Information Technology (IT) recruitment is one of the most sought after professions in these times of increasing demand in tech talent.

LinkedIn data shows that recruiters in general were sought after 6.8x more in May 2021 than in May 2020.

Almost every existing company on the planet needs IT people to automate processes and develop digital products.

And if you want IT talent, you need IT recruiters.

In this blog we’ll break down what IT recruitment, or tech recruitment, consists of, what IT recruiters do and how it is expected to develop in the upcoming years.

1. What IT recruiters do
2. The building blocks of IT recruitment
3. Why IT recruitment can be a challenging but exciting job
4. How IT recruitment will develop in the upcoming years
5. Best learning resources for (aspiring) IT recruiters

1. What IT recruiters do

Being a recruiter in general can be a very fulfilling profession: building your network, ambitious targets and timelines and learning how to make the right judgment calls about people.

The stereotype of a recruiter is that they drink a lot of (virtual) coffee with a lot of people.

That might also be true, recruitment is a lot more than that.

Especially for the IT recruiters, an emphasis is on using smart ways to find the right people.

Finding the right people has become the biggest challenges for IT recruiters in the last years (source) since demand for IT roles has skyrocketed.

IT recruiters typically search for the following roles:

• Software developers: developing new software products and features, usually with a focus on either Front-end, Back-end, Full-stack (or DevOps).
• IT Specialists: providing technical support and updating existing systems, mainly focussed on certain main technologies like Microsoft, Apple, Cisco.
• Solution engineers: design and create new solutions for clients, usually with focus on certain technologies owned by the company itself or partner technologies like Salesforce or Workday.
• Data and Machine Learning engineers: build and manage the data back-end of companies, with a focus on gathering, cleaning, integrating and analysing data.

IT talent can come in many forms and by many more (creative) names.

It is up to the IT recruiter to cut through the noise and find the people who can do the required job.

2. The building blocks of IT recruitment

IT recruitment is the process of finding, reaching and attracting IT professionals, also commonly referred to as tech talent.

Information Technology is a very broad term that describes everything related to computers and processes that run computers.

IT includes anything related to creating, processing, storing, retrieving, and exchanging data and information.

Quite a broad term don’t you think? 

So what does the process of IT recruitment consist of?

There are several parts in the IT recruitment process that almost any company has to follow to be successful in finding and winning IT talent for them.

When we look at the recruitment process holistically, we can speak of full cycle recruitment or 360 recruitment.

The most important steps in the recruitment cycle are sourcing, interviewing, assessing and hiring.

Since good IT talent is hardly applying to jobs anymore, you need to chase after them yourself.  That means finding the right talent, reaching out to them and trying to get a conversation going.

This is referred to as sourcing, which specifically for IT talent has become one of the most important parts of the recruitment cycle, and still gaining more and more attention.

It is key to acquire people with the right search skill and make use of the right tools while searching the best of the best at scale.

3. Why IT recruitment can be a challenging but exciting job

IT candidates are notoriously hard to get. They have one of the most in demand skills, which puts them in a position to say no to a lot of job opportunities coming their way.

62% of software developers, who are one of the hardest to find, are open to new opportunities, but only 13% are actively looking.

This underlines the fact that you shouldn't just post a job on job boards and wait... Don't expect much return with that strategy.

You have to go after technical talent yourself.

When you reach out, there is more to keep in mind than just your job offer.

69% of all candidates reject job offers because the company offering the job has a disappointing employer brand.

You may look pretty as a company, but you can expect this talent pool to do their research.

Winning that beauty competition requires more than putting on a smile, you need to clearly articulate why your company is one that they should wan to work for (or work with, in modern language).

All the fierce competition and candidate criteria requires the IT recruiter to be top of the game, doing more than posting job posts on job boards.

Which all of a sudden makes the profession a lot more exciting doesn't it?