Why Technical Recruiting can be More Challenging than All Other Types of Recruiting

Anyone who is tasked with filling technical positions soon finds out that this is indeed a unique challenge. Of course, as with filling other types of positions, you have to make sure that the person you hire is a good fit for the company culture and will also be able to make a positive contribution to your bottom line. This person must be bright, competent, experienced, and have a strong performance record at their previous companies. Unlike non-technical recruiting however, filling a technical position requires very specialized skills that aren’t common, so your pool of potential candidates is much smaller than with many other positions. In addition, your normal recruiting methods may not be sufficient for you to really find that esoteric: “needle in the haystack” candidate: both highly-trained and naturally skilled. These types of candidates are often working for your competitors and happy in their current position. They aren’t looking to make a change. These qualified technical workers are very rarely unemployed, as their unique skill set makes them in high demand with many companies.

So the question is: “How can you be just as successful in technical recruiting as you are in recruiting for non-technical positions?”

There are a few methods that you, a recruiter, can use to attract high-quality specialized technical talent to your company. These methods are actually quite different from those that you would use when recruiting for non-technical positions. Here are some of those methods that will help you successfully attract, recruit, and hire for these unique positions:

1. SPECIALIZED JOB BOARDS 

The internet has taken over local newspapers when it comes to advertising for open positions. There are now many “Job Board” sites that allow you to advertise for the positions your company has available. Most of these job boards cover a wide variety of positions and industries. However, an increasing number of these job boards are now specializing in specific industries. Some are even specific to technical positions in these industries. These are the sites that will yield the most candidates with the technical skills you are looking for. Of course you won’t find candidates on these job boards who are happy at their current jobs and not looking for work at this point in time, but you may find someone who, for whatever reason, is disgruntled with their current or previous employer and is looking for a better opportunity.

2. A DEDICATED IN-HOUSE RECRUITER JUST FOR YOUR TECHNICAL POSITIONS

In-House recruiters who understand the technical recruiting environment can be very helpful in attracting, recruiting, and hiring technical talent. It’s very important that these individuals have experience in dealing with technically skilled candidates. They must know exactly what the hiring managers at your company need and in addition, be able to “speak the language” of the candidates they are recruiting. Unfortunately many companies do not want to pay the higher salaries of more seasoned technical recruiters. These companies often have whichever employee happens to be doing their non-technical recruiting, also do their technical recruiting. The result is often unsuccessful. These non-technical recruiters who try to do technical recruiting often miss out on qualified candidates because they don’t understand the jargon & don’t really understand what the hiring manager needs. To have a recruiter looking at a resume and not noticing that the person to whom it belongs is, in fact, a valid candidate for the position, is frustrating to say the least.

3. RECRUITING AGENCIES THAT SPECIALIZE IN TECHNICAL RECRUITING

Probably the most efficient way to hire technical talent is to use a recruiting agency that is focused solely on technical hiring. It’s better to use an agency that has experience recruiting for technical positions in your specific industry. These specialized recruiting agencies can recruit directly from your competitors, who have the type of employees you want, already doing the type of work you need. Of course this option is usually the most expensive and therefore must also be the most successful in order for you to choose it. The fact is, technology is always changing, and because of this you need to choose an agency that is exclusively doing technical recruiting in your industry. A recruiting agency that only does technical recruiting occasionally will be less effective in finding you who you need. The candidates provided by a generic recruiting agency will not be well connected, nor well informed on the latest technologies. If your company is on the cutting edge of your industry, you most certainly need candidates who are experts in their discipline and have experience working with “state of the art” technology.

If you are looking to hire that elusive “needle in the haystack” technical candidate; Anderson Sterling Associates can help. We’ve been hiring technical and engineering talent for over 30 years. We have experts in many technical fields who know what they’re talking about. These experts can accurately ascertain exactly who you want to fill those critical technical positions within your company.