How To Use GitHub Advanced Search For Recruiters

The desire for tech expertise is large, but the pool of capable candidates is in limited provide. It also does not aid that unemployment is lower, as it more narrows down your expertise pool and makes it tougher to discover good staff members. 

With competitiveness for tech talent superior, you are most likely hunting for new and progressive techniques to detect, attract and recruit outstanding tech specialists. This article will assistance you do just that by detailing a exclusive sourcing tactic, Github sophisticated look for. You’ll discover what Github is as effectively as why and how you should supply tech pros from the platform.

Table of Contents

What is GitHub?

GitHub is a cloud-based social sharing web page. As an alternative of sharing existence updates, task postings or pics, on the other hand, GitHub buyers share code. The platform operates on an open up-resource framework, indicating the code is open up to the normal public and can be altered by anybody. The improvements are tracked by using the platform’s Git revision management process (as a result the name GitHub), so people can see how code changes from its primary form. 

Why Recruit on GitHub?

In this day and age, just about just about every business wants gurus with coding, creating or programming working experience. Whether you’re updating your company’s web page or building an application, you need program engineers and computer software developers — the two of which are some of the most in-desire roles in the position sector. 

Businesses need to have to get more strategic with their sourcing methods if they want to beat out the competition and appeal to leading software program engineering talent. Since tech specialists have endless task options, they are not actively hunting for positions or updating their digital resumes. They are also not going to respond to the extensive checklist of recruiters striving to link and get them to utilize.

In its place, for all those hard to seek the services of specialized roles, you require to meet up with expertise on the platforms they repeated. For most software program engineers and builders, that system is GitHub. 

How to Recruit with GitHub Superior Look for

In order to discover terrific software package engineers and builders on GitHub, you to start with require to comprehend how the system performs and what to glimpse for. Start by developing an account on GitHub that consists of info on your enterprise.

On top of that, produce a applicant persona so you know what to appear for in the course of your lookup. Your applicant persona should include data like area, experience, education, programming language and expertise.

Comparable to other social sharing websites, GitHub end users have profiles with the pursuing data:

• Common: Identify, Locale, Date joined, Handle (or monitor title)
• Skilled: Job title, Employer, Education, Skills, Website, Make contact with info
• General public action
• Followers/Subsequent
• Forks (code that is been copied)
• Resources (first code from user)
• Stars (GitHub’s model of likes)

GitHub profiles also involve a calendar graph of when and how quite a few contributions a user has manufactured to open source code in the earlier yr.

On top of that, there is a portion called repositories, or “repos”, which are areas on the system in which open up-source enhancement initiatives or software program offers are saved. On a user’s profile, you can see which repositories the consumer has labored on and how substantially their get the job done has been starred or forked. Repositories give you perception into what languages and expertise a consumer has shown, which is a lot more informative than bullet details on a resume. 

Research for Candidate Personas

Repositories are a goldmine for recruiters exploring for particular information to uncover aptly skilled gurus. Based on what you are on the lookout for, GitHub breaks down a wide range of search inquiries and how to utilize their web page to slender down your outcomes.

Yet again, your prospect persona will help you decide what you will need in your up coming software program developer or engineer, so make absolutely sure you entire that 1st. Below are the most typical methods to research for customers by requirements on GitHub: 

• Language
• Number of followers
• Range of forks (copied code)
• Amount of stars (likes)
• Topic or variety of topics
• License
• Repository dimension, name, description, or contents of the README file
• Inside a user’s or organization’s repositories
• Search centered on the contents of a repository
• Research centered on no matter whether a repository is a mirror
• Look for primarily based on no matter whether a repository is archived
• Search based mostly on the selection of challenges with excellent to start with concern or assistance required labels

Based on your look for metrics, you can reorganize the lookup outcomes you get by very best match, most followers, fewest followers, most recently joined, minimum just lately joined, most repositories and fewest repositories. When it may perhaps seem counter-intuitive to obtain folks with several followers or repositories, if you happen to be looking for a junior program engineer, this can be valuable to discover men and women new to the field.

Slender Down Top Candidates

As you begin to discover gurus that resonate with your group and reflect the prospect persona you established for the position, you can commence narrowing down your selections further more by searching for more distinct standards, such as:

• Locale (area:chicago)
• Competencies (language:ruby)
• Followers (followers:<100)

On the profiles that stand out, make sure to take note of important information on their profiles, like:

• Name 
• Job title
• Email
• Website
• Public activity

Additionally, you can use Boolean search tactics on Google to further narrow your search on GitHub. Boolean search is like a DIY version of advanced search fields, and using Boolean search in recruitment saves time sourcing candidates, ultimately reducing your cost-per-hire.

Let’s break down some examples of how to use Boolean search to find information on Github. 

URL: AND SITE:

You can search for results on a specific website by entering the URL: or site: Boolean search operator to target specific candidates on GitHub (or any other site for that matter). You can use this search to narrow down candidates by keywords, like their job title, current company, location, skills and language. 

Boolean Search Example

• site:github.com software AND (engineer OR developer) AND ~resume -job -jobs -hire -hiring

*Do not include an extra spacing between operators. Follow the format above exactly.

This is an example of a search query for someone looking for:

• Candidates on GitHub (site:github.com) 
• Who are software developers or software engineers (AND (engineer OR developer))
• Who have a resume or something similar (~resume)
• And wants to exclude any job postings (-job -jobs -hire -hiring)

INTITLE: / INTEXT: / INURL:

You can also utilize Boolean search tactics to search GitHub for resume pages or links within a website. Candidates often create websites with digital portfolios and professional documents. Such documents are often uploaded under a file name that includes “resume” or “CV.” Use the following search string to locate those downloadable documents on GitHub.

Boolean Search Example

• site:github.com (inurl:resume OR inurl:CV) software AND (engineer OR developer) -job -jobs -hire -hiring

*Note: intext: searches the body text of a web page, whereas inurl: searches within a URL.

This example is for recruiters who are looking for:

• Candidates on github (site:github.com) 

• With a downloadable resume or CV ((inurl:resume OR inurl:CV))

• Who are software developers or software engineers ((software AND (engineer OR developer))

• Excluding any job postings (-job -jobs -hire -hiring)

Connect with Candidates 

Once you’ve identified a few prospective candidates you want to pursue, do your due diligence and learn as much as you can about them before connecting. Go onto other social platforms and search their name to see where they’ve worked and what projects they’ve worked on. The more information you gather, the more personalized your message can be, and the better chance you’ll have at standing out from other employer inquiries.

Consider the projects they’ve worked on in the past and inform them of similar or more challenging projects your job opportunity has to offer. If you know their interests, you can identify how they will add to your company culture, and you can share elements of your culture that will entice them to take a closer look at your company.

Most profiles have a public email address so you can reach out to candidates and add them to your talent pipeline. Even if they’re not interested in your job opportunity now, it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in your company altogether. You can always ask them to join your talent community so they can hear about open positions in the future.

In the event that they are interested in pursuing your offer, prepare your team for how to handle salary negotiations. In a candidate driven market where tech talent is scarce, these candidates know they’re in high demand and will wait around for the best opportunity. Having a solid negotiation strategy will make sure you’re prepared to meet the candidate’s expectations while staying within your budget for the role. 

GitHub is one of the best resources out there for companies looking to find exceptional tech talent. All it takes is a little learning and adaptation to optimize your search tactics on their website. Once you get in the swing of things, you’ll become faster and more efficient at finding the specific candidate personas your team needs to drive business and boost your culture. Continue to grow your tech recruiting expertise by brushing up on additional tech recruiter resources.