How to hire really smart developers?

The best web developers don’t ever look in the situations vacant.

Not even online.

But they do look at source code!

So, a while back I quietly added this HTML comment to the top of the Trade Me homepage:

  <!--
  If you're looking at our HTML source,
  you're exactly the person
  who should send us your resume.
  View current vacancies at
  <a href="https://www.trademe.co.nz/careers">https://www.trademe.co.nz/careers</a>
  -->

It’s been surprisingly effective at targeting the type of smart ASP.NET web developers we want to hire. But, not effective enough it would seem.

Alan, who heads up the development team at Trade Me, is advertising a couple of specific roles at the moment:

• Senior Web Developer & Project Manager
• ASP.NET Web Developer

We’re also currently advertising for a Web Designer.

If you’re a smart developer or designer there are lots of opportunities at the moment. There definitely seems to be more vacancies around than people to fill them.

So, as a candidate, how do you decide what’s the best place to work? I would have thought that the chance to work on NZs largest web site would be pretty attractive.