How to know if you’re working with a great tech recruiter [2023 data + examples]
Mass layoffs in the tech sector and high volume of tech workers voluntarily leaving their roles has created an opportunity for companies looking to grow their teams in 2023. Despite this, competition for talent remains high, and many companies are still struggling to recruit the tech talent they need. Working with a tech recruiter can provide valuable assistance in navigating a competitive market landscape. But not all startup recruiters are great. How do you pick the right recruitment firm for your company?
In our view, you should have high expectations from your recruiter. In this article, we’ll share what to look for, what to expect, and what a great recruiter will cover in an interview before presenting candidates to you - so you can focus on the important (and fun!) items in an interview.
Hiring Challenges Companies will Experience in 2023
There are a number of reasons companies struggle to attract, hire, and retain talent. Intense demand means qualified candidates are finding new opportunities quickly. Some candidates choose to stay at their current company after receiving an offer, either because the company makes a move to make the candidate feel more valued, or because they were using other interviews as leverage to negotiate better compensation at their current place of work.
During the interview process, between 8 and 12% of candidates will drop out of the competition. Often, this is because interview processes feel too long or arduous, or the candidate receives a better job offer elsewhere. If your company is unable to expedite interview timelines, or negotiate a better offer, this can lead to missed opportunities - even for candidates they desperately want to hire.
Of course, a candidate dropping out of the competition for your role isn’t typically a great outcome (for you, or the candidate), as the association between salary and job satisfaction is weak. While you may have limited control over that outcome, you do have control over your interview timelines, and, to a degree, the compensation package you offer candidates. An experienced recruiter who deeply knows and understands your industry can help here.
How do you know if you’re working with a “good” recruiter?
As we said before, you should expect a lot from your recruiter! Here’s what you should expect when working with a recruiter.
Quick turnaround and execution
A strong recruiter will get candidates to you quickly, and fulfill your hiring needs fast. For a recruiter to be capable at this, there are a few layers: attentiveness and responsiveness, industry expertise, and a strong network and relationships. Let’s explore each one in a little more detail.
Attentive and Responsive
Like any other relationship - be it personal or professional - you should expect someone who is attentive and responsive. An attentive recruiter is actively engaged and present in their interactions with you. They spend more time listening than talking, and they show their engagement by asking questions about the role, company culture, and technical requirements. They provide feedback based on their knowledge and expertise.
At Plus10, for instance, we take the time to understand not just the scope of the role from a technical perspective, but also speak with the hiring manager to understand their ideal candidate to get a sense of personality fit.
Once the engagement has started, a good recruiter will be responsive. They take the initiative to keep communication channels open, provide updates regularly on progress, and are overall dependable.
Strong candidate networks and relationships
A recruiter must have a broad network and strong relationships with potential candidates in order to deliver on your role quickly. You can assess this on a few levels:
Do they have a large pool of candidates to draw from? If they’re sending you candidates that are a poor match, or they take several days or more to send you qualified candidates, they likely aren’t networked enough.
Do they have a solid track record of placing candidates? The recruiter may have publicly available case studies. If they don’t, they should be happy to confidentially share with you some of the candidates they’ve placed.
Do they have strong references and/or testimonials? A recruiter with a successful track record and good relationships will have testimonials from past clients and candidates.
Industry knowledge and expertise
We’ll be the first to agree that recruiters are a dime a dozen. But true depth and level of experience is harder to come by.
The best recruiter for you is going to be someone that has deep experience not just in recruiting, but in your specific industry. They should be aware of current trends and demands in the labor market, like compensation ranges, what candidates are looking for, and how to best present your role.
2. They’re proactive
A recruiter that’s proactive will take initiative and take ownership of their responsibilities in your hiring process. If they’re having trouble sourcing candidates for a role, they’ll tell you - without you having to ask. They’ll also advise you ahead of the curve of things to consider, like speeding up an interview timeline for a highly qualified candidate who might be weighing a few opportunities.
3. They’re adaptable
Hiring needs and priorities will change, sometimes with short notice. A good recruiter will know this and will be able to pivot according to those needs. That means if you’re job requirements or timeline change, a good recruiter can leverage their extensive candidate database and network to make sure you have an active pipeline and experience minimal slow-downs. They’ll also be able to work with existing talent acquisition efforts - like an in-house recruiting team - with minimal friction.
