Given the large global developer talent pool, it can be challenging to look for developers that match... your criteria. And, once you find them, ensuring you stand out and offer a great candidate experience is critical to hiring high quality talent.

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Here are our top tips for success before you get started:

• Set up a role scorecard: This helps your hiring team know what to look for in a developer as they sort through CVs, and it helps your team stay aligned throughout the sourcing and interviewing process.
• Be extremely responsive: Developers are likely interviewing with several companies at once, and even a slight delay in your process could mean you lose out on a strong candidate.
• Maintain a strong pipeline: This can happen throughout every stage of the process, so it’s important to maintain a strong pipeline of candidates.

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OfferZen's developer hiring platform is set-up to help you communicate job specs clearly to candidates and stay on top of communications, but that's not all that goes into a great hiring process. View more best practices for developer hiring.

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How you first reach out to a developer matters. Remember, they’re often inundated with messages from recruiters. For remote hiring in particular, where the candidate might not be aware of your brand, it's important to put your best foot forward and be clear about what makes your company a great option. Check out our top tips on reaching out to developers effectively.

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It can be tricky to bring a human element to remote hiring, but it's important to create connections. When developers are choosing between offers, a workplace that they connected with is going to get more consideration than one that they feel they barely know. From our virtual office to yours, get actionable advice on creating a connection.

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Once you've successfully grabbed a candidate's attention, it's time for developer interviews. At this stage, you share the majority of information that will ultimately determine whether an offer is made or accepted. The candidate can get a better sense of your company culture and whether it matches their goals. For you, it is an opportunity to showcase your culture and get a sense of how the candidate could add to it. You can also effectively test their skills to confirm whether they're the right match. For developer interviewing best practices, check out our guide.

“Congratulations, we want you to join our team” can be an awesome thing to say after going through an interview... process. It also opens the door to a variety of follow-up questions. If you haven’t prepared for this part of the process, those questions can throw a rather large spanner in the works.

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On OfferZen, you'll have a dedicated Account Manager to help you run the process smoothly, but it's still important to be prepared to win at this step. A confusing or vague offer call can push a promising candidate to look elsewhere, and bad communications can result in poorly managed expectations.

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The top moments to prepare for in the offer process are:

• The pre-offer call
• The offer email
• Signing of offers (remotely or in-person)
• Sending the contract
• Communications leading up to their first day

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How you handle each step of the process sets you up for long-term success with your potential new team member. Check out our advice for handling these in our developer hiring guide.‍

Since first reaching out to the candidate, you have been putting your best foot forward and promising more... of the same now that they officially work at your company. This is your chance to deliver on the promises you made in your interview process and ensure you have an employee that sticks around for years to come.

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When onboarding developers, it's important to remember that they are technical people, and are often happiest when they can contribute meaningfully by writing and developing code that moves your team towards its goals. Giving them the tools, information and support they need to get there is essential.

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The faster developers are able to make meaningful contributions to the codebase, the more likely they are to be engaged and feel included in the team. That said, you don’t want to overwhelm your new joiner from the get-go. There are a couple of key areas you can focus on during the early stages of onboarding to ensure they feel supported to start making a net-positive contribution to the team.

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It can be useful to remind them that, since they are going through a change by starting a new role, their emotional state and performance will go through a cycle – and that’s normal! You're there to support them in the process.

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Get our top tips for a successful onboarding process for developers.

The rise of remote work's popularity in recent years means that the tech hiring market has gone from hyperlocal to global... – and so should your developer hiring strategy. The global talent pool is now open to everyone, which means you need to step up your hiring game if you want to attract and hire remote developers.

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Here are our tips to win at remote hiring:

• Have a defined remote hiring and onboarding policy
• Focus on showcasing your remote work culture
• Make your employer branding shine
• Make sure you create that human connection

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If you're keen to start hiring global talent but you're not sure where to start looking, consider checking out South Africa's diverse talent pool.