TOP 10 mistakes of an agency recruiter in tech recruitment

All candidates are different, with different preferences, goals, and important parameters for choosing an employer. Therefore, when presenting a vacancy, do not rush to always focus on the same thing, think about what could motivate a particular professional: for someone it will be interesting non-standard tasks, for someone — the scale and innovation of the product, or the chance to gain experience in an international team.

We often write that a recruiter should be a bit of a psychologist :) During the initial interview, listen carefully about the candidate's experience, what they would like to see from a potential employer and what criteria play a vital role for them. This will help you navigate what it makes sense to focus on in the first place to ignite the professional's interest in the position.

If you work in an IT recruitment agency, then, probably, you have already at least once encountered the presence of a so-called stop list of companies from which it is impossible to “hunt” candidates. By violating it, you risk not only spoiling the relationship with the client but also putting the client in an awkward situation in front of the company from which you are trying to headhunt a specialist, despite the agreements.

Leaving a candidate unanswered for several days and long coordination of the next stages of selection can discourage motivation even among the most interested candidates.

In recruitment, situations may sometimes arise based on the human factor: a candidate may be in a bad mood, or someone will just try to be witty and rude — it is important not to take everything too personally and filter all emotions. You will see: the work will go much more easily!

Perhaps every C++ developer secretly dreams of starting a career in game design, but it's still better to offer candidates vacancies relevant to their experience and specialization :)

Make sure that the job openings that you offer to tech talents have up-to-date conditions, salaries, and other important points. If at some stage the customer makes adjustments, it is important to inform them promptly, otherwise, you risk getting into a situation where the candidate, for whom an option of a remote job was critical, is surprised to find out that it is now possible to work only in the office.

If your client's company has been noticed in major scandals or other moments that may alienate potential candidates, be prepared that specialists may be wary of offering such positions or immediately refuse: no one wants to get into an unpleasant situation. Therefore, it makes sense to carefully study the reviews about the company as an employer and work out in advance the options for processing possible objections that may appear if there were any controversial points.

For candidates from different search regions, an individual approach is important, taking into account the nuances of their mentality, culture, and other features. So, candidates from Eastern Europe will most likely be more accustomed to communicating in Telegram, while IT talents from Western Europe or, for example, the United States may be repelled by the rapid moving to messengers immediately after acquaintance — it is better to communicate through LinkedIn or work email at least for the first time.

Candidates may have many questions about both the job opening itself and the selection process. Therefore, it is especially important to keep in touch, lead an IT talent “from and to” and treat them with attention and respect, because candidates are the same full participants in the recruiting process as the employer and the recruiter.

IT recruiting, like any other work based on interaction with people, is based on productive communication, mutual respect, flexibility at the right moments, and the ability to find a compromise. Improve these skills so that tech recruitment gets even better and more efficient.