An Insider’s Guide for Tech Recruiters:4 Steps to Wildly Exceeding Your Hiring Manager’s Expectations

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Contents

IntroductionWhat You’ll Find in This Ebook..........................................4

Chapter 1: The Intake MeetingCommon Intake Meeting Pitfalls .......................................6

Intake Meeting Solutions ..................................................6

Chapter 2: The Search The Search Challenges .....................................................9

Search Solutions .............................................................11

Chapter 3: The Interview Best Practices for the Interview Process ........................14

Chapter 4: The Close Best Practices for Closing ..............................................17

Conclusion .......................................................................18

Appendix ...........................................................................20

About Gild .........................................................................22

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Introduction

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A strong team is a key component for any successful business. A company can’t grow without the right people on board. Finding people with potential and experience, who also share a company’s vision is difficult in every industry. The hunt for developers is even harder because the demand for individuals with coding skills far exceeds the supply.

While the shortage of tech talent affects everyone who needs a developer, the people who deal with this problem most directly are recruiters and the managers who need to hire someone for their team (often referred to as hiring managers). Theoretically, these two parties should get along and be in sync. After all, they both want to find the most qualified person to fill a given position, as quickly and effectively as possible.

And yet, there’s often a lot of tension between these two individuals, in part because of an information gap. The tech recruiter, who does most of the legwork to find candidates and move them through the hiring process, is never going to know as much about an open position as the hiring manager. Similarly, the hiring manager often doesn’t understand the tech recruiter’s process, challenges, or constraints. Making matters worse, these managers may have biases against recruiters, if they themselves have experienced a less than desirable hiring experience.

This ebook is for you, the recruiter, to give you insights on how to close the information gap and build trust between you and hiring managers. To accomplish this, you must create transparency, and demonstrate and promote your value as not only a recruiter, but also as a salesperson, marketer, business leader, and negotiator.

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What You’ll Find in This EbookThe next four chapters of this ebook will go through every phase of the hiring cycle, from the intake meeting to selling a candidate on an offer. Each chapter will provide concrete examples of how you, as a recruiter, can improve communication with hiring managers and the steps you can take to demonstrate your value.

Chapter 1: The Intake Meeting

Chapter 2: The Search

Chapter 3: The Interview

Chapter 4: The Close

The ultimate goal of this guide is to help you build a candid and trusting relationship with hiring managers, so you can work together to make the right hires.

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The Intake MeetingChapter 1

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The hiring process begins at the intake meeting where the hiring manager and the recruiter sit down to discuss the open position. The goal of the meeting is two-fold: 1) to provide the recruiter with a general understanding of the position and 2) to give the manager an idea of how long it will take to fill the position.

Common Intake Meeting PitfallsThe hiring manager and the tech recruiter both want to quickly find someone great to join the team. However, the hiring manager’s expectations might lead to some misunderstandings.

“I think the challenge between recruiters and hiring managers is that most technical recruiters don’t relate to the needs of hiring managers—in large part because the job they are filling seems foreign to them,” says Stephen Brady, Vice President of Engineering at Hightail.

Similarly, the hiring manager has less experience than recruiters with the particulars of the job market for developers, and may have expectations that are unrealistic. Often the hiring manager comes to the intake meeting with a wish list for the ideal candidate, without any regard for or understanding of whether such a candidate exists or if the team can afford the candidate.

The other challenge is time. When the hiring manager approaches the tech recruiter regarding starting a search for a new developer, chances are the role needed to be filled yesterday. But with the job market full of open tech positions and a shortage of qualified candidates, filling any position on a development team takes time.

Intake Meeting SolutionsThe likelihood of a recruiter being a better coder than the hiring manager is slim, but the recruiter should be a better salesperson. The intake meeting is a chance for the recruiter to sell his or her value to the hiring manager. The tech recruiter should have a finger on the pulse of the industry, and know what’s happening on a macro-level.

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• Come prepared: Don’t make the hiring manager train you. Brush up on your tech knowledge. Know what the hiring manager’s team is working on and what the desired candidate is going to cost salary-wise.

