Finding a Perfect Technical Recruiter

Nowadays, businesses no longer look for recruitment services when building an IT team. Instead, companies seek the assistance of skilled tech recruiters who specialize in sourcing and hunting developers and other IT experts. In this article, we’ll discuss the specifics of hiring a technical recruiter and how to choose the right one for your business.

Who Are Technical Recruiters?

It is easy to ward away a good IT engineer from the company by simply showing your negligence and not fully understanding their scope of work. That is why any company that wants to have a strong software development team must first think of having an incredible IT recruitment expert on their side. 

According to 2021 LinkedIn data analysis, the demand for recruitment specialists in all industries has exceeded the demand in the pre-pandemic period. Considering the fact that the demand for skilled software specialists and recruiters is equally high, it’s not hard to put two and two together to realize that technical recruiters are now a valuable asset for any company. 

It’s worth noting that an IT recruiter is a specialist responsible for searching, screening, and evaluating the IT candidates before offering them a job. The entire success of hunting IT specialists lies in the expertise and knowledge of a technical recruiter, as this person will write the job description, communicate with candidates, and create a network with potential talents via different channels, from unique tech web forums to social media platforms. 

Recruiting in IT is highly dynamic as the industry itself is developing very fast: the number of vacancies is growing every day, while the number of candidates is decreasing all the time. In IT recruiting, speed is often everything. The demand for IT specialists requires IT headhunters to be very skilled in candidate poaching.

Since this industry is very flexible and complex, the work of a recruiter here can be quite unpredictable – and quite stressful. At the same time, due to the immensity of the IT industry and its hybrid nature, recruiters are also internally divided into subgroups:

• Product IT Recruiter

Product technology recruiters are the most versatile ones. They can recruit the entire team for a project, consisting of technical and non-technical positions (from marketers and content managers to teaching staff and full-stack developers). In such cases, the recruiter selects a team for the project and deeply understands the necessary specialties to solve the problems of the product.

• Technical Recruiter

The most classic type of information technology recruiter, who can work both within the company and in an outsourcing agency, is engaged in selecting technical specialists. This type of recruiter can be responsible for the full cycle of selecting a candidate for a position and understanding the industry in which they work, including platforms, tools, and skills required for the given vacancy.

• Sourcer

In large companies, tech company recruiters can divide their area of ​​responsibility and share it among employees. It is how a sourcer arose – a person responsible for researching the talent market, searching for candidates, and communicating with them at the initial stages.

Typical Roles and Responsibilities of Tech Recruiters

Tech recruiters deal with the same specter of responsibilities as other recruiters. Still, due to the specifics of the industry, they must have a sharp eye on detecting specialists by applying their in-depth knowledge about the industry. This profession has many functional responsibilities related to searching, communicating, and screening candidates. Here are the specialist IT recruitment responsibilities that the recruiter must perform:

• Writing and posting vacancies on job search sites;
• Selecting target sites for posting vacancies;
• Initial communication with a candidate for a vacancy;
• Taking on a tech head hunter role when a company needs a specific specialist;
• Presenting the company for applicants;
• A detailed description of each vacancy;
• Accompanying the candidate for the vacancy at all stages of the interview;
• Creating and sending of the offer to the candidate;
• Solving organizational issues before the first working day of the employee.

It is not mandatory to have technical experience for working in IT recruiting. Still, the recruiter must understand the specifics of each IT field, at least on the surface level. It will be hard to hire a specialist if you can’t tell the difference between back-end and front-end, let alone the qualifications and skills of a senior developer. Thus, it is crucial to be extremely careful from the beginning to the end of the recruiting process because the cost of a mistake made by a tech recruiter can carry reputational risks for the entire company.

Recruiter and Tech Recruiter: What’s the Difference? 

We have briefly touched on this question when discussing the IT recruiter, but let’s clarify this point in more detail. While both specialists work on hiring candidates for a job position, the IT recruiter focuses on assessing the engineers and IT specialists. In contrast, a general recruiter usually generally deals with hiring, regardless of the industry or job specifics.

The peculiarity of an IT recruiter is that besides the hiring and management skills, they must obtain a decent level of understanding of the IT industry, their lexicon, roles, languages, and platforms; otherwise, they may make a poor choice when selecting a candidate. With a palpable skills discrepancy of Junior and Middle specialists and high competition for talent acquisition, having an experienced and well-skilled IT recruiter in a team is crucial.

The Stages of IT Recruitment Process

To ensure the successful closing of the job position, an IT recruiter must complete the full cycle of the hiring process. It is a six-stage process, and it is crucial to act quickly and move from one stage to another time to avoid losing the candidate due to long waiting or delays in communication.

• Recruiting

In the first stage, an IT recruiter searches for fitting candidates through various channels (posting resumes and screening CVs, getting in touch with engineers through LinkedIn or other platforms, etc.). A recruiter must persuade the specialist to start the application for the role.

• Assessment

In the second stage, after the candidate is interested in the job, the recruiter sends an invitation to the technical interview. It is important to keep in touch and get back with feedback to the candidate in a quick manner, as the candidate may lose interest in further cooperation. It is also vital to attracting an in-house IT specialist who can provide a healthy evaluation of the candidate’s skills if the IT recruiter lacks in-depth knowledge.

• Recommendation

If the candidate successfully passes the previous stage, the recruiter recommends them to a company. After that, the candidate is invited to the final interview round to speak with their potential direct management.

