Probably not the right place to ask, but I’ll ask: what would be a good way to hire people for a developer role in a company?

Let’s say you, as a candidate, want to be considered for a role. What do you want the company to provide you ahead of time? What do you think are relevant things to ask you about to ensure that you are going to be a resource for the company?

I ask for lots of reasons, some of which benefit me. But I’m still curious.

I would imagine (note that word) that an applicant would want to know what the job really is. Not some generic job description that could mean everything and anything. Real job tasks/responsibilities/scope/workflow/payoffs. What is the short term and long term prospects for this role? For this company? Tell me, the applicant, ahead of time so I’ll know if this is the right job for me. Help me understand if this is going to be a job where I can grow comfortable slowly expanding my duties while I dig in and fix things or maintain and extend things, or if this is a job where I will need to come up with hacky answers overnight constantly. Help me understand how seriously you take the job duties and me, personally. Will I be working 7 days a week? Do you expect me to live at the office or be working at home when I’m not in the office? Is this simply a long project guaranteed to result in burnout even if the benefits and pay are great? Tell me. There are people who can do that and will like that; there are people who do not and will not apply. Help me self-select, and save yourself some time going through resumes and bringing in candidates who will not fit, or even hiring someone who will not work out.

Tell me about your long-term employment processes. Do you cull the bottom 10% every year? Do you have long-term benefit packages and asset-building? Do you offer 401(k) matching funds, and how much? What are your health care benefits? What are your continuing education benefits? What are the results of your work:life balance goals? Let me talk to the people in your company about that, especially the spouses and children who must live with those work:life balance goals.

You may think you’re hiring for your benefit, but that means you need to find the best possible recruit who will be passionate about the job, want to stay, and bring you the best combination of skills and intelligence — and I would, as a candidate, want to know whether it is worth my time to consider you. You, as a company, may think you hold the cards, but you may be eliminating yourself from consideration by the truly best candidates because you do not offer a tempting environment to work in.

This is, of course, what I would imagine candidates want. I’m really curious to know what candidates really do want.