• Be honest: Don’t promise the hiring manager a candidate who doesn’t exist.

“One of the first things hiring managers need to understand is that they’re not going to get everything they want in a candidate based on the job description,” says Anna Woodard, Lead Recruiter at Gild. Woodard suggests making must-have, nice-to-have, and deal breaker lists with the hiring manager. From there, offer realistic benchmarks for each step of the recruiting process, and stick to them.

• Ask for help: Ask the hiring manager to meet with someone from his team who would be an ideal candidate for the position he’s trying to fill. Talking to someone who is already seen as a valued team member will add perspective to the search.

• Collaborate: Go back and forth on the job description with the hiring manager until it is completely accurate. Brad Warga, Senior Vice President of Customer and Employee Success at Gild, recommends asking the hiring manager to record a two-minute video about the job. A video will give candidates a better sense of the company and the opening than an ad filled with buzzwords ever could.

Ideally, the intake meeting should not be the first time the tech recruiter is talking with the hiring manager. But if it is, this meeting can be the beginning of an open, communicative relationship. The recruiter should ask insightful questions. For instance, what does the manager want the new hire to be working on in three and six months or specific personality traits the hire should have that would help round out the current team. Recruiters should come to the intake meeting ready to listen, but also ready to talk about the industry, the company’s and team’s goals and differentiators, and strategies on how to fill the open role.

See the Appendix for a list of questions to ask your hiring manager at an intake meeting.

“One of the first things hiring managers need to understand is that they’re not going to get everything they want in a candidate based on the job description.”

~ Anna Woodard, Lead Recruiter, Gild Inc.

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The SearchChapter 2

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After the intake meeting, the recruiter has to find candidates for the hiring manager to interview. New recruiting technologies and social media have dramatically changed the dynamics of how recruiters find people. Services like LinkedIn allow recruiters to find plenty of applicants who, in their own words, are qualified for the position. With over 84 million registered members, LinkedIn is often the first place recruiters go, and LinkedIn members did over 5.7 billion professionally oriented searches on the platform in 2012.

Hiring managers may assume that LinkedIn takes all the work out of the identifying candidates. However, the best tech candidates are often not on LinkedIn, and a LinkedIn profile offers only a small insight into a candidate. “Quite frankly, for a technical candidate, a LinkedIn profile is not that useful. It gives you a narrow view of the candidate, and many of the good software engineers don’t have LinkedIn anyway,” says Stephen Brady, Vice President of Engineering of Hightail.

And with the tech market overflowing with jobs and not candidates, finding people to interview is a herculean task.

The search process also presents a challenge to tech recruiters looking to prove their value to their hiring managers. Because hiring managers can’t see what goes into a search for candidates, hiring managers often ask for a long list of candidates to make sure the recruiter is doing his or her job. “Because the hiring manager doesn’t have a lot of trust in the recruiter, they ask for quantity,” says Brad Warga of Gild.

The Search Challenges: • There are more jobs than candidates, so finding qualified

people for the position is harder than it seems.

• LinkedIn doesn’t tell recruiters enough about developer candidates.

• The hiring manager asks for volume over quality.

“ Hiring managers may assume that LinkedIn takes all the work out of the identifying candidates. However, the best tech candidates are often not on LinkedIn.”

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But there are more effective and efficient ways for the recruiter to prove that he is working hard. Rather than giving the hiring manager a list of a hundred candidates, finding a smaller group of high-quality candidates is more useful. This is particularly true if the tech recruiter does his homework on each candidate, and provides detailed notes to the hiring manager explaining why each one was selected. Hiring managers still want to see a range of candidates — one won’t be enough. But finding ten developer prospects who are spot-on, and giving reasons for why each one is worth the hiring manager’s time, is a good place to start.

This is particularly true if the recruiter does his homework on each candidate, and provides detailed notes to the hiring manager explaining why the candidate was selected.

