How To Organize A Hackathon On Unstop In 6 Easy Steps!

7 mins read

If you are not a part of the community that is taking advantage of hackathons to meet your hiring and ideation needs, then you need to ask yourself- Why not? After all, why would you want to rely on dry resumes and your gut to surmise the talent level of an applicant? Especially when you can engage with a talent pool of 7 Mn+ students and early professionals on Unstop. 

With a selection of hiring, engagement, and assessment solutions, reaching out to top talent has never been easier. Hackathons, in particular, have taken the world by storm! Now that an increasing number of recruiters are leaning on them to hire the best of the best, they have become synonymous with opportunities. You most likely have heard of these innovative and engaging events, even if you haven’t organized one for yourself. Right?

What Are Hackathons?

The term hackathon derives from two words- ‘hack’ and ‘marathon’. In modern terminology, hack or hacking refers to a way of working smarter, not only harder. Collectively, these terms refer to an event where a group of individuals (novice and experienced) race against time and each other to solve a problem or think of innovative ideas around a central theme. They are characterized by an adrenaline rush, a sense of community, and the competitive spirit that drives every participant to deliver on the ask. 

Traditionally, hackathons were known to be the playground for developers, coders, and programmers to explore their talent and showcase the finesse of their skills. But with time, they have become an umbrella term spanning niches. 

Today, the ultimate goal of hackathons is to bring together talented individuals/ teams across subjects and have them compete in a dynamic and exciting environment. The participants are presented with a problem statement and are sought to provide the best possible solution in a fixed time period. 

Types Of Hackathons

There can be a variety of types of hackathons, classified depending on the medium, the end goal, the theme, and more. Some of these are-

• Online Hackathon
• Offline Hackathon
• Internal Hackathon
• Corporate Hackathon
• Data Science Hackathon

You can customize the type of hackathon you want to conduct depending on your specific needs and requirements.  

Looking to host a hackathon to meet your hiring and engagement needs? Explore the hackathon platform on Unstop.

Why Choose Unstop For Organizing A Hackathon?

Hackathons have countless advantages over traditional approaches to hiring the best talent and crowdsourcing ideas. Even more so when hosting events on a specialized platform like Unstop.
Here are some of the reasons why you should choose us to conduct a hackathon-

1. Talent Pool: The key to organizing a successful hackathon lies in the ability to reach out to a vast and diverse community of the target audience. At Unstop, a single event can help you engage with 7 Mn+ developers and tech enthusiasts in the student and early professional category.
2. 1-on-1 Consultation: The best way to ensure that the hackathon you are conducting aligns with your organizational goals is to get 1-on-1 consultations with our team, which has dealt with giants like Flipkart, Walmart, Tata, Uber, and more. All you have to do is shoot an email to coffee@unstop.com.
3. Customized Microsite & Interactive Dashboard: We build a customized website for every event hosted on our platform, adding to your online presence with a centralized information portal. The interactive dashboard provides you with real-time insights into the progress of your event and the ability to track it with analytic features.
4. Marketing & Customer Support: A team of specialized experts is at your service to cater to your marketing needs and ensure that you attract the attention of your target audience. The dedicated support team ensures that you and your participants have a seamless and positive experience.
5. Custom Assessments: You can assess and evaluate participants in real-time based on the problem statements/ assessments provided. We have a vast bank of 30k+ questions spanning themes and a vast library of resources and guidelines for support throughout the lifecycle of the event. 
6. Real-time Performance Tracking: Our platform has an integrated automated reporting system that helps you track participant performance in real-time based on the fastest code, errors & accuracy, complexity, and readability. 
7. Proof Is In The Pudding: Why take our word for it when you can learn from the experience of countless recruiters across industries? Check out the case studies for successful hackathons and other hiring challenges conducted on Unstop here.  

We pride ourselves in providing an end-to-end, seamless experience where we handle everything from sourcing, engaging, and marketing to assessing and communicating. All so that you can have a hassle-free experience.

Organize A Hackathon On Unstop In 6 Easy Steps

Hosting a hackathon on Unstop is super easy with the following steps:

Step 1: Click on the ‘Host’ button on the Unstop Homepage. This will lead you to a myriad of events you can host for your hiring and engagement needs.

Step 2: Select the ‘Hackathons & Coding Challenges’ tab under the hiring or engagement categories, depending on your specific requirements.

Step 3: You will be led to a page where you must fill out the basic details of the event, like opportunity type, subtype, title, modes, guidelines, and more. 

Step 4: Following this, the ‘Next’ button will lead you to registration details, where you can define the registration type, timeline, etc. Note that Unstop offers multiple benefits to those who take registrations exclusively on the platform.

Step 5: Once you have fed in the details, it takes a few seconds for the creation of your own microwebsite. You can customize your website and opportunity by simply clicking on the respective category.

For example, you can add any number of rounds you want by clicking on the ‘Rounds & Timeline’ tab and conveniently add the problem statements to these rounds.

Step 6: After you have made all the custom changes you want, all you have to do is click on the ‘Publish’ button at the bottom right corner of the window, and viola! 

Your opportunity will go live in private mode. If you selected public visibility earlier, it will undergo a moderation process and become publicly available within 24 hours of publishing.

Imagine nabbing the best talent before others even get a whiff of their skills and capabilities with the power of hackathons. For instance, Walmart attracted 50k+ female coders through CodeHers and hired 160+ brilliant applicants to meet their diversity mandate. Such examples prove that hackathons are a great way to reach out to the biggest talent in the minutest corner of the nation (or even the world).

You might also be interested in reading the following:

1. How To Judge A Hackathon? It Needs More Than Just Technical Expertise
2. Understanding Recruitment Funnel Metrics: The Perfect Approach To Measuring Effectiveness Of Hiring
3. What is Campus Recruitment? How To Tap The Untapped Talent?
4. Lateral Hiring: A Complete Guide To The Process, Its Benefits, Challenges & Best Practices
5. What Is An Ideathon & How Does It Benefit Organizations?