The world revolves around technology. We wake up with alarms on our smartphone and set the temperature on our thermostats with a simple verbal command to Alexa. This increasing reliance on technology means that demand for technical roles like DevOps Engineers, Cloud Architects, and Data Analysts grows everyday. How do companies keep up with this demand for technical roles? They hire technical recruiters! In the age of “The IT Talent Wars” and “The Great Resignation” we get to experience firsthand the renaissance of the technical recruiter. But what does this mean for the average technical recruiter? What does the role of technical recruiter look like in 2022?
Tech Recruiters Live and Search for Talent Online
During the pandemic the world embraced hybrid and remote work and we’ve never gone back. As of 2022, around a quarter of professional positions in the United States will be remote. Many workers in technical roles across DevOps, Software Development and Data Science won’t even consider a new position without the opportunity to work remotely. According to a survey by Hackjob, 72% of tech workers cited remote work as one of the key perks they look for during their job search.
Employers across industries recognize that this demand for remote work won’t go away and they continue to find ways to balance a heavily remote workforce. Though remote work poses challenges for tech recruiters, it also opens up whole new realms of possibility. The modern tech recruiter can research, interview, and place talent all over the world without leaving the comfort of their own home. Some still prefer in-person interviews for a more personal touch, but we’re no longer limited by the traditional methods of interviewing. With hundreds of technical roles to fill, methods that broaden the talent pool to a more international audience such as offering remote positions and interviews are essential for helping technical recruiters keep up with the overwhelming demand. The tech recruiters of the future live and thrive online.
Tech Recruiters Know and Love Their Tech
The days of spending hours browsing job boards for technical candidates and using the same old excel sheet to keep track of candidates are long gone. The modern technical recruiter embraces all of the newest technologies to speed up the applicant search process and place quality candidates. Placing and searching for tech talent still requires a human touch, but technology helps the modern tech recruiter find candidates much more quickly. A savvy technical recruiter uses boolean searches to find qualified candidates across job boards and implements Applicant Tracking Systems to better understand their candidate pipeline. The debate around using AI during the tech recruiting process for finding and qualifying candidates rages, but current AI systems serve a variety of purposes. Keeping on top of the latest technologies and leveraging trusted recruiting technologies to deliver qualified candidates quickly with a high chance of retention remains important for tech recruiters in 2022.
Students of Technical Language
The modern technical recruiter knows how to speak the language of all tech candidates. Passive involvement in the tech industry and the lingo associated with tech roles no longer allows technical recruiters to find and engage with candidates. Knowing the in’s-and-out’s of technical roles and being able to clearly communicate with qualified technical talent takes precedence over being able to find technical talent. Getting a qualified candidate into an interview means nothing if you can’t engage with them and conduct an effective interview. The modern technical recruiter understands the stages of the Software Development Lifecycle. They understand what it takes to become a DevOps Engineer and the technical problems that face a DevOps Engineer on a regular basis. Modern tech recruiters don’t just talk at candidates, they talk with them and present real life scenarios during interviews in order to test their candidates capabilities.
Advocates of Diversity
Tech recruiters act as the catalyst for diversity in their organizations. Hiring qualified talent goes hand-in-hand with making sure that you build a diverse and inclusive workplace. Great ideas and great teams are built on diverse opinions and breaking out of the “boys club mentality” that’s dominated tech for so long remains as a guiding light for the modern tech recruiter. Tech talent comes from all walks of life, every country around the globe, and every gender and ethnicity. Tech recruiters continue to make great progress, but still, 62% of tech jobs in the United States belong to people who identify as white. The new generation of tech recruiters take diversity seriously and act as advocates for reform when it comes to biases in hiring based on gender and ethnicity. The modern tech recruiter recognizes true tech talent and prioritizes putting the right people in the right place regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
The role of tech recruiter remains in a state of continuous evolution but one thing remains the same: we strive to place qualified employees and better the tech industry as a whole. We act as a vanguard for the tech industry. We help solidify trends, we set the tone for hiring across the tech industry and we keep up with current tech recruiting trends in order to deliver quality talent when and where they are needed.
If you’re interested in tech recruiting or just want to improve your place in the industry check out our tech recruiting courses. From Tech Recruiting Tactics to DevOps Engineering, we cover everything that a modern tech recruiter needs to know to stay relevant in today’s competitive landscape.