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Recruiting tech talent is notoriously difficult. It’s expensive, it takes a long time, there’s not enough candidates to go around, the list goes on.
And no matter which group you ask – recruiters, engineers and developers, hiring managers – most people agree there’s room for improvement!
As recruiters, we can’t wave a magic wand and create more candidates for in-demand roles.
However, we can adjust our approach to save time and make better hires. Here are three tips technical recruiters can use today to improve the process.
Recruiting Tech Talent – Join Groups and Ask Questions!
One of the first pieces of advice we have for recruiting tech talent is to start connecting with technical candidates without discussing any open roles.
The best thing you can do is join groups and networks to chat with engineers, developers, or whatever technical candidates you will be targeting. The goal here is to simply familiarize yourself with the industry, different roles and skills, current trends, and so forth.
Even if you can’t network in person, there are other options. Groups on LinkedIn, Reddit, and other forums online are a great place to simply sit back and observe.
Ask questions on points you’re unclear on and you’ll be surprised how many people are willing to shed light on complex technical subjects.
Recruiting Tech Talent – Learn the Lingo
Building credibility is crucial for recruiting tech talent. Toward that end, learning the lingo and terminology of your field is vital for speaking their language and demonstrating you understand their line of work.
There’s nothing more embarrassing than showing a developer you don’t know the difference between Java and JavaScript, for example. Glossarytech.com is a great resource for this.
hile learning the right terms and lingo will come with time, it doesn’t hurt to do a little homework.
Respect Each Candidate’s Time
This point should go without saying, but the unfortunate reality is that we’ve all seen recruiters rush the process. This is especially common when recruiting tech talent. We’ve all got messages from candidates who clearly didn’t read our profile or are pitching us on a job that would never be a good fit.
Qualified tech candidates receive so many messages from recruiters. In order to stand out and connect, you need to go the extra mile to show you’re interested in them specifically and have their best interests at heart.
What this means in practice is reading their profile, spending a few minutes researching their achievements, and crafting a short, personalized message that you want to discuss an opportunity.
Try to avoid any pitches about your “amazing opportunity” or selling the role until you have learned what the candidate’s career goals are. Focus on starting a conversation, not making a sales pitch.
If you don’t respond to spammy messages from recruiters, don’t expect busy candidates to respond to your spammy messages either!
When Recruiting Tech Talent, Patience is the Key
The easiest thing to do is copy and paste messages to send to hundreds of candidates with the right keywords. Unfortunately, this probably won’t produce great results in the world of technical recruiting.
It takes more time and effort to research candidates, understand their line of work, and personalize messages. But the result is more responses from candidates, more conversations, and the start of stronger relationships with candidates (which means more hires down the line).
If you want long-term success in recruiting tech talent, need to have the patience to play the long game.
If you’re struggling to connect with top tech talent, want to cut recruiting costs or simply surface relevant candidates, then schedule a consultation with our team today. We’ll walk you through how companies like yours have achieved these goals and more with our solutions.