No matter how skilled the tech recruiter is, he is often looking at a set of self-reported keywords to assess candidates. Innovative tech hiring tools such as Gild Source can be helpful in giving the recruiter and the hiring manager a fuller picture of the developer candidates they’re evaluating. “Having some sort of objective analysis definitely adds a filter to the process,” Brady says.

Even with tools like Gild Source, the search process involves collaboration with the hiring manager. Having the hiring manager provide feedback on candidates as they are identified will help the recruiter fine-tune the search in real time. In other words, the first batch of candidates can be an opportunity to get direction on the search.

“You have to have a feedback process. You can’t just throw a job description over the wall,” says Brady.

Using feedback to refine the search gives the recruiter a chance to show what he’s actually doing and demonstrate his value to the hiring manager.

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But the biggest obstacle in recruiting for technical positions, specifically developers, is the job market. There are simply more open positions than qualified candidates. Today there are very few talented developers completely out of work. In other words, finding a good candidate will almost always involve poaching someone from another company.

In this market, the tech recruiter should take advantage of any personal connections. While the hiring manager won’t be involved directly in the search, his social network can still be used. Recruiters should ask their hiring managers for access to their contacts, and reach out to any potential candidates on their behalf.

Search Solutions: • Get feedback from the hiring manager on candidates

throughout the search process.

• Use some sort of objective measurement to assess potential candidates.

• Ask the hiring manager for access to his network to connect with more potential candidates.

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The InterviewChapter 3

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Before the candidate meets with the hiring manager, he’ll talk with the recruiter. In tech recruiting, the skill set the recruiter is evaluating is highly specific to the job, and it can be difficult for the recruiter to understand entirely what the hiring manager wants. This is because fundamentally the recruiter and the hiring manager are different. “The hiring manager is a technical person; the recruiter is not technical,” says Warga.

However, the recruiter can still act as the first line of defense. He should be eliminating candidates who aren’t quite right to save the hiring manager time. Even without a lot of technical knowledge, the recruiter can keep candidates with deal breaker issues from proceeding to the next round. For instance, if the candidate doesn’t want to travel but the position demands it, he’s not a good candidate. The tech test should also eliminate unqualified prospects.

The recruiter needs to do his due diligence in researching candidates before they speak to the hiring manager. This includes studying the candidate’s background and even talking to his or her references early in the process.

The recruiter should prepare the hiring manager for his interview with candidates. “The best recruiting and hiring manager relationships are when you are truly partnering with your hiring manager,” says Woodard of Gild. This advice applies to all steps of the recruiting process, and when it comes to the interviews, it means discussing the job with candidates in the same language. The recruiter and the hiring manager shouldn’t be repeating catch phrases, but they should be representing the opening in the same way.

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To enhance collaboration, the recruiter should be checking in with the hiring manager after each interview. Each interaction provides the hiring manager with an opportunity to articulate the skills and personality he is looking for in a developer candidate. If necessary, the recruiter can then refine the scope of the search or even ask for a more refined tech test. Furthermore, checking in with the hiring manager after every interview is a great opportunity for the recruiter to show his investment in the search.

According to Gild’s Warga, fast growing tech companies interview between 10-to-12 developers to fill a position. Everyone involved in the hiring process should be prepared to devote time to interviews. Recruiters can show their value to their hiring managers by eliminating bad candidates and incorporating feedback in their search.

Best Practices for the Interview Process:• Do Homework. Eliminate bad candidates before the

hiring manager has a chance to meet with them.

• Communicate. Speak with the hiring manager about how to describe the position to the candidate. Check back with the hiring manager after each interview.

• Work Hard. Be open to searching for new candidates if the hiring manager isn’t happy after the first round of interviews.

“Fast growing tech companies interview between 10-to-12 developers to fill a position. Everyone involved in the hiring process should be prepared to devote time to interviews.”

~ Brad Warga, SVP of Customer and Employee Success, Gild Inc.

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The CloseChapter 4

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The close is the tech recruiter’s ultimate chance to demonstrate his value to the hiring manager. In this tight hiring market, the recruiter’s ability to “sell” a position to a candidate is his most important attribute.

