What’s Wrong With IT Recruiting Today
Long ago — it seems like a lifetime ago — I was an IT Recruiter for a large recruiting firm. I was a recent grad with a B.S. in MIS and had no real practical experience in the technology world. My first week as a technical recruiter was spent in front of a computer with online training in how to use the company’s CRM that was custom-built for recruiting. After that, they turned me loose on the phones. The required skills are a Type-A personality and the ability to close deals.
The Motivation
Once I got the hang of it I learned the income potential is pretty lucrative if you’re good at “closing the deal”. Generally speaking, a recruiter gets 10% on the margin in every deal they close. So, if you pay a developer $40/hr and bill the client $75/hr, the margin is $75-$40 less 20% to cover employment costs. In this case, the recruiter would receive $2.80 for every hour the developer works. If you have enough developers working at once, you make quite a bit of money for a few phone calls and emails between developers and companies. If a company prefers to directly hire the developer, you would take a piece of the 20–25% fee that is based off the developer’s salary. So, an $80k salary equates to a $16k fee and the recruiter takes $1,600 to $2,000. Obviously for the recruiter, the compensation structure is not the problem with recruiting but it certainly doesn’t help that the motivation is largely financial.
The Technology
Recruiting tools include some type of CRM plus a parsing tool to look through a resume, LinkedIn, etc. and match keywords. Basically, this technology matches the acronyms on your resume (C# and .Net) with acronyms the recruiter put in the search after talking to the company they are recruiting for. Many companies that tackle this problem are trying to build a better mousetrap but using the same methodology to try to catch the mouse. No matter how you spin it, this technology is parsing a resume and matching keywords based on relevance. Though the tools could be vastly improved, technology is not the problem with IT recruiting.
The Conversation
The real problem exists in the conversation that is taking place with both the developer and the client the recruiter is working with. Would you ask a carpenter what type of hammer they use to build that beautiful bookshelf that sits in your living room? Seem silly? That’s basically the conversation a recruiter has with a developer when they discuss the developer’s resume and background. Do you use this hammer? How often do you use this hammer? To clarify, C# is the hammer.
I recently had the opportunity to spend some time back in the technology recruiting world after spending time in technology management; and really struggled with how recruiters qualify candidates. Stepping back into a recruiting role was interesting to me because my technology knowledge offered me an advantage to yield higher income potential. I quickly learned that technology recruiting definitely has changed as I was promised going in. Unfortunately, it had changed for the worse. With all the new tools and the mass adoption of LinkedIn, recruiters have developed more efficient ways to spam developers. Don’t believe this? Just ask a .Net developer with a decent LinkedIn profile and a few years experience how many InMails they get each week from recruiters stating they would be perfect for an opportunity with their client.
There is so much time spent on casting a wide net to identify someone with the appropriate acronyms on their resume that the opportunity to have a meaningful conversation is missed. Instead of asking simply asking which technology the developer has used, why not ask a pointed question and listen to the developer talk. Yes, developers will communicate verbally given the appropriate stimulus which is discussing how they write code. So here goes — the question.
Walk me through the process of going from idea through development and release to the user actually using a product you work on.
I asked this question to a candidate while in an office surrounded by technical recruiters. For the next 20 minutes the developer explained the process they go through with getting requirements and what tools they used to build the product. We also talked about source control and release processes and other people involved and their roles. The dev even talked through how they are measured on the product’s success.
This conversation provided real information that helped me decide with which clients this developer might be an exceptional fit; and what learning opportunities could exist for either the developer or client. Of course, you need to ask the client the same question to know any of this. So, whether you’re a manager, recruiter, or in human resources, try having meaningful conversations when recruiting for a developer and you’ll be surprised at the results. You may even learn something about how software is built. If you’re working with an IT recruiter who seems to miss your target far more than hit it; it’s likely because they don’t understand that their true value lies in the ability to make good matches.
This article was originally published on SideGeek.net. Do you have limited experience managing development projects? We can help! We have the best tools and process to ensure that your project is right the first time!
