Technology Recruiting: Finding the Best Candidates in the Technical Workforce
Posted on Tue, Jul 26, 2011
By Kara Baskett
We’ve recently discussed the technology talent landscape and how we, as recruiters and hiring companies, can help to build and find emerging talent. Today, I’d like to talk about some ways we can not only find, but present the best of the talent that is currently in the technology workforce. There are individuals out there with the skills we need, but they can be difficult to find.
Companies often hire based on an exact skill set that is necessary for the position instead of looking at candidates for what they are capable, given their current skill set. Because of the lack of jobs a couple years ago, hiring managers grew very accustomed to being able to hire someone with the exact skill set, technologies, languages, industry experience, etc. that they wanted to fill their limited open positions. Now that the market has opened back up, we should act as partners in advising our clients and companies on the new competitive landscape.
We should ask our hiring managers to remember back to how they were hiring prior to the recession. We should coach new hiring managers to look at candidates for what they have done AND could do, versus just their previous experience. I’m not saying to hire a candidate who isn’t qualified for a position, but looking at candidates from a different perspective can lead to finding qualified technical talent.
As recruiters, we can volunteer our time not only to our hiring managers, but also to technical candidates. We can offer interviewing and resume review assistance. Many technical candidates aren’t taught how to write a resume, let alone how to interview for a job. A candidate may be extremely intelligent and have the skill set that we’re looking for, but because they don’t have much experience in this area, their resumes are thrown in ‘No’ piles, and/or if they make it to an interview they clam up. By advising candidates, we may be reaching a talent pool that others have overlooked. One of my all-time best hires had one of the most poorly written resumes I’d ever seen. Fortunately, I met him at an event where we were doing resume critiques and was able to help him write a solid resume that resulted in multiple offers. He just didn’t know how to write a resume showing his strengths.
Building and cultivating relationships with talent is important. It’s important that we cultivate those relationships when hiring is hot and even when it cools down again. Candidates remember the recruiters who worked with them, reviewed their resume and offered advice, when hiring wasn’t as hot. When the good times return, these candidates will return to the recruiters who were helpful during the bad times.
What other thoughts do you have on finding the best technical candidates to present to our hiring managers?
