Whitetruffle

We like to make good matches - and we’re always looking for ways to make them even better. When a company creates a position, they can now choose to make one of the skills a “required skill.” Making a skill required means that a company will not see any candidates that do not have that skill listed.
 
To make a skill required, go to the job posting on your dashboard and click the star next to the desired skills tag. This works for new jobs and can also be used to modify existing job postings.

It is not necessary to make any of the chosen skills for a position a “required skill,” but if you would like to create a more focused candidate filter choosing a “required skill” can help.

Whitetruffle has a lot of tools to help companies and engineers connect. One of our newer features is messaging.

The messaging tool can be a powerful way to help companies sell themselves to candidates and for candidates to ask companies the questions they need answered to decide whether they are interested in an introduction.

In order to using messaging effectively, it’s important to understand how it works: *The ability to message begins once a company accepts a match and ends when the engineer is either introduced or decides to pass on the match.

*Candidates using the messaging system remain anonymous until they accept an introduction.

*Messages are sent directly between the company and engineers. Whitetruffle does not read or moderate them. So - when you write messages, keep in mind that there is no intermediary.

The intention of the messaging system is to encourage communication between companies and engineers to help them decide is they’d like to be introduced. Companies should take the opportunity to introduce themselves, express personal interest in the engineer, their background, and skills, and answer any questions they may have before making their decision.

Avoid canned responses! People can tell when you’ve made a effort or if you have just done a cut-and-paste. Candidates on Whitetruffle have come to expect more than form letters from the companies who use our service. You want *your* company to stand out as a place that takes a personal, individual interest in each engineer you are courting to work with you.

So. You’re an engineer on Whitetruffle and you reeeeeeeally want to talk to some exciting new startups. You may think that all you have to do is advertise yourself as an engineer, sit back, and wait for the offers to start rolling in… Not necessarily. We’ve got a lot of great companies (Milk! Asana! Visually!) using Whitetruffle, and they are looking for the best. Let them know that *you* are the very best there is!

Here are some tips to help you you make your profile work for you:
 
Choose your specialization, skills, and location carefully and accurately. What you enter into these fields (along with other factors) help our system make good matches for you. If you leave them empty, it gets confused. :o(
 
Complete work history and school information. Companies want to know where you’ve been and what you’ve done.
 
Create a well-written description. Companies often look at these to see if you’re a good cultural fit. This is also the place to let them know what you’re looking for, what you’re proud of, and gives you the opportunity to talk more about your background. This can be particularly helpful if you are fresh out of school, changing careers, or want to shift your professional focus.

As the Fairy Queen at Whitetruffle, I meet a lot of engineers - at hackathons, meetups, bars… I live in SF. They’re all over! One of the first questions they ask me about Whitetruffle is what makes us different?
 
Many things:

Whitetruffle has created a place that meets the needs of software engineers better than anyone else.

We don’t scrape the web for ghost users. You are only on Whitetruffle if you signed up for it - and we are so happy to have you here!

Your profile is anonymous. As an engineer, the only people who see your anonymous profile are the companies you are matched with. You have complete control over every word on your profile page and your name and contact information are only released if you tell us to release them.

You might notice that there is no general “jobs” page on Whitetruffle. We have developed a matching algorithm - similar to a dating site - that automatically matches you with the best companies for you. No searching, no filtering.

You are only notified about matches with companies who have seen your anonymous profile and want to talk to you. We don’t waste your time showing you jobs you aren’t suited for with companies we aren’t sure are interested in your skill set.

All of our notifications are by email. No phone calls!
Whitetruffle was built by engineers for engineers to make it easier to find out about great opportunities with all the cool startups in your area.

Every company who joins Whitetruffle wants to meet engineers. Who doesn’t want to be wanted? Some companies are very successful, and some are less. We looked at the data, and realized that the ones with the highest acceptance rate are the ones with the best profiles. Here are some tips on what you should cover in your profile to make it shine:

1. Hard Problem

Spend more time talking about the challenges you are hoping this new person will help you with. Engineers love interesting problems.

2. Smart Team/Good Culture

Tell people about the core members of your team. Where are they from, what have they done? What is your company culture like? What is it like to work with you?

3. Stable Funding

People want to know you’ll be here in a year. Who is funding you? Mention them if you can. What kind of support/partnerships do you have?

4. Additional Profile Suggestions

If you have links to positive press - definitely include them. Videos help a great deal. Give people a tour of your office, let them meet you, and give them a sense of what your team is like.

1. Messages go directly to the candidate. They are not reviewed or moderated by Whitetruffle.

2. While you have seen and considered the candidate’s profile, they are only made aware of the match after you accept it. Messages should not assume that they are familiar with you or your company. Take the opportunity to introduce yourself and cultivate interest.

3. Don’t copy and paste stuff. It’s obvious. Personalize it!