• On-site

The IT recruiter will organize the candidate and the management meeting for final screening. Usually, it implies additional behavioral and tech interviews, where the candidate and team decide if they match in vibes and values. A recruiter needs to coordinate this meeting and further communication to ensure that everything goes smoothly.

• Decision

The final decision doesn’t depend on the technology executive recruiter. The development team decides if the candidate is a good fit while the recruiter delivers the message.

• Offer

Positive or negative decisions must be delivered to the candidate promptly. The recruiter needs to provide a constructive and objective reason why they deny the position to the candidate. The recruiter finalizes the job offer and sends it to the candidate in case of good news.

Useful Resources and Tools for Technical Recruiters

Since there is no special technical background for a technical recruiter, they can get most of the basic knowledge about the directions in programming through online courses and training platforms such as Udemi or Coursera. You can also take a specific course for technical recruiting on Geekology. 

Tech recruiters often use free platforms and resources that can deepen knowledge or help resolve issues:

• Glossary Tech is a Chrome extension that can be used as a dictionary of technical terms or tools. It will underline all the terms in the browser and explain what they mean in an adequate and accessible language. 

• RecruitingBlogs is an online resource for educational materials and research on recruiting. 

• StackOverflow is an online community where recruiters can learn about IT experts’ latest trends and pain points and use this knowledge for effective recruiting. 

• SourceCon. An insightful resource for recruiters, where recruiters from all over the world share their practical experience.

Ways to Hire Tech Job Recruiters: In-House Recruiter Vs Recruitment Agency Vs Outstaffing Company

Although having an in-house tech job recruiter is an attractive option in terms of communication and trust, as they will work solely for your company’s interests, it is the most money-demanding recruitment solution. Besides, not all companies need a full-time technical recruiter, especially if it’s a small-sized project or temporary hiring need.

That is why it’s vital to evaluate the company’s needs before hiring an information technology headhunter. If the company requires vetting a Senior developer but has limited resources for their search, they may seek help from recruitment technical services. 

A recruitment agency is an excellent solution for one-time cooperation. In this case, getting an IT recruitment consultancy before hiring a designated specialist may be the best option. The specialists here know the IT industry and talent pool inside-out, so they can shortlist the candidates for you much quicker. However, this option also may be pricey as you need to pay service fees – up to 25% from the annual salary of the hired IT expert. 

Outstaffing companies offer designated specialists to solve companies’ needs on any time basis. They can offer full-time and part-time specialists to handle the IT recruitment process. In this scenario, the company saves the money for insurance, tax, or office lease and only pays a flat fee and hourly rate for a staffing agency recruiter who temporarily becomes part of your company’s team.

What Are the Salary Rates of Technical Job Recruiters Around the World?

The salary level of the IT recruiter depends on the form of cooperation (in-house or freelancer) and what type of technical recruiter companies they work for – a product or IT recruiter firms.

As a rule, in a product company, the salary consists of a fixed monthly rate plus semi-annual and annual bonuses. 

The median salary of a tech recruiter in the US reaches $4,820 per month, while the expert in IT recruitment in the UK will approximately make $4,096. Similarly, the yearly paycheck for German IT recruiters is up to $4,542, while such experts in Switzerland can make up to $6,068 per month. Given the high salary rates, companies tend to consider working with remote tech recruiters, since a Ukraine-based IT recruiter with the same skills and experience charges only $3,700* on average. 

*Ukrainian salaries are provided based on Mobilunity’s Recruitment Team research on the local job markets. All salaries are net and do not include the service fee (in case of hiring on a dedicated team model). The salaries are provided for comparison purposes and could be not entirely accurate. Contact us to know the exact cost of hiring a developer corresponding to the required parameters.

How to Select the Ideal Tech Talent? – Tips from Mobilunity Recruitment Experts

Based on our many years of experience sourcing and recruiting tech talents for businesses all over the world, here is a list of expert tips from Mobilunity Recruiters on detecting the best tech recruiters:

• They have relevant experience.

The professionalism of the tech recruiters is defined by their experience, knowledge of the market, and channels of communication. Best recruiters will have their network of talents and freelancers. 

• Their speed of work is no joke.

Successful talent acquisition is a question of speed work. The real tech recruiter will not make the candidate wait for replies and ensure that the screening process’s length will not shoo the candidate away. 

• They don’t stick to one traditional method. 

Creativity is an integral characteristic of a real pro in tech staffing. If the technical headhunters use only one tried-and-true hiring method on recruitment sites and reject any new ways of talent hunting (through social media integrations, direct communication, or referral programs), it is a red flag for the client.

These skills are honed and valued in the Mobilunity recruitment team, and their efficiency and relevance are a proven fact.

Mobilunity – The Home to IT Technical Recruiters You Can Trust

If you are considering the option to attract the staffing team or feel that you need a tech recruitment consultancy before launching your project, don’t think twice before contacting the Mobilunity team. Mobilunity is a renowned Ukraine-based IT company that offers professional recruitment and consultancy services for companies around the world. We may hire a skilled developer to help with HRM software development.

Our clients note our responsibility, transparency, and synergy in every project we take on, and our Recruitment team at Mobilunity has developed its own time-proven methodology on sourcing and hiring the best tech talents for a business. We conduct market research, candidates assessment, and job offer negotiations so that you can enjoy hiring results within weeks from starting cooperation with us. Reach out to Mobilunity representatives, and let us find the right tech experts for your business. 

FAQ

Need experienced tech recruiters to help you build an IT team for your project? Contact Mobilunity, and let us help you build a dream tech team!

Written by:

Anastasia Stefanuk

Market Researcher

Disclaimer: All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.