The tech industry is moving at lightning speed, creating a huge demand for skilled professionals. This means that technical recruiting has become a crucial part of any HR department.
According to Griffin Global Systems, most employers struggle to fill positions with 29% reporting an increasing skill gap in 2023. So, having the best technical recruiters on board can make all the difference when it comes to the efficiency of your workforce.
By following a strategic HR management guide, you can hire workers with the right skill set to help your company flourish. Don't miss out on the benefits of employing effective tech recruitment strategies!
Table of Contents
- What Is Technical Recruiting?
- Tech Recruiting Skills & Qualifications in 2023
- Technical Recruiter Roles and Responsibilities
- Five Technical Recruitment Tips
- Challenges That Technical Recruiters Experience
- Technical Recruitment Benefits Your Business Growth
- Technical Recruiting Takeaways
- Technical Recruiting FAQs
What Is Technical Recruiting?
Technical recruiting is the specialized process of finding suitable candidates and hiring technical workers. Ideally, your company should have a dedicated team for tech recruitment specific to your field. This applies especially to larger companies that require a steady stream of hires as they grow.
Hiring technical workers can be challenging for recruitment managers who may not have specialized experience. Including details on the required skillset, daily workload, and recruitment timeline can be a big plus.
Hiring managers can work with tech recruitment specialists who can streamline recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and build up your team.
Tech Recruiting Skills & Qualifications in 2023
Companies hiring technical workers have to stay at the top of their game, as competition is high in looking for potential candidates with the skill set to fit their needs. This means working with tech recruitment specialists is a must.
Providing an overall positive experience in your hiring process is crucial. In the past year, 48% of job seekers had a negative hiring experience and 49% declined job offers due to poor experiences, according to CareerPlug.
In making sure your technical recruitment process is up to the mark, below are some required skills and qualifications you can consider when looking for tech recruitment specialists to work with:
- Proficient in utilizing various hiring platforms and tools to ensure a smooth recruitment process.
- Minimum of a high school diploma, although a bachelor’s degree in human resources, psychology, business or marketing is typically preferred.
- Understanding of technology and technical skills.
- Outstanding interpersonal and decision-making skills.
- Aptitude for identifying and hiring candidates with both technical and necessary soft skills, such as analytical skills, creativity, assertiveness, and tenacity.
- Adaptable to the ever-evolving technical job market and capable of keeping up with the latest trends and demands.
Technical Recruiter Roles and Responsibilities
Technical recruitment specialists can sift through job seekers and potential hires to find the ideal candidates for the job. Wondering what a technical recruitment specialist can do for your hiring team? Below are some of their responsibilities:
- Collaborate with hiring managers in establishing open positions and job requirements
- Set up job postings and social media content applicants can find
- Find and screen applicants accordingly
- Schedule interviews with qualified applicants
- Conduct background checks and inquire into references
- Select the most suitable candidates for the hiring manager
- Present job offers, conduct negotiations, and accomplish the necessary paperwork
- Manage applicants and keep track of incoming and recent hires
- Be informed of recruitment trends
Overall, tech recruitment specialists make hiring technical workers a more straightforward process. You can choose to hire them for your team or work with a managed service provider (MSP) to help you through the recruitment process.
Five Technical Recruitment Tips
Here are some practical recruitment tips for reaching and engaging with the ideal applicants:
- Tip #1: Prepare a hiring plan with the hiring managers
- Tip #2: Be familiar with the technical terms
- Tip #3: Establish a company landing page or main platform
- Tip #4: Assess candidates’ skills with the appropriate recruitment software
- Tip #5: Stay up-to-date on recruitment tools and trends
Tip #1: Prepare a Hiring Plan With the Hiring Managers
At the start of the hiring process, coordinate with the hiring managers on what recruitment decisions should be made moving forward.
Work on a plan of action to determine what and how many positions need filling, what skills are required of applicants, and how soon the hires should be made.
Tip #2: Be Familiar With the Technical Terms
While tech recruiters ought to know the basics of the industry, its fast pace also means there are always new technologies and trends to discover.
Keeping up with these changes is essential to understanding and finding the most qualified candidates.
Tip #3: Establish a Company Landing Page or Main Website
Having a company website sets expectations for your business clients, as well as for potential applicants looking to join your team.
Extend your reach and make it easier for job seekers to find your company’s job vacancies through social media platforms.
