What is a Technical Recruiter?

We all know that the purpose of the recruiter is to find the right person for the role that their client needs to fill. They look through resumes, check out the past experience of the candidate, and see whether they would be suitable for the job or not. Of course, one of the key skills that a recruiter needs is the ability to see whether an applicant’s academic and employment history is relevant to the position.

This is where a technical recruiter comes in. Whilst some regular recruiters may have a background in tech and be able to work out whether the candidate is offering roughly the right skills for the role, a technical recruiter is a specialist in the industry. This means that they know exactly what to look for in an applicant’s resume, and they can be sure that they’re not wasting any time in the recruitment process.

What do technical recruiters do?

If you’re a recruiter working for a recruitment agency or in house, your day will be dominated by the following things:

• Writing job advertisements: due to the fact that the job descriptions are so in depth for many technological roles, somebody with the right expertise has to write them, ensuring that they are appealing to candidates and that they describe the job properly. This is where the tech-focused recruiter comes in, and makes sure that there is no misinformation about the role in the advertisement.
• Trying to find the best candidates: there are plenty of candidates out there who may be suitable for the role, and it’s the technical recruiter’s job to find them. Whilst they may sift through the actual applications that they have received for each role, they will also reach out to some of the top talent through platforms such as LinkedIn, as well as attending job fairs and other events.
• Interviewing applicants: when the technical recruiter has used all of their social media and tech prowess to seek out some potential employees, they go through the process of interviewing them to ensure that they are actually the right people for the role. This is where they check that applicants have the technological knowledge needed, as well as the social and academic skills to perform well in the field.

Why do they exist?

In many roles, skills are transferable. For example, if a candidate has worked as a receptionist, they can use these social and professional skills to work in any customer-facing job. However, the expertise needed in many tech careers is non-transferrable, meaning that the recruiter needs to be 100% sure that an applicant’s skills match up to the role. This requires a broad knowledge of the technology industry.

What else do they need?

A technical recruiter also needs to have many of the skills that ‘regular’ recruiters have, such as being great with people and knowing how to communicate with them, and not being afraid to chase people and discuss roles over the phone. Being outgoing will get you far and even if you don’t have a wealth of communications when you first start out, you will gain them in this way.

If you are seeking a new role or want to find out more CBSbutler Technical Recruitment is one of the leading agencies in the UK, click here to find out more.