I think the real interesting answers won't necessarily come from the companies themselves. I think it's a good start, but much more interesting from my perspective is what employees with varying opinions--from glowing to not so glowing--might have to say. I think Glassdoor is close, but it's really wonky to use imo. An easier to use or niche version of Glassdoor would be cool.
I think the most interesting bit of the Stripe article was that they did most of their hiring via referrals. That's really one of the very few ways you're going to be able to hire "people" rather than specifically to certain job descriptions. Their recruiting method matches their strategy. All too often companies will say "we hire people, not roles" but then post all their jobs on job boards where the specific role is well defined. :-/
I completely agree with everything OP says, but I'll tell you what the real problem is: time. This is especially true in early stage startups and consultancies, where oftentimes the founders are still building stuff 95% of the time.
Recruiters are easy (as are, by the way, the new wave of non-recruiting recruiters like Developer Auction). Pay the man his money, and get a candidate in return. The founder doesn't have to spend time communicating with candidates or really doing any of the stuff OP mentions. That's why a lot of companies still hire recruiters. (Some of the companies) don't care what happens before the viable candidate walks thru the door, they just care that he/she does. It's like buying an iPad. Most of us don't think about, and don't care to think about what it took for that iPad to make it to us. We just care that it did and that it works as advertised.
Recruiting: the most important thing most companies don't have time for...
There's absolutely a better way, and in the end it's less time-consuming than what most companies do now. But the up front work is harder and more time-consuming. Convincing someone who's time is worth more than his money to adopt the better way is a hard thing to do.
I wonder if it's possible to move from employer to employer getting paid more and more by spending all your time answering questions on Stack Overflow instead of working...
Co-founder of Work for Pie (the other company mentioned in the article) here. I will say I'm glad that these guys expanded from their original, pretty elitist degree and/or experience requirements.
There are companies that do it right--like Github and Etsy--and there are companies that do it wrong. The big problem is that doing it right probably takes more time. Supporting the local developer ecosystem, presenting at conferences and meetups, mentoring others, open sourcing projects, writing blogs that help others, etc. are all great recruiting strategies (and just darn nice things to do overall), but they all take a lot of time (and none are guaranteed to bring you new employees).
I think the fact that these guys are successful tells me that a fair number of companies are saying "my time is more valuable than $xx." I'm not sure how I feel about that. I completely understand it--especially when you're a part of a super-small team--but I still kinda wish it didn't have to be that way. And fwiw I'm not sure how well cultural fit is addressed by this platform, but maybe the companies figure all that out in interviews.
I'm biased, but I think giving developers the chance to discover the one company (among as many options as possible) that fits them best is the way to really improve recruiting. That forces companies to actually be worth a damn--not just have deep pockets--to recruit successfully.
..and now for the shameless plug. It's free to set up a company page on Work for Pie, and you can post up to two jobs for free too. Tell our thousands of developers how awesome you are: https://workforpie.com/companies/join/
I think where the college and credentials bit is failing--for me at least--is the lack of differentiation between "learning to do" and "learning to think." I went to a liberal arts college and spent most of my four years learning to think. Liberal Arts are good for that kind of thing, and depending on your background (I'm not the product of highly educated parents) it can be extremely useful and a completely justified reason for going to college. One can learn to think elsewhere, but college is still a great place to do it.
As recently as ten years ago, it was impossible to learn to do outside of a formal training program, but today it's completely possible to learn to do almost anything via Youtube, iTunes, and the rest of the internet. And the problem is that today's university system--except in fairly rare cases--actually hinders learning to do. The world outside moves too fast for the educational bureaucracy to keep up. Formal education is valuable, but maybe more for learning to think than learning to do, at least in modern times.
The 'complete redesign' trend has been seen by some in the design community as a bit arrogant and impractical. My guess is that poster didn't want to be included in that crowd.
Pieworks is a new service we've recently announced. Our goal is to help great companies recruit in a way that's genuine. It's a relationship, not a transaction. Look forward to questions and discussion.
I think the real interesting answers won't necessarily come from the companies themselves. I think it's a good start, but much more interesting from my perspective is what employees with varying opinions--from glowing to not so glowing--might have to say. I think Glassdoor is close, but it's really wonky to use imo. An easier to use or niche version of Glassdoor would be cool.