Tech recruiters are embracing remote hiring tools including online assessment tools, according to a new report by HackerEarth titled ‘The State of Developer Recruitment 2020’.

According to the report, 47 per cent of Indian tech recruiters who used manual hiring processes, have now embraced online assessment tools with the onset of the pandemic.

“Covid-19 has accelerated the shift towards remote hiring tools,” the report said.

With the increase in remote hiring, tech recruiters have also observed an increase in their talent pool.

“30.7 per cent of respondents said that remote hiring had increased their sourcing funnel,” said the report.

Sourcing however, still remains a primary challenge for 22.6 per cent recruiters globally.

For developer recruiters, LinkedIn (25.7 per cent), job portals (20.7 per cent) and internal referrals (16.9 per cent ) were the preferred talent sourcing channels.

“For most recruiters, regardless of company size, hackathons were a popular way to engage with developers,” the report added.

According to the survey, Diversity and Inclusion hiring were also important for most recruiters.

For 47 per cent of recruiters in India, “elimination of bias and standardising the hiring process” were the main drivers while recruiting web developers in 2020. 13 per cent of Indian respondents were also interested to use an assessment tool as it eliminated bias.

Apart from this, recruiters also prioritised developer skills over pedigree. Globally, “skill-based hiring has been gaining popularity with 21.5 per cent of recruiters choosing this over other options,” said the report.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will be the skills most in demand in 2021, as per the report.

From an employee perspective, health insurance and flexible work hours will be in-demand perks for developers, moving forward.

“While a work-from-home fund and wellness breaks are good to have, recruiters said that more developers were asking about upskilling opportunities than before,” the report said.

“To say the entire field of human resources and hiring was turned upside down in 2020 due to the pandemic and issues around racial equality is an understatement,” said Sachin Gupta, CEO of HackerEarth.

“In developer recruitment and hiring, we’ve seen a massive abandonment of outdated practices, the elimination of geographic boundaries when sourcing talent, and the acceleration of an ethos that prioritises developer skills, as well as the adoption of technology that enables the most positive experience and outcomes for both hiring managers and candidates,” added Gupta.

The survey results include responses from 2,500 recruiters and hiring managers globally spanning various industries such as technology, pharmaceutical, retail, automobile, construction, banking, media, finance & insurance.

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