Hired.com: As Good as it Seems?

Recruiters rejoice! A platform has recently been designed to help make hiring software engineers as easy as possible.

Hired.com allows companies to view, and subsequently bid on, the profiles of a variety of engineers. The highest bid on candidates must be honored, and job contenders are able to choose which offer is most appealing.

Hired.com: Friend or Foe?

However, in contrast to TechCrunch’s review of Hired.com, I have a difficult time understanding how the site makes recruiting “suck less.” The platform does not involve recruiting — or more importantly, interviewing — at all.

Is a company — particularly a technology company — going to be successful by bidding on candidates who they haven’t even spoken to? Online recruiting requires employers to put blind faith into profiles, cross their fingers, and hope that candidates have portrayed themselves accurately. Job applicants can easily misconstrue their qualifications, particularly on a website where the amount of money that they could make corresponds to the amount of talents that they list.

It’s also worth questioning what caliber of engineers promote themselves on such a website. From my experience, top engineering talent is typically not actively looking for other job opportunities. If they do start exploring other options, they tend to have their own network to reach out to.

Internet vs. In Person: Find a Happy Recruiting Medium

With the proper recruiting resources and strategy, recruiting should never “suck.” Using online tools is necessary to aid in recruiting, but one should not rely solely on a website for staffing. A large part of building a successful team is meeting a candidate in person. Having a job applicant meet with their peers and managers, as well as check out their potential office space, is vital. By using the Internet alone, it is impossible to see if a candidate is a fit on both sides of the company.

What do you think?

Is Hired.com set to revolutionize tech hiring and recruiting?