Getting familiar with IT Recruiting

There is a definite need for a resource that can make IT recruiting easy for anyone. After training new hires, I have found that most colleagues starting off, even those with an IT recruiting background, still don’t quite understand how to speak to the industry lingo. It’s easy enough to just spray and pray with email blasts of the job description to anybody that has some variation of the technologies listed in their resume, but this can be an ineffective recruitment strategy and may damage your relationship with prospective candidates for future positions. The confusion lies in the fact that so many of the listed technologies in the job description can be present in multiple resumes of candidates that all do separate jobs. The key to overcoming the barrier in communication with IT Professionals is to know how to quickly get the right information for your initial call, then develop a better understanding of the key terms through your conversations with the top candidates we find.

Step 1: Spend ample time doing your research

Chances are you have heard the phrase titles are misleading. Well this is also true for technologies listed in the job description since these can be used in a variety of different ways. Try to identify what the person is doing based on the commentary rather than just focusing on the tech. There is a big difference between, for example, a ‘designer’ and a ‘developer’ even though you can see many of the same terms in each resume. A good resume will have complete sentences explaining what they were working on, with what tech, and in what capacity. A great resource for finding information on virtually all techs can be found right here whatis.techtarget.com. If you’re new to IT recruiting, this will be your best friend for a while since you can browse alphabetically or search by key terms. You can also find out more about the company you're recruiting for through the Datanyze Chrome Extension.

Step 2: Do a "sniper search" online

Begin your first search by either combining all the must-have requirements with AND statements, or if you're doing field search, add each skill as a must have requirement. You should have a shorter list of candidates to choose from with a lot of highlighting in the resume. You want to pick out around the top three resumes and pick them apart. That means analyzing the key terms, what context clues are around it, how the candidate says the same thing written in a different way and add that to your research. You should be able to compile a much larger list of terms than what is initially in the job description this way. In order to generate candidates who may have the experience you're looking for, but haven't listed it exactly as it is shown in the job description on their resume, you can add each of these synonymous terms to an OR string to expand your search. Need a hand with searching online? Let Hiretual do the heavy lifting and search on a number of different websites proven to have resumes of candidates.

Step 3: Do a "shotgun search" online

Once you have scoured your top candidate resumes for more key terms, try producing a search string with a large OR statement of the required technologies and see what comes to the top first. Most likely the resumes that rise to the top are going to be highlighted all over. This is your second opportunity to pick apart from the top resumes and find new ways of saying the same thing, often times acronyms are used, but other times it’s spelled out; the point is you don’t want to miss out on contacting either of these candidates so make sure they are populating in your search by adding them to an OR statement. If you need help finding terms in a resume without adding it to your search string, you can try the Multi-Highlighter Chrome Extension.

Step 4: Learn from the best

Okay, you’ve done your research and picked apart some of what you think are the top resumes for the position, now it’s time to start calling them. The key to developing a good relationship with IT professionals is to ask questions about their work instead of rigorously qualifying them for a job they're not sure they're interested in yet. Absolutely do not go down a list and ask if they have ‘x’ amount of years in ‘y’ technology, the candidate will get bored with you and at worst may be offended. Engage your candidates in a conversation, open up with a brief overview of the position, then spend the rest of the time trying to understand what they are doing by asking open ended questions so they can provide an in depth outline of their projects, favorite tools, etc. If after you tell them about the position they decide to keep talking, they likely feel they are a fit and will want to open up to you; this is the point where you stop talking and listen, take notes if you have to because this is where the majority of learning comes from.

At first you may not really know what they’re talking about, but I assure you that if you keep an open mind and talk to enough candidates you will develop the knowledge to effectively communicate with IT professionals. Again, the key is to talk less, listen more, ask open ended questions, and most of all, portray an element of excitement in your voice, most people like talking about their jobs, but they will love it when the person they're talking to is actually interested in hearing it!

Michael Deeb has been recruiting since 2011 with roots in the Information Technology recruiting arena and is currently working as a Sourcing Analyst at Insperity.

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