Recruiting technical talent is a difficult task for most recruiters. Technical hiring is complicated because it requires generating understanding. And empathy with highly in-demand professionals with different common codes to other employees.
Finding candidates with a specific and specialized skill set is no easy matter, as many of these are already embedded in industries such as IT, engineering and manufacturing. Another group of high demand and specialization are specialists in digital work environments, such as system engineers, software developers, data scientists.
In both groups, the candidates knows their value. Therefore, candidates are more difficult to recruit since they have more work options than others.
Are you a good technical recruiter?
As a technical recruiter, you are responsible for developing a good technical hiring strategy. How? Identifying new ways to access technical talent. Creating specialized job descriptions and requirements. Interviewing and evaluating candidates, and linking them with hiring managers.
This requires a particular set of recruitment skills, in-depth industry knowledge and to “speak the language" of potential candidates.
Among these skills are an excellent written and verbal communication skills, negotiating expertise, good technical aptitude, being very organized, having an analytical mindset, critical thinking, communicative skills in the technical area and the ability to act as a link between the candidate and hiring managers.
An extra aspect to keep in mind is that, in addition to the skills as a contractor, the environment of recruiting good talent is very competitive. Therefore, you should make the most of these tips that we leave you to improve your chances as a technical recruiter.
Meet remote developers screened by experts and hire 6x faster
Reach those candidates you can't reach. Know their technical skills beforehand. Focus only on the cultural fit with your team.
How to improve technical hiring processes?
Although technical talent is in high demand, this sector is also more likely to take on new challenges and change work environments than other professions. Therefore, the possibilities of hiring new talents or others already established are good, if you use the right strategies.
Define the needs of the hiring manager
This is the first step in finding the ideal candidate: let your contractor list exactly what is expected of a person applying for the job position.
Once you're familiar with a candidate's list of desirable skills and requirements, it's easier to detect and use the right words and phrases to see if the candidate meets expectations.
Create an ideal candidate model
Depending on what the company is asking for, an outreach strategy should be created that well segments the market and attracts the most suitable candidates. For each type of technical work there are certain groups more likely to occupy these specific positions, which is reflected in many available surveys.
Without falling into stereotypes but to give an example, in 2019 software developers who showed up for hiring processes were men under the age of 35, with less than 5 years of experience and who had changed jobs on a regular basis.
This ideal candidate model can give the contractor a clue of the type of candidate to attract and interview, but always leaving the door open to inclusion and diversity. In these cases, it is best to get carried away by intuition and experience, before vetoing a candidate who does not fit the created profile.
Fully understand the required set of skills
It is not enough to have the information about the skills and competencies that the employer requires of the candidate. The recruiter needs to evaluate other "soft" skills that are essential for good performance within the company.
Elements such as the ability to work as a team, carry documentation and communicative skills of the results are very important for a candidate to be ideal.
Hiring proactively
The best candidates are not exactly eager to get a new position: they are either already in a job or are considering other offers. Therefore, a proactive approach to technical recruiting is needed.
It's not a matter of posting offers, sitting back and wait for candidates to come. You need to go out and find them, approach them and convince them that you have on your hands the most beneficial option for their futures. Tools like LinkedIn can help you to make a good list of candidates, while also allow you to contact them.
Prepare an attractive job offer
Candidates will also have questions: the tools they will use, their responsibilities in the project, their participation in the results... these elements must be agreed with the hiring manager, in order to clarify the candidate's doubts.
Many of these elements can go directly to the job offer to be disclosed. In that way, those candidates that the employer wants and needs will be attracted first. That makes the hiring process more fluid and effective.
Testing skills appropriately on all hiring processes
Candidates with technical skills expect to be challenged during interviews. So they will take a technical exam willingly, as long as the interview isn't just based on that.
If the recruiter has done his homework, he must already have a pretty good idea of the candidate's skills. Then, tests must be short, relevant and allow the candidate to prove what he or she knows. To do so, the recruiter must once again ask the hiring manager for advice.
Make decisions based on data and technology
Recruitment tools are available to make hiring easy and successful. Those allow you to analyze received CVs to search for specific keywords and skills, making selection more efficient.
Another important tool for the recruiter is interviewing the candidate by video platforms. Through them, a remote evaluation can be carried out, both in the technical aspect and of their communication skills and body language.
Be ready to negotiate at the end of hiring processes
Because technical jobs are in high demand, a recruiter must be ready to negotiate on salary. A professional will undoubtedly have several job offers, which he can use as a leverage.
It is then necessary to work together with the hiring manager and the company, so that a beneficial agreement can be reached for both parties.
Technical hiring is undoubtedly a challenge for recruiters. However, if you face it with the right approach and customized strategies for each case, success is guaranteed.