To Hackathon Partners: How to Optimize your Recruiting Experience
Connecting the best talent at hackathons can be a super exciting and rewarding experience, but it can also be overwhelming to navigate the unique and fast-paced environment. We at TechTogether Boston 2019 are here to give some tips and tricks to make the most of your partnership when it comes to attracting and hiring hackers!
Focus on Hacker Engagement
At our 2018 event, we found that hackers are naturally more engaged with content created by the event organizers. Rather than focusing all your effort on collecting resumes or emails from the hackers, collaborate with us to create social media posts, customized events during the hackathon, and live-streamed tours of your office! Hackathon organizers can be thought of micro-influencers, and creating content through them results in significant interest and engagement from the hackers.
Use the Hackathon to Leverage Your Product or Service
If you want to engage hackers and leverage our platform at the same time, find out why people are attending TechTogether Boston and tailor your participation to what you can offer them. For example, our marketing team could help you poll hackers before the event on what kind of prizes they would want to win. Using the information from the poll, you could create a challenge that uses your company’s API or technology, and offer those prizes to the top winners; not only does this get your company’s name out there, but also makes the hackers happy.
Timing Matters
TechTogether Boston is a 36-hour event, which means there are multiple opportunities to engage with our hackers and tell them about opportunities in your company! The optimal time to engage and recruit students will be the first night of the hackathon as hackers are arriving and settling in.
At this time, hackers are energized to network and share their project ideas with you. Other good opportunities to engage with hackers are workshops, mentorship, and judging at our project expo. We recommend sharing your email and encouraging hackers to add you on LinkedIn to stay connected after the event.
Send a Diverse Set of Mentors
We encourage students from all skill sets and backgrounds to attend TechTogether Boston. As a result, our hackers are not solely made up of computer science majors, but business and liberal arts majors as well. Hackathons draw from so many different skill sets, and we encourage you to consider how to reflect that when you send mentors from your company.
Rather than sending only technical mentors, which can be intimidating for hackers who have less technical background, send a business associate who can teach hackers how to pitch a project successfully or a product manager who can guide teams throughout the design process.
