How Recruiters Find Information Technology Candidates That Businesses Can’t
Hiring for IT jobs is easy, right? The position is posted to a job board and flooded with resumes to choose from. While the process can work that way, it shouldn’t. Not if you want it to be successful.
The most successful businesses hire differently, pursuing both active and passive candidates who are the best fit for the job. According to TopResume, 70% of employed yet ideal candidates are open to leaving their position for a new role. Recruiters are skilled at connecting with this talent and matching them with the right position and employer.
What are some of the strategies that recruiters use to identify, attract, and screen candidates on behalf of the business clients they serve?
Making a Bad Hire Is a Costly Mistake
Making the right hire is a skill – and a critical business need. According to widely cited figures, a bad hire can cost your company 30% of your employee’s first-year earnings. And the costs can be more than financial. The wrong hire can affect your business’ productivity, employee morale, and industry reputation.
Recruitment Strategies for Finding the Best Candidates
Due to limited time and HR resources, most businesses make the mistake of waiting until a position becomes open before they start looking for candidates. Staffing agencies maintain nurtured talent pools and use experienced search techniques.
Effective hiring processes involve the following strategies:
Searching on LinkedIn
With more than 740 million users, staffing agencies can pro-actively search LinkedIn for qualified candidates through LinkedIn Recruiter – an incredibly effective service, though it is not cheap (around $10,000 per year).
For many companies with fluctuating staffing needs, this cost won’t make financial sense. Staffing agencies can leverage its features as an additional tool in their recruitment toolbox, without the cost burdening your company’s finances.
Building and Maintaining Networks, Including Previous Candidates
Networking is an effective way to find top talent. But a bigger network isn’t always better. It’s more productive to cultivate professional relationships within specific industries. Some staffing agencies cover a range of industries, with their expert agents specializing in one or two.
Recruiters strive to remain connected with applicants who have previously applied. If they weren’t the right match for one role, they may be better suited for another position.
Connecting Through Forums and Online Recruitment Events
LinkedIn has a busy Human Resources group and HR.com has a less active (but still useful) forum dedicated to recruitment. It’s not practical for most businesses to invest the time to join and contribute to forums. Recruiters can.
Increasing restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic increased the popularity of online recruitment events. Recruiters and candidates appreciate the ease of connecting virtually, regardless of location. In an increasingly global marketplace, experts predict virtual recruiting will continue after the pandemic ends.
Reviewing and Verifying Resumes
Each corporate job that is posted attracts about 250 resumes. Some of these are immediately cast into the slush pile. The most common reasons? For IT jobs, it’s usually insufficient experience and lack of technical skills.
Once the field has been narrowed, the real work begins: weeding out the truth-embellishers from the truth-tellers. Applicants lying on their resume is a widespread problem, with surveys pegging it anywhere from 10% to 85%. Even at the low end, it is important to methodically verify resumes before moving deeper into the hiring process.
Completing Background Checks
Over the last few years, there’s been an increasing trend of running background checks on employees prior to extending a job offer. A driving force behind the rise in background checks is to protect an organization from legal liability, stemming from sexual harassment or workplace violence.
But there are challenges in conducting these checks: cost, time, and legalities. Companies need to ensure their background checks comply with state and federal laws.
Assessing Knowledge Through Skills Tests
Past performance is a good indicator of future performance. When hiring for IT jobs, skills tests can verify a candidate’s technical abilities prior to interview. With evidenced technical ability, the interview process can be more accurately refined to ensure the best-fit candidate is invited on board.
Recruitment Agencies Help Businesses to Hire for IT Jobs
Recruitment is an active process, not a passive one. Although businesses can undertake recruitment on their own, many don’t have the time or resources. If your business needs some guidance and staffing expertise on your side, contact ACG Resources. We have a bank of talent, which will streamline your hiring process and deliver the best candidate for the job.