4. They get candidates excited for your role
A good recruiter will “pre-sell” your role and company. When they meet with potential candidates, they’ll build up their excitement by citing the great features of your company and what the candidate can expect, so they’re excited going into the initial interview.
5. Bonus: You like them
We shouldn’t have to say it! But just like any relationship, you should enjoy working with them. If you dread checking emails from recruiters, that’s a bad sign.
What Plus10 technical recruiters evaluate candidates on
At Plus 10, we vet candidates holistically. Finding the right candidate for your role is more than their technical expertise (though that is an important component). Someone who’s going to stick with your company and create meaningful impact will be someone that fits well into your team and is aligned on your vision and mission.
It all starts with understanding your vision, mission, goals, and unique company needs. Once we’ve developed a strong foundation in this, here’s how we comprehensively vet candidates before presenting them to you.
1. Education and work experience
We start by looking at the candidate’s education, professional experience, and relevant projects. Of course, we look at their resume; but assessing this is a deeper, more nuanced process. We meet with them to better understand their job titles, responsibilities, and accomplishments.
2. Technical expertise
We take an in-depth look at the candidate’s technical expertise, including the tech stacks they’re experienced in. We vet their experience with various tech frameworks, tools, and libraries, and seek to understand their expertise with each as it relates to your specific role. We also learn what tools and frameworks they don’t like, and ones that they’re interested in learning, to better understand how adaptable they’ll be as your product requirements evolve.
3. Motivations and goals
We meet with the candidate to qualitatively assess their experience at the current role. What did they like? What didn’t they like? And what growth opportunities are they looking for in their next role? We assess this on a short- and long-term basis: where they want their career to go over the next 1, 3, 5+ years.
Because we take the time to understand your role and hiring goals on a nuanced level, it allows us to look at alignment from various angles: whether they want to get into leadership, whether they’re excited to be a founding engineer, or if they’re looking build specific technical skills that your company has experience with.
4. Cultural fit
As we said before, technical skills and experience is only part of the battle. But at the end of the day, we want to know: will you actually want to work with this person?
We understand this by asking strategic, thoughtful questions that paint a picture of the candidate’s self:
Passion: are they truly invested in the industry and genuinely love what they do?
Problem solving: How do they approach challenges? Do they like a challenge?
Collaboration: how have they collaborated with teams in the past? How do they describe their professional communication style? Have they typically gotten along well with their colleagues?
Continuous growth: Do they like to learn? Do they seem curious about learning new technical and professional skills?
Self-awareness: do they think they already know everything? Are they able to critically assess their own level of expertise in various domains?
Autonomy and ownership: do they take accountability for their role in a project? Are they self-directed and able to manage their time effectively?
How a great recruiter will help you understand the candidate
We evaluate candidates on all of the background elements, from professional experience to hobbies and interests. But all of this is only useful if you get the brain dump, right? Here’s how we translate all that information about a candidate for you.
Highlight specific experience that you’ve identified as a top priority
Of course, we always recommend you take the time to review the resume before you meet with the candidate. But we’ll make it easier for you by highlighting specific experience that you’ve identified as a priority and/or that fill knowledge gaps.
Share information not always obvious on a resume
On top of this, we’ll share with you extra information that isn’t always obvious in the resume, like relevant side projects or initiatives at work, or times they stepped up to a challenge (like taking on lead while the engineering manager is out).
This also includes a short blurb that helps you understand a candidate’s potential and relevance, like:
Achievements in their current role or past ones relevant to your needs
Technical language(s) they know or are learning that you’ve listed as a “nice to have” that the company has listed as nice to have,
Projects or initiatives they’ve led and what impact they had
Interview urgency and candidate timeline
We don’t want you to go through the work of reviewing our notes and interviewing a candidate without knowing how important timeline is. For this reason, we usually note interview urgency/timeline if there's a need to expedite interviews.
Closing Thoughts: Working With Tech Recruiters in 2023
Hiring tech talent is tough, and finding a recruiter that fits your needs can be equally challenging. We hope this article helped you understand what to look for in a recruiter, as well as understand what you should expect from one that you’re working with.
