Recruiting has changed dramatically in the last few years – and that’s a huge understatement. Paper resumes are dead, social media is big, it’s a candidates’ market, and recruitment agencies have to be as much marketers as recruiters. And these changes are only amplified when it comes to recruiting tech talent.

Still, as the old adage goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. So, although the conditions and challenges and the expectations of candidates may have changed, the recruiting skills needed to meet and beat the challenges are still much the same. It’s just that now they are deployed digitally for the most part.

 

Challenges in Recruiting Tech Talent

This is the area where recruitment has changed the most. So let’s take a look at the chief challenges facing recruiters today.

The right candidates often live far away. Recruiting now has global reach, which means a much wider and deeper pool of tech talent. It also means that the just-right candidate may live hundreds or thousands of miles away from the prospective employer. And that, in turn, means that everything from the interview process to the benefits offered must be adapted accordingly.

It takes more than offering a bigger salary. Although many candidates in the tech pool claim that salary is one of their primary job-evaluation criteria, more money doesn’t always get the best talent. It turns out that there are many other considerations that are just as (or even more) important: outstanding benefits, flexibility, work environment, and creative outlets. The challenge here for recruiters is determining and then being able to offer what really matters to these people.

Cultural fit is more important than skills and training. The main reason the paper resume is dead is that it doesn’t present the person the candidate really is because it’s just a bald list of education, employment, and qualifications. Today, jobs are about much more than knowledge and skills. So the recruiter’s evaluation and interviewing challenge involves correctly assessing a candidate’s cultural fit with the prospective company.

Great candidates are considering multiple simultaneous offers. Today’s tech-talent pool also includes a large proportion of millennials, who view job hunting in a different light than older generations did. Many of them, while seeming to be interested in only the offer before them, are entertaining multiple other offers at the same time. Research has shown that in these cases a great interview experience is often the deciding factor.

 

Skills and Expertise Recruitment Agencies Need

 

Although the recruitment tools may have changed, this is the area where things have stayed much the same with respect to the requisite recruitment skills and expertise. A great recruiter can meet and beat the challenges in recruiting tech talent with . . .

 Experience – It’s a catch-22 situation for newer recruiters, but the fact remains, nevertheless – you need years in the game to be good at what you do. For example, here at Big Wave Digital, all of our expert consultants have at least 15+ years of experience in recruitment to minimise the chances of a placement falling through owing to an ineffecient process.

 Knowledge of How to Use Data – Estimates run as high as 75% of recruiters inadequately using available data. Properly incorporating data into candidate searches heightens efficiency and allows recruiters to target the best candidates and fill positions faster.

 Marketing Ability – Today’s reality is that successful recruiting involves a good dose of sheer marketing ability. (But, really, that’s always been the case so some degree.) To attract top-tier candidates, recruiters must be able to market open positions so as to entice tech talent already employed and well paid. A gun recruiter needs to be a master at writing amazing job adverts, writing interesting blogs, compiling edm’s, SEO, SEM, linkedin recruiter , promoting but not selling or being pushy , those days are gone – welcome the new Recruiter 2.0 and basically unless a recruiter has embraced Digital Marketing then good luck in genuinely finding the best talent . Luckily at Big Wave WE are experts in all of it , ok that is a plug but its true 😉

Ability to predict and guide the outcome of an interview – In the recruiting process it’s not about what goes right it’s about listening and advising on the objections or potential blockers that will or could arise if left un attended. A skilled and experienced recruiter will have seen hundreds if not thousands of interviews and know what to look for to get the deal over the line. It’s not about ‘selling’ or pushing a candidate into a role it’s about listening and responding to the negatives. If you focus on this side you’ll attract and retain TOP technical talent.

 At Big Wave Digital , Sydney’s leading technical recruitment agency, we have deep digital connections, experience and proven expertise, and the ability to achieve a win for all parties in the technical recruiting process. We can connect to highly coveted tech talent with the world’s best employers. To discover more, just give us a call at (02) 9380 4431.

Keiran Hathorn is the CEO & Founder of Big Wave Digital. A Sydney based niche Digital, Data & Technology recruitment company. Keiran leads a high performance, experienced recruitment team, assisting companies of all sizes secure the best talent.