You can do a lot of things right when it comes to IT recruiting, but some mistakes can hold back hiring efficiency.

In IT recruiting it's easy to make the same mistakes over and over again simply because we are human, and we make mistakes.

It's comforting to know that other companies are making these mistakes as well. These four typical mistakes should give you an idea of how you can avoid making simple errors that can cost you a great candidates. 

1. Focus on active candidates

According to statistics there are approximately 25% people on the market are looking for a new job and visit job boards. If you use job advertising as the only tool to attract candidates you limit your search by active candidates.

If you want to increase the number of candidates in your recruiting funnel you have to work with passive candidates.

Passive candidates are specialists who are not actively looking for a new job but are ready to review interesting career opportunities.

To find ‘passive candidates’ you have to use sourcing, when you create the profile of ideal candidate and then search for people who meet your requirement and present your vacancy to them. 

This process is time-consuming, but it is worth its efforts because you can find really good candidates who can be a good addition to your team. 

When it comes to sourcing, the tools you use are important. Sourcing, like other activities, can be done manually or automated. 

We personally use this recruitment software, which allows us to contact hundreds and sometimes more than a thousand candidates for each job opening. This software has great integration with LinkedIn and even allows you to bypass LinkedIn's limit on the number of profiles viewed. If you use our link, you’ll have 5% discount. 

Some companies have own in-house recruitment team do sourcing, some use services of IT recruitment agencies like ours. 

It is your choice what strategy to use, but it is highly recommended to include sourcing in your recruitment arsenal. 

2. Your interview is like an exam

The purpose of the interview is not only to find out whether the candidate has the necessary experience, knowledge and motivation, but also to interest him in your vacancy.

Especially technical specialists during the interview miss the opportunity to tell about the benefits of the project, the technologies used, or other advantages that may interest the candidate.

If the interview consists only of questions and answers about the candidate's experience, without listing the benefits of the vacancy, the candidate may prefer another similar vacancy in another company, where they can better sell the job.

Remember that you are selecting candidates in the same way that candidates are selecting their next job. 

3. Large intervals between interviews

We understand that the recruitment process may have several interviews with different people, as well as tests or homework.

Then it takes time to analyse the information and make a decision.

But with that in mind, remember that dragging out the process makes it more likely that the candidate won't wait until the end of the recruitment process if they receive a similar job offer from another company.

This is especially relevant when you are working with active candidates who are looking for a job and are interviewing at other companies.

If you have found a passive candidate who is not looking for a job, but is interested in your vacancy, in this case, there is a greater chance that the candidate will go through the entire recruiting process, even if the application is delayed. This is another advantage of working with passive candidates, and that is why we advise our clients to focus on them.

4. “Hope recruitment"

Hope recruitment is when you make a job offer and hope that it will be accepted. 

We understand that nothing can be guaranteed 100% in our life, but we can increase the probability of this or that event.

When we work on vacancies for our clients, before sending a job offer to a candidate, we make a ‘trail close’.

Here's how it works. It is necessary to ask the candidate if everything is clear to him/her regarding the responsibilities, the company, the project, technologies and other things relevant to the vacancy. Ask if there are additional questions or doubts.

When we understand that there are no questions or doubts, we can discuss the compensation package and the starting date. At this stage, it is important to hear confirmation from the candidate that he/she is ready to accept specific conditions and only then make a job offer with the appropriate conditions.

It is also important not to proceed to the stage of discussing the financial conditions of the job offer until you are sure that the candidate has no doubts or additional questions about the vacancy. 

When the candidate does not fully understand the content of the job, the company's expectations from him/her, the composition of the team, the work schedule and other points related to the job, he may not accept the job offer even with a very interesting financial component.

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you found something interesting that can improve your IT recruitment efforts. If you have any questions related to IT recruitment please feel free to contact us and we’ll be glad to help. 

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About us: 

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IT recruitment agency MindHunt over 12 years helps software companies with up to 100 employees with small or no in-house recruitment team to source, select and place candidates for IT roles in Ukraine, Europe, and Asia. 

Give us 5 days and start interviewing candidates which we sourced and screened according to your requirements.

If you want to use the power of the IT recruiting agency MindHunt, please book a free Recruiting Consultation today.