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Headhuntable Founder Nathan Hallford Helps Code Ninjas Find Tech Jobs

I always dreamed of the day when I would be headhuntable, that is to say, I would be in high-demand for a high-ranking, high-paying executive position at some fancy pants company. I’m not quite there yet, but maybe you are. And, if you’re a talented techy, then you’ll want to check out Headhuntable–a new social recruiting platform launched to help startups find and hire top tech talent, while helping code ninjas find tech jobs.

 

We caught up with founder Nathan Hallford to talk typical days, ideas in the shower, and organic growth.


Tell us a little more about Headhuntable.

Headhuntable is a website where developers can showcase their work and code, get ranked, and get a space for their developer career online. The goal of Headhuntable is for developers to show that they are “Headhuntable” and for employers to see their talent and offer them a job/project.

 

 

What’s a typical day at Headhuntable look like?

We usually get into the office around 9 AM, and then for the rest of the day we look at how our users are using Headhuntable, how we can improve Headhuntable and how we can further promote Headhuntable. If you came into the office around 11 AM, you’ll see us tweeting, promoting the site, writing code while enjoying some relaxing ambient music in the background. We work hard and we’re pretty productive but we’re also having fun at the same time.

How do you motivate yourself?

I usually just turn on The Social Network movie, you know the one with Jesse Eisenberg. I envision building a product that thousands to millions of people use and that;s motivation enough. 

 

Got any great bootstrapping tips for the lean startups out there?

Don’t spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on SEO when you first launch. I just read everything there is to know on SEO and started having the staff internally do [it]. Everything can be learned and anything can be mastered. You should also start SEO as soon as possible, SEO is very powerful but it takes some time for it to start working for you. Also utilize your social networks as much as possible, using Twitter is a very powerful way to drive traffic when you don’t have that much cash for PPC.

When do your best ideas come to you?

In the shower. My wife likes to think of the shower as my “think tank.” Whenever I have a problem I can’t solve I usually take a shower and at the end of my shower I usually know exactly what to do.

 

We want to know about where you spend your day! What’s on your desk right now?

 

Right now we’re working on implementing some better ways to increase members without getting killed in PPC.  We already are implementing some methods that are driving great, quality traffic to our site with an advertising budget of less than $1,000 per month.

What entrepreneur do you admire?

Mark Zuckerberg

What would you be doing if you had one year off and $500,000 to spend?

I’d probably develop another product while traveling the world. The beauty about developing products is that it can be done anywhere.

A lot of people have big ideas. What gave you the confidence to actually put your life on hold and realize yours?

 

I want to build a company brick by brick and make it great. Not so much for the money, the money is great once you have a successful business but more for the satisfaction of saying:

 

“I built that, people are using it, I made a change in the world”

 

Any regrets?

None so far, sometimes I encounter some issues but then I realize that every problem has a solution, I just have to think outside of the problem and come to the solution.

 

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs struggling to get their business off the ground?

 

Worry about building a great product first and making money later. If you go into business thinking your going to make money right off the bat then you;re going to be disappointed. When I first started Headhuntable I knew that it was going to be hard to get it off the ground, and it was going to be a while until I saw a return on my investment of time and money and because I knew this, every little accomplishment filled me with happiness instead of disappointment because I managed my expectations.

 

Web App or site you couldn’t live without?

Twitter because it helps drive traffic, if I write one good piece of content and it gets re-tweeted I can easily drive a lot of traffic to Headhuntable.

 

3 people you recommend we follow on Twitter, and why?

 

 

They have all built their business organically and I admire those kinds of entrepreneurs.

 

I am always a fan of people who build their business organically versus seek VC funding right off the bat. I believe that if you build a business organically your business has a much better chance of succeeding in the long run because if your product is loved by your users, it’s being spread organically.

 

Anyone can get a lot of money and promote their product through PPC but what happens when the money runs out? Will your users keep returning and keep promoting your product?  If you build it organically then you can see first hand if your business is growing organically or its just because of PPC thats keeping your business afloat.

 

Can you share some numbers?

Right now we have 3 employees in the company, we have only been open for a little over a month, and are growing very rapidly.

 

Where can our readers reach out to you?

You can catch us on twitter:

https://twitter.com/#!/headhuntable

Heres our blog:

http://www.headhuntable.com/blog

Thanks, Nathan! For all your tech hiring and job finding needs, check out Headhuntable. For now, I’m going to try and find my own “think tank” to get those startup ideas flowing and those headhunters calling.

 

Photo credits

HeadHuntable.com / Flickr.com / Flickr.com

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