IT Recruitment: These Mistakes You’d Better Not Make

In the current market conditions, we may call IT recruitment a kind of a sophisticated game. Both sides know the market situation, and try to adapt to it and accommodate the best way they can. Which means they both should prepare well for the whole process. Very often, it’s the recruiter who must try harder, especially when dealing with top specialists within the area. However, to assess what offer the recruiter can make, the candidate should get to know more about the company. What development possibilities, conditions, and bonuses it normally offers is vital. This can be a good starting point for further negotiations, which may be tough and not so pleasant, though. Because even if it’s the employee’s IT market, there are still companies it is difficult to get to. And the recruitment of developers or other IT people certainly isn’t always a win-win situation. What may interfere? What could possibly go wrong? What can we do to try to make it right? Let’s check.

IT recruitment: Frequent mistakes

There are some common mistakes, regardless of the industry, that the IT candidate can also make. These are telling a lie, not answering the phone, a no-show on the recruitment interview despite having an appointment. As for IT people, what may be disastrous is the feeling that I am just so great. And that I don’t need to improve anything, and recruiters will fight for me anyway. This attitude is truly detrimental both during the IT recruitment phase and in professional life, in general. Pride comes before the fall, as they say. Seriously, you are not an Evangelist, Digital Overlord, or a personification of a Swiss Army Knife. Even though the position you’re applying for is advertised that way.

Being an IT candidate, you should find out more about the company you may soon become a part of. You’d better present the can-do attitude as well; asked to perform a short task, simply do it. Going too far in terms of demands may be a one-way ticket. And the last possibility to talk to the recruiter you’ve decided to play diva in front of. Mutual respect is crucial in employer-employee relations, and it all starts with an interview with the recruiter.

But it seems that it’s the IT recruiter who can make more mistakes, in general. Some of them are being unconsciously biased toward candidates, ignoring less qualified ones, and ending job interviews too fast. Others include creating improper, undetailed, too vague job descriptions, and relying too much on references. Focusing on particular qualifications or features, and closing on others is another. But this is just the beginning of the list.

IT recruitment: The recruiters’ misconceptions

The first grave mistake a recruiter can make when it comes to IT recruitment is being slow. Putting off things, thinking them over certainly isn’t the best idea. Just don’t put communication on hold – quick and meaningful follow-up and keeping in touch is simply crucial. Applying the Agile approach when recruiting – being more alert, adaptable, and effective, but also faster – is beneficial. As well as being in line with the expectations of many candidates of the younger generations (Millenials and Post-Millenials).

In short, it means that the recruitment process is ongoing, and the delivery is continuous. A recruiter doesn’t wait for ages for the picture-perfect candidate. A few good candidates are contacted in the beginning, instead of waiting for completing the whole, huge pool. Then, comes the quick validation of whether this initial decision was a good one.

The feedback, taking the form of frequent touchpoints, comes from staff members from across the whole organization. Those are employees engaged in the whole process, mainly hiring managers who give their opinions on pre-screened candidates fast. Dividing it into short projects speeds up the recruitment of developers, and helps save money. In some instances, contracting the right person may take as little as 2 weeks. But when our searching attitude proves to be wrong, we may change it fast, thanks to regular feedback provided.

The additional advantage is that candidates know fast about the final decision. When the candidate has been rejected, the recruiter should let them know right away. This is a part of the positive Employer Branding. Contrary, traditional, lengthy recruitment processes often leave the candidate in confusion. Or with the feeling of embarrassment when someone else had been hired, but the rejected candidate hasn’t been informed. Even though it’s been 3 months since the interview.

IT recruitment: Recruiters’ bad decisions

Another mistake IT recruiters can make is focusing on wrong perks and benefits. Some incentives they are trying to use, and are willing to pay a lot for, simply don’t work. What’s most important for tech workers in accepting an offer, then? While salary comes first (as a major factor for 53% employees), “benefits beyond salary“ are crucial for only 26%. More important are opportunities to learn new skills (39%), and the company culture (42%), the survey by Hired.com indicated.

Employers can simply invest money better than offering employees fancy bonuses. What candidates often value higher than perks, are high-quality equipment, interesting projects, and the possibility to work remotely. And this is the space where IT recruiters and hiring managers may work out a massive competitive advantage. Work-life balance, and employer’s respect, are something important for IT people, and something more and more obvious for them.

As we can see, it’s much better to rely on facts, and not on common knowledge. However, some inexperienced advisers simply apply the trial and error method, and, obviously, often end up with errors. Contrary to them, there is a company that is well aware of the way IT recruitment works. Sowelo Consulting agency uses those perks that are truly attractive for programmers and other IT people. This saves time, money, and all the recruitment-related efforts.

And together with choosing the right benefits, they also know how to find the best candidates on the market. This is possible thanks to 13 years of Sowelo’s professional experience and over 1,200 delivered projects. Some services Sowelo offers are Executive Search, also within the IT/Telco area, Interim Recruitment, RPO, and headhunting. They recruit people to work across Europe and the whole world, aware of cultural diversity or global trends. And making the most of them.