Inside the Mind of a Tech Recruiter

When I look back over the years I can see how the interview process has changed. For example, when I was searching for my first job it was more about my willingness to learn and whether or not I had reliable transportation to get to work on time. As time progressed the interviews began to include questions surrounding years of experience as it relates to the job. Nowadays there are online characteristic assessments, knowledge tests and certifications. Fast forward to tech recruiting...


So how does a tech recruiter put professional evaluations ahead of personal opinion in order to identify exceptional candidates during an interview? That is an excellent question!

Recruiters are often interviewing experts in their respective fields so we prepare in advance before the interview. We study the requirements by breaking down each of the skill sets needed and we ask the hiring manager questions to better understand the project. If we’re not familiar with a development language, we will make the effort to learn it and learn it quickly. We research its history, we compare and find common threads between other development languages, we get involved with meetups and dev groups and we attend classes. Yes, we will even download a Virtual Machine (VM) and examine and modify code. We also search online for tech blogs and we develop tech questions by considering topics from current technology discussions. We research answers to our interview questions and we consider other possible solutions. Then we began the interview process. One interview after another we evaluate the responses from multiple candidates as we distinguish differences from one response to the next. We carryout phone interviews, Skype interviews and in-person interviews (when needed).

The idea behind all the researching is to insure that we execute an interview process that will effectively measure a candidate’s many abilities and reduce the recruiters influence of personal opinion. Measuring a candidate’s abilities include gauging their knowledge of the technology language in question, their skills in finding solutions to language barriers, and their ability to provide examples that illustrate other skill sets like a candidate’s ability to recognize their limitations and their willingness to ask others for assistance (teamwork!).

Over the years interviews from Customer Service to Sales and from Quality Assurance to Executive Leaders has led to identifying different interview response patterns. These emerging patterns help in identifying exceptional and qualified candidates. For example, does a candidate provide clear examples of projects they've worked on and the process involved in its success or failure? Yes, it’s actually true that exceptional candidates have worked on projects that failed!

As organizations began to advance the recruiting process and apply more data analytics to the interview mix we are going to see an emerging trend that will require recruiters to understand even more areas of statistical data and research. As this trend develops we are likely to see tech recruiters responsible and accountable for assembling extraordinary teams that will consider every level of development and management. The recruiting process will move away from individual hiring and focus on team hiring.

Author: Dr. Eduardo Diaz, helping you exceed expectations.