Ancient Greek myths in modern recruiting

We often write that a recruiter plays several roles at once every day, including a psychologist, a detective, and a sales manager. However, we are sure that, in addition, every IT recruiter on their career path passes a number of challenges worthy of heroes of myths and legends :)

So in fact, all recruiters are heroes! In this article, let's recall several popular ancient Greek myths and see what they have to do with modern recruiting.

Prometheus and Fire

Everything is quite simple and clear here: a recruiter, like Prometheus, carries a fire — they only light it in the hearts of employers by helping them to find those dream candidates.

The comparison with fire, by the way, is somehow metaphorical: we really love helping IT specialists and companies find each other, and we feel sincere joy when a long-awaited perfect match happens between both sides. Therefore, we can safely say that at this moment the recruiter's heart lights up with the fire of happiness :)

However, in order to bring fire in the form of a job opening filled on time, first you need to find that candidate of your dreams in the depths of the IT market: and at this stage, the recruiter's journey towards the unknown begins, full of challenges, dangers and surprises…

Odysseus

First, the recruiter starts their search for an IT specialist of the right profile, combing through a variety of recruiting services, thematic messenger channels and other resources: this whole process reminds of the voyage of an Odyssey towards adventures and trials.

Ariadne's Thread and the Minotaur's Labyrinth

There are so many recruiting channels and recruitment services (but, despite this, there are very few IT specialists on the market now) that often the search for the right candidate resembles wandering in a labyrinth.

The labyrinth that the recruiter has to go through also carries a lot of dangers

One step is wrong and you risk getting a harsh answer from the candidate that he is not considering offers yet, or you will encounter the remark "we have closed the position with internal resources, sowe are putting the search for candidates on pause" at the final stage.

Nevertheless, careful search and interaction with candidates (even if it sometimes doesn't end with the desired result) leads to the fact that the IT recruiter gathers a high-quality database of specialists of various profiles (developers, game designers, QAs, etc.), which in the future is very useful when selecting candidates. It's like Ariadne's thread, which helps not to get lost in the labyrinth of filling the job openings.

The rape of Europa

Nevertheless, the fact remains that there is an acute shortage of personnel in the IT market today, which leads to a severe struggle for each candidate. Often, candidates are gained to competitive companies by offering them more attractive conditions, options and bonuses.

This reminds of the rape of Europa by Zeus, when he turned into a bull and kidnapped the beautiful Europa from her father's house.

However, here it is vital to note that many IT companies have a stop list of firms from which it is strictly forbidden to headhunt candidates, and despite the lack of IT specialists in the market, recruiters treat this rule with respect and understanding :)

Hercules

In general, IT recruiters are like Hercules, who need to perform 12 feats to become immortal. For recruiters, however, it would be enough to get not even the gift of immortality, but successfully fill vacancies at least :)