek was an amazing opportunity to connect with so many people who were aspiring to find careers in the tech and startup world,” said Damaschino. “It’s always refreshing to hear that all of these people are going through the same challenges in the traditional hiring process that Hirect is here to solve. I loved being able to go live in our booth and respond to real time questions with advice and knowledge about how Hirect can make their job search experience better and push them into their dream careers faster than they ever thought!”
Hirect was also an exclusive sponsor at the conference’s Hiring Expo, where more than a thousand developers, data scientists, engineers, and other hirable candidates could network and connect directly with companies. Hirect recruiters, Destiny Davis and Holly Baroni, conducted one-on-one interviews with dozens of potential candidates and answered a range of resume and career-related questions.
“DeveloperWeek offered an opportunity for our recruiting team to directly connect with current job seekers in real time, an opportunity we rarely get outside of the Hirect app,” added Baroni. “Through the Interview Room, I was able to meet with 20-plus candidates, presenting on our internal positions as well as the hundreds, if not thousands, of opportunities currently available through our Hirect app.”
The Hirect team, which had the highest traffic at the Hiring Expo, welcomed nearly 1,000 total visitors across both booths and engaged with approximately 1,000 chat mentions.
Hirect Speakers
Annie Zhang, Stephanie Lovell, and Elena Doudoukalova, Hirect’s Co-Founder, Head of Marketing, and Chief Human Resources Officer, joined more than 180 other speakers from sectors and spaces ranging from artificial intelligence and blockchain to quantum computing and the latest developer tech.
Zhang’s presentation, which saw more than 200 participants, explained the current gap in the hiring market for startups and small businesses and why so many young people struggle to find those companies with significant career growth opportunities. She also drew parallels between the evolution of online dating platforms and how Hirect’s product innovation and algorithm design make it ideal for founders, owners, and team leaders.
Zhang took time at the end to respond to audience questions on salary transparency, Hirect’s specific tech stack, in-app resume adaption, and platform algorithm design.
Key Highlights:
On the hiring gap:
“We see a huge gap in meeting the current hiring demands of fast-growing startups. Also, for many young, talented people they find it so hard to join these early-stage startups because they usually have huge career growth but people just don’t know where these startups are and who are the people working in those startups — so it’s hard to network.”
On similar evolution of dating sites:
“Indeed and also LinkedIn and many other job websites, they were founded in the 2000s and they are actually still the largest platforms right now. So we see such a huge opportunity that we can bring a very innovative aspect into this hiring industry using the dating kind of the analogy or the philosophy behind those product iterations.”
On Hirect’s direct-chat feature:
“It breaks the barrier of the middleman. Any staffing agencies or recruiters, you can actually directly connect with the people who are hiring as we block out those third parties on the platform. If you log into the app you will find that many of the people you can talk to are those early-stage startup founders and also the business owners.”
On treating hiring like sales:
“Especially hiring for smaller startups, one thing we recommend they do is they should regard the hiring process more like a sales process. For smaller startups without a big name, you need to push yourself out there, pitch to employees, because there’s a talent war ongoing.”
Lovell and Doudoukalova’s presentation, which had 150 participants, gave a high-level overview of the app and information on open internal roles at Hirect, including project managers, marketing positions, operations, and front-end developers.
Key Highlights:
On speed of hire:
“The platform allows for direct messaging, which gives you that 10-times increase in speed of hiring. The traditional hiring methods right now take about 2 to 3 weeks for someone to get through all the interview processes into an actual offer and then to be hired. With Hirect, our average is about 2 to 3 days.”
On platform transparency:
“One of the best parts about Hirect is we have a ton of transparency throughout the process. For instance, every job listing is required to have a salary band attached to it so you know exactly what you’re getting into right off the bat.”
On disrupting the market:
“As a company, we’re working really hard to disrupt traditional methods and pioneer a new era in hiring and recruiting, which I think we can all agree is fairly outdated at this point. So it’s really exciting — it’s an exciting time for the company, we have a lot to offer and we have a lot of really amazing opportunities.”
On open roles at Hirect:
“Being the startup that we are, you never know — if we don’t have the role open today, it’s very possible that we’ll have the role later on. We’re just excited to get ourselves out there and become a platform that a lot of other companies can utilize to disrupt the space and become part of the ecosystem.”
Thanks again to all our friends who ‘stopped by’ our virtual booths or attended one of our speaking events. Kudos to Annie, Steph, Elena, Vishal, Everest, Holly, Destiny, and the entire Hirect team for another successful DevWeek! To explore open roles at Hirect, or those at countless other startups, download Hirect on the App Store or on Google Play.