Be sure to stay active on these platforms, respond to inquiries as often as possible, and make the hiring experience smooth for applicants.
Tip #4: Assess Candidates’ Skills With the Appropriate Recruitment Software
Determine applicants’ qualifications with skills assessment tests and challenges.
Companies can host hackathons to gamify the process of finding qualified candidates to consider hiring. You can also consider a live coding assessment to get to know applicants’ skills, an effective way to test local and remote talent.
Tip #5: Stay Up-to-Date on Recruitment Tools and Trends
The benefit of working in the technology field is having easy access to the latest efficiency tools.
One tool any recruitment specialist should be familiar with is the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). While there are many options in the market, they all work to streamline the hiring process and help inform recruitment trends.
78% of companies have used an ATS in their recruitment process, asserting its usefulness in making hiring easier.
Any tech recruiter you choose to work with should be ready to support your business with most, if not all, of the above. These basics are essential in facing industry challenges they can expect moving forward.
Challenges That Technical Recruiters Experience
As one can expect in such a fast-paced industry, tech recruiting has pros and cons. Below are some challenges that you can expect to encounter as a tech recruiter:
- Meeting high demand for skilled tech talents. The tech industry is growing so rapidly that the talent supply can’t keep up with the high demand for people with hard technical and digital skills.
- High expectations of tech job seekers in a competitive market. Job seekers with the appropriate skills and expertise will know the industry demands and negotiate accordingly. This may be in the form of a higher expected salary or preference for remote work (particularly for overseas talent, which will require international payroll from the company).
- Complexities of screening technical applicants. Recruiters must be familiar with the technology enough to gauge candidates' qualifications. While there’s a variety of assessment options recruiters can use to make this a more straightforward step, it will take careful employee evaluation to consider the potential for the job beyond hard skills.
- Building a network of technical experts. This can make it feel like a never-ending task to keep searching for skilled technical workers to help the team grow, so building up a network of technical experts is an essential skill for every tech recruiter to have under their belt.
Like in most things, preparation is critical in overcoming these challenges. A tech recruiter’s job is to stay on top of industry trends and changes, then adapt accordingly.
Technical Recruitment Benefits Your Business Growth
With the high demand for talent in tech, companies must stay competitive in the IT industry — and outsourcing a highly-qualified IT services staffing firm can help. The benefit of working with a hiring specialist is knowing they have the background and the expertise to do the work well.
In hiring technical workers, finding talent without a tech recruiter’s help is undoubtedly possible Tech recruiter’s help, but the challenge is in engaging applicants accurately. Technical recruitment specialists know how to reach, engage, and converse with potential applicants and job seekers.
They’re able to prepare job postings with the correct technical jargon, answer inquiries from applicants competently, and assess and gauge their skills appropriately as they move through the hiring process.
With more companies finding it difficult to hire the right talent, working with a tech recruiter who is familiar with the landscape and can efficiently convert applicants into newly hired employees will benefit your business.
Technical Recruiting Takeaways
Within this competitive industry, it’s more important than ever to take steps to keep up with the demand for skilled technical workers. Partnering with experienced tech recruiters is an essential step in ensuring you’re receiving a steady stream of applicants as you grow your company.
Whether you employ technical recruiters within your talent acquisition team or outsource through a recruitment agency, it’s essential they can find the right talent, assess job seekers’ technological skills, and ensure they're the right fit for the company through a positive yet thorough hiring process.
Technical Recruiting FAQs
1. How do you recruit for technical roles?
Here are some recruitment tips that will help you choose suitable candidates for technical roles:
- Prepare a hiring plan in collaboration with hiring managers.
- Learn the basics of technical vocabulary — a technical cheat sheet will be helpful during the interviews.
- Make it easier for job seekers to find your company by establishing a website and extending reach through social media platforms.
- Use skills assessment tests and challenges to determine the candidate's qualifications.
- Take advantage of recruitment tools, such as Applicant Tracking System (ATS), that streamline the recruitment process and keep you updated with recruitment trends.
2. How is technical recruiting different from recruiting for non-technical roles?
Technical recruiter roles and responsibilities include identifying, recruiting, and presenting qualified candidates for technical positions. To identify ideal candidates, technical recruiters must use tech language and have at least essential technical knowledge.
Non-technical recruiting, on the other hand, entails sourcing candidates for jobs not specific to the technology industry and doesn’t require tech knowledge.
