Every tech company executive can agree that having talented IT specialists is key to the success of their company. Unfortunately, finding and hiring such people among the existing human resources can be extremely challenging, especially if you don’t have the right IT recruitment team. The biggest question then becomes; how do you find the right IT headhunters to help you select good tech talent among the existing or external pool of talents?
In this article, we’re going to look into the world of IT job recruiters, who they are, how they can help your company, as well as how to choose the right information technology headhunters.
Who Are Information Technology Recruiters?
As the name suggests, Information Technology (IT) recruiters are talent scouts that help organizations hire people for open IT positions. It does so by combining tools and networks to seek out candidates with specific skills that the company wants, as well as maintain constant touch even after the hiring process is over to establish how things are going with the newly hired developers.
Benefits of Using IT Recruitment Companies
There are several benefits of using an IT recruiting company to hire IT professionals, all of which help to ultimately improve and streamline the entire development process. They include but are not limited to:
They know the industry
The IT industry is a rapidly changing ecosystem, meaning the person you hire can greatly impact the success or delivery timelines of your project. An IT recruitment agency can be very effective in these scenarios as they operate in an industry where they’ve built a network to find the most qualified candidates in the shortest time possible. Still, they often work with senior positions, guaranteeing companies of skilled and qualified professionals that are truly interested in their positions.
They’re familiar with the roles
The IT market is one of the most dynamic industries, with development tools and skills constantly changing to accommodate new tech discoveries, programming languages, and software. With these constant updates, however, it can be challenging to isolate the skills needed at the various development stages. Part of their work being able to understand the industry means that a technology recruitment firm can quickly identify the different skills needed for front and back-end development, as well as the right tools for the job.
They understand your needs
Recruiting IT professionals that truly understand your company values and cultures is a critical part of the hiring process. For this reason, a quick database search or bulldozing through a stockpile of resumes may just not cut it. You need to take the time introspecting to find out what makes you truly unique, and then start looking for a candidate/s who reflects that. And that’s exactly what information technology recruiting companies do.
They know where the top tech talent lives
As a company, choosing an industry-specific technical recruitment agency is the best way to find a person that knows where in the world the best talent is located. Today, most IT headhunters are clustered around areas like Silicon Valley, although other countries like Ukraine and India have emerged as a fertile hunting ground for tech talent.
Offshore Vs. Freelancers Vs. In-House IT Headhunters: Which Option is the Best?
Whether you’re running a small outfit or a larger organization, there just comes a time where you want to start expanding. And at this point, questions like: should we outsource an IT recruiter, freelance recruiter(s), or try to build an in-house recruiting team?
Although hiring an in-house recruitment team may seem like a convenient option, you need to coordinate the entire recruitment process right from sourcing the candidates to interviewing them. Still, naturally assembling a fully constituted IT recruitment team is a time and capital-intensive affair, and it won’t happen overnight.
Freelance recruitment teams, on the other hand, are easier to find, flexible, and require fewer logistics to hire. But they aren’t without their challenges, with the biggest one being the fact that they’re not fully invested in your company.
Unlike hiring an in-house or freelance team where you’ll need to spend all the time and money to find and hire the right talent, offshoring an IT staff recruitment team means that you can create the best IT team without all the hassles. And since offshore IT staffing and consulting companies take the time to know your company values and culture, they’re able to find IT professionals that tick all the boxes.
But that’s not the best part, offshore technical headhunters know where to find tech workers with the latest tech advancements, which may take a considerable amount of time and resources when done in-house
How to Find a Qualified IT Headhunter Offshore
Now that you’ve analyzed the pros and cons of an in-house IT recruitment team and an offshore team, let’s identify some steps in case you are considering offshoring. After all, there are many IT tech job recruiters out there, but only one is the right partner for you. So, how can you identify the right one?
- Identify your objectives as the employer
One of the biggest challenges for employers is the lack of a clear idea of what they want in terms of filling specific roles. The first step toward recruiting an IT recruitment consultant or a technical staffing firm should be listing down all the qualifications you’re looking for from the candidates. And while at it, you need to be as realistic as possible, as looking for a program developer that is familiar with all programming languages would take the recruiting agency forever to find. Figure out how you want your IT headhunter team to be constituted, what every member is expected to do, and specific skills they need to have. Still, you need to have a clear timeframe within which you need the team to get deployed. Although IT recruitment agencies may not get you the candidates overnight, it pays to have an objective that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART).
- Identify your recruitment challenges and opportunities
As an employer, chances are you’ve been bombarded with CVs within minutes after posting vacancies on overseas job boards. Worse still, trying to sift through heaps of CVs hoping that you’ll find the right fit in that haystack could take you a century. And if you’re lucky to find the right candidates, you need to deal with all the logistics of meeting government-mandated requirements to bring them over. Still, you have to constantly look over your shoulders worried about the workers unexpectedly leaving you in the middle of the contract. These are potential challenges that you could be facing as an employer, challenges that an IT talent acquisition team or agency you’re looking for should have solutions to. Some agencies even provide free consultations and advice on recruitment challenges and opportunities, which is something you should take advantage of.
