What makes a good Technical Recruiter?

It’s 8:05pm on a Friday night after a long day at work. Another long day at work. One in a seemingly endless list of long days/weeks/months. When you are a technical recruiter or “Talent Acquisition Specialist” as my actual title is (a title that makes me smile a bit. As if it were as simple as going out and “acquiring” top talent, like going to the grocery store. “Java Developer? Aisle 5, sir. We even have coupons”) your weeks have a beginning and ending and whole lot of middle. So of course instead of leaving work at work, I’m on my laptop searching for articles on how to be better at my job. How did I become that guy who can’t leave work at work?

For a start, I actually love what I do. NOW. With my current company. Centene. I can’t lie and say I’ve always loved every day of every job for every company I’ve ever worked for, and I’m quite sure that doesn’t make me special. And not every day is easy here. Most of them aren’t. But when you are a technical recruiter, you don’t sign up for easy. It would be like joining the Marines and saying “Wait, you want me to go to some other country and shoot at people?” But since I started doing this way back in the stone ages of 1997, when the internet was young, and a novelty, and everything was possible but not yet real. “I can order that, and have it be at my doorstep in less than a week”? No longer would sheepish young men need to go buy condoms at the drugstore and try to figure out how to be nonchalant about it, or buy 3 other things you didn’t need so it wasn’t the only thing you put on the counter. Note to teenage self — HE DID NOT CARE. He was working the 11pm shift for minimum wage, and the last thing on his mind was your blindly optimistic purchase of a pack of condoms. I can’t prove it but I’m convinced Amazon.com made it simply because of this ability to do so anonymously.

I digress. Wildly.

So it’s Friday night. Last night actually, but by the time you read this it may not be the day after so let’s just picture a random Friday night. I’m googling variations on the theme “tech recruiters” and “good” or whatever. Much like buying the contents of a demolished house sight unseen, you have to pick through a lot of random stuff to get what you hoped for, but invariably end up getting distracted by the random stuff you find on the way what you were looking for in the first place. For fun, google “bad technical recruiters” and go through the endless list of articles savaging my compatriots. You’d think we were the unlikable wing of ISIS or something. Words like “suck”, “moron”, “hate’ and “bad people” tend to catch the eye. We have feelings too. Some of us.

Against my better judgement, I opened one of them and started to read. 5 minutes in I hated me too. But wait, the people they were describing weren’t me? At least I don’t think so. I know those people exist. I worked with a few of them. Hell maybe I was one of them at one point or another. But then I started to get defensive. There’s nothing more surreal than arguing with someone on the internet, only by yourself on the couch. Having said that I usually win 100% of those arguments.

So consider this part response, part question for the IT community, particularly the application developers, since that’s what I’m focused on now, have the most experience interacting with, and seem to be the most sensitive when it comes to this stuff. I get it. When you’re a really good developer, you are like the prettiest girl at school (or just like a pretty girl who gets hit on 1024 times…On a slow day. By every type of guy. To someone else it’s flattering and a dream. To you it’s a nuisance, and “YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW ME, HOW CAN YOU SAY I’M PERFECT?). Apologies to the female developers reading this. I would love to see more of you in this career field, we desperately need diversity, but that’s a subject for another blog post.

And God help you if you are a beautiful woman who writes kick ass code. You have truly been blessed and cursed by the Gods at the same time.

Back to the title and subject of this piece. I know you lost faith a few times along the way, but I was always planning on getting back here the whole time. Instead of asking “Why Tech Recruiters suck so bad?” or “Tech Recruiters, why are you such Morons”? (You thought I was kidding). I’m going to ask a different question. A better question. A more hopeful question.

What makes a GOOD one?

Let’s assume basic manners. I know that’s probably a huge pet peeve, but that is a universal issue and isn’t unique to our relationship. And it is a relationship. We need each other. But specifically, what stood out to you in your dealings with recruiters that made you say “Wow, this isn’t a horrible experience. I might actually be enjoying this conversation. I might actually enjoy dealing with this person, no matter if it works out or not. And next time I do want to explore my options, I’m going to remember that person and call them wherever they work”.

Is it their initial approach? Is it their desire to get to know YOU, not just the resume? Is their ability to have a technical discussion about what you do without feeling like you’re in a room of your Mom’s friends who ask what you do? Sigh. “I work with computers”. “Oh really like what?”. *facepalm. “This won’t end well”.

I like doing my job because I like talking to people, I’m insatiably curious (so even though we may be having a conversation and I get everything you’re saying, if we get to something that’s new to me, I’m not afraid to ask. Because I want to know. I want to get better, but mostly I just don’t like NOT knowing things. This is a lifelong battle I will never win, but it’s been fun along the way. (Sidenote — I worked in staffing for a very long time, and now I’m on the inside. I like this better, even though I don’t make as much money, but this is not a staffing vs. corporate recruiter discussion, because I promise you there are superstars working for staffing companies, and people that should be doing something else for a living in-house, and vice versa).

But enough about how great I am.

I’m asking because I truly want to know. I want to be better. And I don’t like not knowing things. So please comment. Just remember, I’m not looking for a bitch session, because if we want to go that route, we can go all Festivus and move straight to the “Airing of Grievances” phase.

Give us your good stories. Give us how you want things to go when you engage. Give us your expectations.

In other words, let’s have a conversation. Instead of just talking about each other behind our backs. On the internet. Just like high school. Let’s adult for a second.