HiringThing Blog

Conducting a Great Technical Interview

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

I've been interviewing and hiring web developers for many years now. Along the way, I've made a few bad hires, and some fantastic ones, and those experiences have helped me develop a specific approach to the technical interview.

The Road Ahead for Recruitment

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

One could be forgiven for feeling a bit of confusion about the overall job market as it stands today. It seems like for every report that paints a positive picture about the future employment outlook, another report comes out almost immediately that seemingly refutes that assumption.

Introducing HiringThing Forms

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Sun, 06 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

One of they key features our early customers have asked for is the ability to collect more fine-grained information from applicants. I'm happy to announce that last week we released a new update to HiringThing that adds the ability to send applicants online forms as part of your hiring process.

HR Compliance Concerns for Small Business

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Small business is big. In fact, it has never been bigger. Since the recession on 2008, small businesses and entrepreneurs have grown at an unprecedented rate. Recent statistics show that businesses under 500 employees now account for 99% of all employment firms. As even more people prepare to go out on their own, having an understanding about compliance issues will be greater than it has ever been.

Automated UI Testing with Jenkins and Selenium

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

One of the key tools we use to keep HiringThing (mostly) bug-free and working well is automated testing. Rails, our application framework, provides good tools for testing backend code, but we found a need to better test our user interface. The HiringThing UI involves many complex interactions between HTML, Javascript and server-side actions, and we needed integration testing that tests these functions operating in concert.

Top Sources of Candidates

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is where most companies find good candidates. It's a complicated question, partially because the recruiting industry is undergoing a period of rapid change, but the very best options remain close at hand.

Introducing Eric Semon, Director of Customer Success

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

HiringThing is proud to announce the hire of Eric Semon in the role of Director of Customer Success. Eric brings over 20 years of experience in sales and business development, including 12 years working in the e-Recruitment industry selling job postings and overseeing job boards.

HiringThing Secures $1M in Funding, Launches

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

I'm happy to announce that HiringThing is now out of beta. Over the last few months we've been busy working with our beta accounts, adding new features and finalizing our product. Today, we are officially launching and offering a 30-day free trial to all new customers.

First Hires - The Perils of Startup Life

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

HiringThing is moving from beta phase to full deployment over the next couple of months and will need to add our first employees, what an exciting time. Our first two hires will be a sales/customer representative and a lead software engineer.

Managing Infrastructure - On Chef and Rails

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

We've recently been making some upgrades to the HiringThing hosting infrastructure, and one of our initiatives is to add more automation, DevOps style. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DevOps) HiringThing runs on many servers behind the scenes, so configuration changes can take a lot of time. Our goal was to implement a tool that allows us to make changes to our stack without logging into each server one by one.

Cures for Bottlenecks in Hiring

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

A business is a well-oiled machine, relying on the seamless execution of a number of processes to drive it forward. Disruptions and delays (bottlenecks) will occur unless you keep these processes in ship shape. In the hiring process, bottlenecks are more than just an inconvenience. They can damage company culture and tarnish your brand - making it more difficult to attract and hire top talent.

Hiring Challenges for Early Stage Companies

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

When I began talking to Josh, the founder and CTO here at HiringThing it brought back the many recruiting and hiring experiences I have had during my business career. The details change case by case, but a few strong themes emerge that seem to be challenges for every new company.

EventMachine and Rails

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Integrating EventMachine with Rails can be a complicated experience. We worked through some of the compatibility issues and share our solution here.

Buttons with a Surprise

joshuas@hiringthing.com (Joshua Siler) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

You might have noticed the button the front page has our HiringThing mascot peeping out from behind. It's a great way to add some personality, and it didn't take long to whip up a little javascript to get this done.