Like general hiring managers or recruiters, technical recruiters fall into the hiring process as substitutes. They take over hiring developers for businesses in IT-related fields. Essentially, technical recruiters are recruiters for the IT industry.
These types of recruiters tend to have two or more years of experience as developers or in similar positions. This gives them the knowledge needed to work on the business side of the tech industry. Some of the jobs technical recruiters hire for include:
- Technical writers
- Software engineers
- Data analysts
Step-by-Step: 6 Stages
When employed by a business to hire developers, technical recruiters go through six essential stages to ensure their clients end up with a developer than can benefit their business. The 6 steps are recruiting, assessments, recommendations, final interviews, decision, and offers.
- Recruiting
Technical recruiters in this step will reach out to potential candidates about the open position, urging them to apply. How they approach developers may vary according to the size of the recruiter’s client and what tools they have to use.
- Assessments
Candidates are given technical assessments once they reach this stage to gauge their skills. However, they are likely to abandon the hiring process if they can’t accommodate the time frame for the assessment, it’s excessively long, or they don’t think their skills can be properly demonstrated through such a test. For recruiters, being open to the candidates’ perspectives is important.
- Recommendations
After the assessments are completed, technical recruiters give the candidates a score. Good recruiters will have a list of beneficial skills and grade the candidates with more than a pass or fail result. They then give their clients the list of people who would make good fits for the business for them to review.
- Final Interviews
The client would hand the technical recruiter their top picks. Recruiters then set up final interviews between their client and the candidates. It’s important that clients understand their role in this part of the hiring process.
- Decision
Once the final interviews are finished, the recruiter is presented with the client’s new hire list. This leads the recruiter into the final stage.
- Offers
The lucky candidate (or candidates) are then contacted by the technical recruiter on behalf of the client, who informs them of the client’s decision. Regardless of whether clients have decided to hire the candidate or not, recruiters are still required to give the candidate the client’s decision. If hired, the recruiter sets up the official link between their client and the new hire.
Conclusion
While a technical recruiter may seem like just another general part of the hiring process, these people can tailor interview questions, ideal employee criteria, and gather qualified individuals to bring into the hiring process. They have been trained specifically for the tech industry. Knowledge of the current tools and processes is essential—as is understanding what a client is looking for. While this knowledge (and prior experience) is required, it doesn’t make a technical recruiter good at their job. Hiring good technical recruiters can be just as important as hiring for any other position.
