How can you know which developers are open to work and which aren't without asking them? It might be daunting to reach out totally cold to a person you don't know with your job offer if you know they are most likely already happy in their current position.

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In this post, we will share some tips on how to find developers that are specifically open to work.

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1. Job Boards

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There are a plethora of job boards out there, and they can be a great way to find developers who are open to new opportunities. Simply search for "developer" or "software engineer", or "fullstack developer", and you'll be presented with a long list of potential candidates. Once you've found some candidates that look promising, reach out and see if they're interested in learning more about your company.

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A good way to find their email is to look for their personal website linked from their profile - most developers will have one where they showcase their work and contact information. Another option is to find it from their Github if they have it linked.

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However, it's important to note that many job boards are quite competitive, so you may need to stand out in order to get the attention of top talent. One way to do this is by offering a competitive salary and benefits package and stating it upfront.

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2. Cold Outreach

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Yep, we are going to mentiong this. If you're having trouble finding candidates on job boards, another option is to reach out to developers directly via cold outreach. This involves sending personalized messages to developers that you think would be a good fit for your company.

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Many times, developers are more likely to respond positively to a cold outreach message if they're already familiar with your company or have worked with you in the past.

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Check out out previous guide on How to Write the Best LinkedIn Outreach Messages to Developers: 6 templates

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Cold outreach is tedious and tend to be a lot of work so prepare to spend a lot of time personalising messages.

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3. Social Media

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Social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn can also be great places to find developers open for work. Simply search for relevant hashtags (such as #sideproject or #opensource) or follow companies that interest you. This will help you see tweets and posts from developers who are talking about their work and might be open for new opportunities.

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When reaching out to candidates on social media, it's important to be respectful and professional. Often, developers are already employed and are not actively looking for new work. So, if you contact them without permission and a personalized message, they may view it as spam and report you.

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4. Recruiting Firms

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If you're having trouble finding the right candidates on your own, another option is to work with a recruiting firm that specializes in placing developers. They will have a network of talented developers that they can reach out to on your behalf, and they can help screen candidates to find the best fit for your company.

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However, it's important to note that working with a recruiting firm can be quite expensive. So, if you're on a tight budget, this may not be the best option for you.

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If you still want the benefit of a large pool of talented developers but without the expensive commissions, try hashlist.com.

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5. Employee Referrals

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Another great way to find talented developers is by asking your existing employees for referrals. Many times, developers are more likely to accept a job if they're familiar with someone who already works at the company. So, if you have any employees who know developers looking for work, be sure to ask them for referrals.

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You can also offer you existing developers financial incentives for referring candidates that get hired. This will help ensure that they only refer high-quality candidates that they know will be a good fit for your company.

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6. Meetups and Conferences

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If you want to meet developers in person, another option is to attend meetups and conferences relevant to your industry. This is a great way to network and build relationships with potential candidates. Plus, it shows that you're invested in your industry and are always looking for ways to improve your engineering team.

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If you already are an industry expert, try to organise a talk. That way you will have interested people directly show up to listen to you, and you might very well find your next hire in the audience if they get inspired.

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7. GitHub

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GitHub is a powerful tool that can be used to find open for work developers. Simply search for repositories that are relevant to your project, and you'll be able to see a list of developers who have contributed to those repositories. You can then reach out to those developers and see if they're interested in working on your project too.

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A good resource of finding the email is by searching for:

https://api.github.com/users/xxxxxxx/events/public

and replacing the xxxxxx with the developers github tag and then searching for @ with CTRL+F

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8. Linkedin

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Linkedin is a great platform to use when searching for developers. You can use the search function to find developers with specific skills and experience. You can also reach out to developers directly through LinkedIn messages or inmail.

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When searching, try "open for work" to get an exact match of developers open for work. Another option is to get Linkedin recruiter, although that's very expensive.

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In conclusion

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Finding developers open for work is not easy, but by using a combination of these methods, you should be able to increase your chances of finding your next hire.

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It's also important to remember that the best way to find top talent is by building a strong employer brand. If you have a company that developers want to work for, they will be more likely to reach out to you when they're looking for new opportunities. So, focus on creating a great company culture and environment, and the talent will come to you.

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Do you have any other tips for finding developers? Let us know at calle@hashlist.com