Selling the position begins with the initial interview. Along with asking the standard questions, a recruiter should be looking for useful information about what motivates the candidate. For instance, if the possibility to lead a project or have a flexible schedule are important to the developer candidate, recruiters can leverage this information when making an offer. Often, the chance to work with industry leaders or be on a project the candidate sees as having social value can be a more powerful incentive than money.

Even though the recruiter will not directly work with the new hire, or perhaps because of this, candidates often feel more comfortable with the recruiter than the hiring manager. “A lot of candidates are reluctant to tell the hiring manager what’s going on,” says Stephen Brady of Hightail. “The recruiter can act as a go-between.”

Despite the trend in recruiting to do interviews over the phone, Warga of Gild insists that in-person interviews are key to getting a candidate to sign on. “I don’t know how you can be effective at sales and closing deals if you don’t meet people face-to-face,” he says.

Even if the recruiter develops a strong relationship with the candidate, the candidate will only join the company if he believes in the hiring manager and the group’s initiatives. The recruiter needs to put the hiring manager in a position to woo the candidate by sharing what he knows about the candidate in advance. Good communication between the recruiter and the hiring manager will make it more likely that the developer candidate will accept an offer. As a bonus, the background information the recruiter shares with the hiring manager demonstrates the recruiter’s vested interest.

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Best Practices for Closing• Build a relationship. Take notes on what the

candidate’s career objectives are and get to know what motivates him.

• Offer a personalized package. Use the candidate’s values to make a bid that appeals to what actually motivates him.

• Share. Don’t keep information about the candidate a secret. Give the hiring manager a chance to better understand the candidate.

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Conclusion

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In this tough tech hiring market, a recruiter needs all the support he or she can get. Developing a strong relationship with the hiring manager is crucial to attracting the best tech talent. Unfortunately, this relationship can be strained because hiring managers often do not have a lot of trust in their recruiters. Whether this is fair or not is beside the point. Ultimately, it rests on the recruiter to change the hiring manager’s understanding of his role. Through every step of the recruiting process, he should go out of his way to create transparency and show the hiring manager what he is doing — and demonstrate his value.

In the search process, that means giving notes on each prospect, and being willing to recalibrate the search to find more candidates if need be. During interviews, recruiters should be eliminating candidates with deal breaker issues, evaluating their developer skills where possible, and researching candidates’ backgrounds. When it comes time to make the offer, the recruiter has a chance to show off his skills as a salesman by creating a package that goes beyond financial incentives.

After a candidate has been selected and has accepted the job, the hiring manager may think his relationship with the recruiter is on pause. But for the recruiter, maintaining a connection with the hiring manager between searches is crucial to the development of a productive relationship.

Between searches, recruiters should try to connect with the hiring manager as much as possible. The hiring manager may be hesitant to grab a coffee or lunch when he’s not actively looking for candidates, but recruiters should not be shy about asking. In many ways, the recruiter has a better understanding of larger trends because he or she is constantly meeting with new people. Coffees and catch-up lunches can be a chance for the recruiter to demonstrate his knowledge and passion for the industry. The more the recruiter and the hiring manager talk, the more open — and effective — their relationship will be going forward.

Visit Gild’s website for more free whitepapers on tech hiring best practices.

“ Developing a strong relationship with the hiring manager is crucial to attracting the best tech talent.”

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Appendix

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Meeting QuestionsHere’s a run down of standard intake meeting questions:

1) Why is this position open?

2) What are the core attributes that you are looking for someone to have in this role?

3) What are the must have skills for this role?

4) What are the nice-to-have skills for this role?

5) Will this person be required to travel?

6) Are you willing to accept candidates that require visa sponsorship and/or transfer?

7) Will you relocate the right candidate for this position?

8) Is there anyone in your network that would be a good person for this role? If so, what are their names and can I reach out to them directly?

9) Are there specific companies that you would like me to target for this position?

10) Is there anything else I need to know about this position that we have not covered?

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To Learn Moreemail info@gild.com call (800) 664-2366 visit www.gild.com/learn-more

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