- Conduct due diligence
When hiring an offshore tech head hunter, always ensure that you start by hiring from countries that allow overseas employment and have regulations for it. Always try to verify with the government portals whether the recruitment agency you want to partner with is licensed and operating legally to avoid problems in the future. Research on the agency’s website, contact details, and address, while still gathering information on their past clients, policies, and reputation. The best way to conduct your due diligence is to jump on a call with them directly or even meet in person.
- Compare prices
As an employer, the last thing you want is to be the guy that paid more than twice what everyone else paid for. For this reason, you need to shop around looking for a technical talent sourcer with the right price. And since there are multiple IT recruiting offshore companies, start by looking for regions like North America, Eastern Europe, South Asia, and Central and Western Europe. Eastern Europe, and Ukraine in particular, has emerged as the country that offers the best of both worlds of quality-price.
- Ask for the company’s selection process
Any reputable offshore IT staffer won’t shy away from disclosing their candidate sourcing and selection process. By knowing their network of sources, you can rest easy knowing that the CVs sent to you are not nipped from thin air. By positioning yourself in their place, you’re able to see how they conduct their screening process or even learn a thing from them. After all, it is the agency’s solution to your challenges that you’re after.
- Check the agency’s retention rates
Back to the first step. The first reason why you would be looking for programmer recruiters is to eliminate all the hassle that comes with sourcing the right candidates and the turnover rate after hiring. When working with an offshore recruitment company, always ensure you know their retention rates and check whether they have a replacement policy in case their workers fail to deliver the projects.
Any reputable agency in the business of IT RPO should provide a replacement, free of charge, and continuously support you even after they’ve done with the hiring process.
Skills and Qualifications To Consider Before Hiring an IT Headhunter
Having curated a list of nuggets to consider before choosing a recruitment provider, let’s now pay attention to their expertise. The following skills and qualifications will help you identify the most reliable offshore remote recruiter.
IT skills: If a recruiter is to successfully recruit for IT positions, they need to have basic knowledge and understanding of IT skills. And although it may not necessarily mean they should have an advanced degree to be able to find the right candidate, having a thorough comprehension of IT principles, coding languages, and the position’s duties will go a long way in asking the right interview questions.
Organizational skills: Just like all the other recruiters, IT recruiters need to possess organizational skills including creating enticing job descriptions, targeting the best candidates by peeping in the right places, and ensuring that the screening and interview processes are effective.
Communication and relationship-building skills: Many recruiters make the mistake of failing to develop genuine relationships with candidates, meaning they end up getting generic CVs that don’t stand out. Any good recruiter strives to build relationships not only with the candidates but also with the clients. By doing so, it becomes easier to pick candidates that tailor their CVs around their interests and skillset, as well as understand the client’s needs and company culture.
Multitasking skills: The hiring process entails multiple moving parts, including screening the applicants, running background checks, conducting interviews, and so much more. Worse still, all these processes happen simultaneously and with multiple potential candidates. For this reason, a great IT recruiter must have the prerequisite multitasking skills to manage different candidates, and the stamina to continually maintain professional relationships with potential candidates and employees.
How Our Company May Assist You in IT Recruiters Hiring
As we’ve already said, offshore IT technician staffing companies make their earnings by proactively helping connect companies with the right tech talent. And while at it, they save you the time taken to source for the right candidates, and most of the costs associated with the process.
We are a remote recruitment agency, and we’ve been matching companies from all over the world with the right IT recruitment companies.
Every reputable offshore IT recruiter needs to check the candidate’s resumes, define their soft skills, collect recommendations, and take them through test assignments. All our candidates are pass through the recruiting specialists, ensuring that all our clients strictly receive qualified CVs for consideration, and we take them through a technical assessment to ensure they’re extremely professional and skilled in their respective fields.
After employing your IT recruitment specialists from an offshoring company, you’ll need to onboard them. Very few recruitment agencies offer a centralized solution that not only helps companies find the most appropriate candidates to manage their HR payroll, as well as ensures legal compliance. At Distributed Recruiters, we hire tech professionals for you and then help you with the operational management logistics including legal, accounting support, IT infrastructure, and real estate.
Whether you’re a startup in its nascent stages or an established enterprise, having the right team can be the linchpin of your success. If a full-time commitment doesn’t align with your current needs or budgetary constraints, consider bringing on a part-time CTO. They can offer strategic oversight, ensure you’re making informed tech hires, and effectively collaborate with remote IT recruiters to ensure that the tech talent you bring onboard truly resonates with your business vision and objectives.