How to Recruit Tech Talent When You’re Not a Tech Company

Kia WalkerSenior Director of Talent Acquisition

SolarCityklwalker@solarcity.com

About Me

About SolarCity

• Founded in 2007 - Went public in 2013 (SCTY)• 5,700 employees• $3 billion structured financing

• #1 Residential solar company in the US• 100,000 buildings– Install a new system every 3 minutes– 1 in 4 PV systems installed by SolarCity

Employee Growth

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

YOY Headcount Growth

Challenges

• Double the size of SolarCity’s software engineering team

• Recruit in a highly competitive environment– 30 high-caliber hires in under 4 months

• Showcase our story, build buzz, visibility and interest

Most Common Sources Software Engineers Learn About Job Opportunities…

Sourcing Solutions

1. Improve branding2. Source the best3. Drive employee referrals4. Hold recruiting events

1. Improve Branding

• New Careers site: www.solarcity.com/careers

• Software Engineering microsite: www.solarcity.com/careers/software-engineering

• Glassdoor profile

Our Glassdoor Profile

Glassdoor Results

2. Source the Best

• Reach out to tech companies within a 20-mile radius of San Mateo and San Francisco

• Engineering team participates in EcoHackathon

Software Engineers Value Reviews

of software engineers read online reviews about a company before accepting a job offer

When software engineers are making job decisions they trust

these sources for more information:

3. Drive Employee Referrals

• Increased the referral fee to $2,500

• Company email and posters

• Pizza lunch – name gen

Most Effective Recruitment Tactics

Say social media outreach from other engineers at the hiring company is an effective way to learn about new job opportunities

Say they appreciate meet ups at the company hiring where they have a chance to connect with other engineers

What Engineers are saying…

4. Recruiting Events – College Engineering

• 4 college recruiting events in 1 week

• Targeted schools that focus on Computer Science:₋ Duke₋ Cal Poly SLO₋ Stanford₋ San Diego State University

• We received a total of 202 resumes

4. Recruiting Events - Mixers• SF Mixers

“Bring a friend, learn about the cool stuff we are doing from our Founder/CTO, drink craft beer”

– 2 hires from 1st mixer

• Software Engineering meet up at Rogue Brewery: – Sourcing Team sent targeted

invites– College team created

invitation on the Meet up site and EventBrite

Results After 6 Weeks

• Hired an internal Recruiter and Sourcer

• Implemented an online coding assessment (Hacker Street)

•15 offers accepted – 3 offers pending

•15 More Hires by August 15th