6 Most Popular Myths In Technical Recruiting

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Technical recruiting is a challenging job. It requires a mix of skills to attract high-quality prospects and find the best tech specialist for your organization. There are several very persistent myths going around in the industry and most likely you are prone to believing them too. Read on to find out the most popular myths in technical recruiting and the best ways to overcome them. 

#1 – Outbound recruitment is better

If you focus more on outbound recruiting, you might be missing out on some high-quality prospects. The only thing you should do to make the inbound recruiting better and more effective is to forget about resume reviews. They slow the process down and can be very biased. Use technical assessment instead to spot top-tier candidates early in the process and avoid a large volume of applicants. This way all the candidates will be able to show their skills and you will have a finer selection of applicants to choose from.  

#2 The best platform for tech recruiting is LinkedIn 

True, LinkedIn is a great place to hunt for prospective tech specialists. But unfortunately, every other recruiter is doing the same. And if you use the most popular filters – and you probably will, since you want to know where the candidate has graduated, what experience they have, where they had worked before – you will be competing with hundreds of recruiters. And your offer will most likely get lost in the dozens of messages the candidates will receive. 

Expand your search beyond LinkedIn if you want to reach high-quality candidates and to optimize your recruitment process. For example, niche job boards such as Unicorn give you quality instead of quantity. They are familiar with particular specialties, job titles and certifications. In addition, niche job boards, understand and stay up to date on the hiring trends for their specific market.

#3 – A degree and years of experience are important 

You probably think that having a degree speaks to the candidate’s extent of knowledge and skills. But in reality, most developers are self-taught and even if they do have a degree, with the pace that technologies change, whatever was taught in classes is probably quite outdated already. 

Instead of having requirements such as a certain degree or years of experience, ensure that the candidates have the needed skills and abilities for the job through technical assessments. 

#4 – Top tech talent is limited to certain cities 

Large tech hubs such as New York and San Francisco are rich in top tech specialists. But they come at a price – and a high one. Instead of focusing on most popular tech hubs to look for talent, consider implementing a remote work environment. This way you will not only expand your search for candidates but also limit your costs without having to compromise on quality. 

#5 – Early talent is found only on career fairs 

Career fairs are great but very biased ways to spot early talent. First of all, you will probably limit your selection to just a few universities as it will be physically impossible to participate in every career fair there is. Then you will receive a great number of basically the same resumes which unfortunately don’t say a lot of the actual skills the students have. Expand your search, focus on inbound candidates, and implement a technical assessment in the recruitment process to optimize your search and receive more meaningful results. 

#6 – An online coding test as a first step in the recruitment process won’t work 

It is a common myth that having an online coding test early in the tech recruitment process will limit the number of candidates that are willing to participate. But this is only true if the test is poorly designed and does not measure skill and experience well. Have the test designed by experts to avoid mistakes to make sure that it will guarantee your candidates’ appreciation and will lead to good results. A well-designed tech assessment will set you apart from other employers, showcase exactly what skills and abilities your company values, and save you a lot of time by limiting the number of the selected candidates who will proceed further ahead in the recruitment process. 

In summary 

Tech recruitment myths are like any other myths – there might be a grain of truth to them but it will be best if you overcome them. Instead, focus on the elements you could improve in the recruitment process to ensure that you land the best candidate for the job.