5 Best Facebook Groups for Sourcing Software Engineers

By Nevena Sofranic

Every IT recruiter has their technique for sourcing. It is just a matter of personal preference. If you are one of those who skip Facebook altogether, you might want to rethink that. People are more active on Facebook than any other networking site. A lot of candidates are using Facebook - both passive and active job seekers - and even more, are constantly joining. 

Facebook groups can be a great place to learn how to source new candidates. Once you learn the basics, you will be able to find your path that will, for sure, bring results.

What You Should Know About Facebook Groups

The great thing about Facebook groups is that your job posts will be seen by the right people if you find adequate groups. It’s a simple recruitment strategy. 

Some groups admit new members without asking any questions, but others can be a bit more demanding. You might need to ask for permission to join, and answer a few questions before they accept your request. Every group has its own rules, and you should definitely check them out once you’re a member. 

If they ask you why you are joining their group, telling them you are a recruiter is probably not a good idea, because job postings may be forbidden. If they are not forbidden, don’t start posting right away. It’s best to first communicate with the members of the group and find out how the group works. Nobody likes it when a new member that has just joined posts jobs right away. 

You should keep in mind that on Facebook there are a lot of candidates who are actively looking for a job, so you may get a lot of job applications once you’ve posted a job opening. There will be unsuitable and unqualified candidates, but make sure to respond to them as well. Always be kind and professional.

Also, you can use Facebook groups to educate yourself. You can learn about new recruitment strategies, or what candidates don’t like so that you can improve yourself (which is a crucial part of your job, after all). In this way, you could grow your knowledge of the industry in general, or gain a new interest. 

Best Groups For Sourcing Software Engineers

Software Developer - Besides posting your job ads, here you can engage in discussions, exchange experiences, and ideas. This group has about 98 thousand members.

Computer Hardware-software & networking Group - Here you can post job openings and find a lot of useful information. You can ask questions in this community and learn about more aspects of the industry. There are more than 84 thousand members in this group.

Software Engineering Mastermind Group - Although this group doesn’t allow promotions, they do have Promo Wednesday. You may post promotional content on Wednesdays, but everything must be approved by admins first. Everything must be software engineering-related. More than 57 thousand people have joined this group.

Software Developers Group - Besides useful links and getting feedback to questions, this group allows advertising and job postings.

Software training and job placements - This is a place for members to learn and improve their skills, plus it’s an excellent way to find out about job placements in the industry.

Discussion Groups You Shouldn't Miss 

As we mentioned before, the secret to cracking the tech recruitment game is to be up to date with the latest techniques. The industry is always evolving, so you must keep up. 

Here is a list of groups where you can learn new tactics for your recruitment strategy:

• The Secret Sourcing Group - A great group that focuses on discussion and a comfortable place for recruiters to ask for advice.

• #FightSpam - As the name suggests, the members here don’t like job postings from recruiters. Here, you will see plenty of examples of how recruiting should not look like. You can also improve your skills when it comes to communication with candidates.

• Recruiters Online - One of the admins of this group is Michael Kelemen, who is known for hosting The Recruiting Animal Show. Without a doubt, you will see a lot of exciting and challenging discussions here. 

• HR Open Source #HROS - The goal of this group is to help members get a grip of everything they need to do the best job possible: resources, advice, help, or tricks, you name it. High-quality insights for recruiters and HR staff.

• #Trumunity - This group will help you keep up with Tru events. Tru events are unconferences, meaning that they are events where those who attend, engage in discussions on topics related to recruitment. They take place all over the world. 

Searching for Facebook groups can be a never-ending task, so hopefully, the groups mentioned above will be useful to get you started. Not everything can be found in one or two groups, so allow yourself a reasonable amount of time for finding what is important to you. Also, if you are looking for a candidate from a specific country or region, you will naturally focus on the groups with members from these areas.