Have you ever wondered how to best approach recruiting in tech companies? Here are some techniques we use to find the best candidates.
Know The Benefits And Drawbacks of Social Media Recruiting
Social media is absolutely a crucial tool for technical recruiters. Platforms like LinkedIn are ideal for reaching through your networks to find candidates who have the precise skills that you need.
On the other hand, it’s easy for tech recruiters to become too reliant on social media. First, while it’s a great way to find passive prospects, it’s possible to waste time on people who simply aren’t interested in making a move. In addition to this, focusing too much on social media can cause you to overlook the potential of internal candidates.
Takeaway: Use social media by all means, but balance that by recruiting via job boards. Also, post positions internally.
Get Recruiters up to Tech Speed
HR recruiters are often the go-between. They communicate with prospects during the recruiting process, often on behalf of the IT team. Unfortunately, this can make recruiting a bit like a game of telephone. It’s difficult to communicate the requirements of a technical job to an HR recruiter who likely has no tech background. It’s even more difficult for that recruiter to then discuss the job with a potential applicant. In fact, the results can be frustrating for all involved.
Good tech recruiters need to be educated. They need to understand what each job entails, and to know at least a bit of vocabulary. Even better, IT team members need to be involved in the recruiting process at every stage.
Takeaway: Make sure recruiters, team members, and prospects are all speaking the same language.
Value Technical Capabilities Over Tech Skills
Technical skills are the programming languages, operating systems, networking technologies, and tools that a person is currently qualified to use or develop. Technical capabilities are the combination of a person’s skills along with what they have the potential to master. This of course being based on their current talents and accomplishments.
While it’s understandable that recruiters must find staff that can meet their business’ current needs, it’s also important to consider the future. By focusing only on current skills, it’s easy to hire someone who will be more of a commodity to the organization than a valuable asset. You may be better off recruiting people with great potential, then training them to have the skills you need.
Takeaway: Trainability is much more important than hard skills.
Ask About Outcomes
It’s very easy to get technical recruits to talk about the languages they program in, the tools they use, and the projects they work on. For most tech types, this is their comfort zone. They enjoy speaking on these things. This is good, because it gives you some information to assess their skills and experience.
However, as a recruiter, you need to know more than this. As you speak to potential hires, ask them about outcomes. For example:
-
How did that benefit the end user?
-
Did that increase sales or reduce work?
-
Did that project end successfully? Can you quantify what was accomplished?
When someone has technical skills, and can articulate how the outcome of a project impacted the business, that’s a great combination. They have an understanding of their role as a part of the overall organization.
Takeaway: Recruit individuals who understand the business, not just those who can check off boxes on a skills assessment.
Focus on The Learners
Take a look at your prospect’s CV. Did they earn their degree or certificate years ago, with nothing else to show under ‘Educational History’? That could be a problem. Even if they have the skills you need right now, will they stay on top of new developments in technology?
It’s not so important that tech employees pursue formal education. What is important that they continue to learn. This can be done through online courses, attending webinars, or going to conferences. Tech employees can also hone their skills by participating in hackathons, or taking part in open source projects. Just know that someone who is self-motivated enough to continue their own education is likely to be a real asset.
Takeaway: The best tech hires are curious types who always seek to continue their education.
Be Flexible to Recruit International Talent
Several countries in Central and Eastern Europe are becoming real tech hubs. Exciting things are happening in these places as tech startups really begin to take hold. The only problem is that while innovation is great, many of these economies are suffering from a shortage of talent.
Fortunately, there are ways to overcome the skills gap if that’s an issue for your organization. One solution is to open your business up to the possibility of international recruiting and hiring.
However, that could mean changing the way you normally do things. For example, by hiring internationally, you may need to be willing to allow remote work, and to adopt new technologies to facilitate the success of those remote workers. You may also need to be flexible in the way that you pay workers. You may find that international workers have specific needs and preferences when it comes to accepting payments for the work they do.
Takeaway: Meet your organization’s staffing requirements by recruiting internationally, but be prepared to take steps to ensure your workplace is friendly for global workers.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Fall For Tech Staff Stereotypes
Some people assume that all developers and other tech staff care about is bringing in the best billing rates possible. This isn’t always the case. Tech staff, just like any other job prospect, often have career goals. They want to be a valued part of an organization, and they are interested in jobs that offer them upward mobility.
Takeaway: When you recruit in the tech industry, take a holistic approach. Don’t simply focus on pay.