What Sets Tech Recruiters Apart from Generalist

Post Author: Aaron Decker | Founder: iTeachRecruiters

I recently read Recruiting 101 by Steven Mostyn to get more into the mindset of recruiters. I wanted to see what the top rated book on Amazon said about recruiting. I'm a software engineer so I figured the best way to connect more with recruiters (who I'm making content for) is to understand more about what they are doing day-to-day.

I was not surprised to learn that Steven Mostyn ranked domain knowledge as one of the most important things in being a successful recruiter.

No matter what industry you recruit for, you have to have functional knowledge about the industry to be able to successfully interact with both hiring managers and candidates.

He wrote even more specifically about tech recruiting:

To become functionally intelligent in your space you need to learn about the industry you recruit in. This can take anywhere from a few weeks in simple spaces like retail to six months in more complicated spaces like technology.

That's not buried deep in the book, it's in chapter 4!

The value proposition of ITeach Recruiters

The course I'm building here at ITeach Recruiters is going to cover the fundamentals of software engineering and web development. All without code, just the concepts.

How much are the following things worth to you?

• Increasing response rates on your cold outreach

• Being able to read resumes faster

• Getting a better understanding immediately of what a hiring managers is actually looking for

• The ability to connect with candidates better

• Generating more trust with the hiring managers you work for

• Get just one or two more placements a year

Hiring Managers And Recruiting 101

Aside from bolstering my arguments for why recruiters will benefit from what I'm doing, Recruiting 101 really helped me understand the process better.

I think the key thing I got from the book is that hiring manager is the key figure in the process. Keeping the hiring manager happy is crucial.

Mostyn writes:

For most hiring managers, trust is something that must be earned; it is not automatically given.

He goes on to write the second most important way to gain trust is:

2. Submitting the right candidates. Showing that you listened and understood the company's needs during intake by submitting the right candidates provides lots of credibility.

I know from working on teams in large fortune 500 companies we always had trouble working with our corporate recruiters. Most of them did not seem to be specifically knowledgeable about technical recruiting and the candidates we ended up interviewing were often mismatched.

Again, I think this is where a healthy dose of domain knowledge can help build credibility with the hiring manager and help you to submit the right candidates.