To be or Not to be a Tech Recruiter, That is the Question!

Many people think that recruiters are all the same. Let it be known that there are niches even in the recruiting industry. Your niche can be the industry you recruit/source for, or based on the roles you specialize in filling. 

It comes down to two main categories, tech recruiters and renaissance recruiters (non-tech recruiters). 

There is a pretty heated debate amongst recruiters on which is more challenging. Recruiting online forums and groups are filled with these discussions time and time again. And it’s pretty entertaining to read the comments. But the bottom line is that they are equally important but different (still a controversial statement), so to support my claim, I’ll share my journey going from a renaissance recruiter to learning technical recruiting. 

What is Technical Recruiting:

Before going any further, l will define technical recruiting; as the recruiting of software engineers. And further, not just any software engineers, but ‘sexy tech,’ elite engineers who build fresh code for the latest and greatest technologies. The engineers they recruit are highly educated, highly compensated, and in extremely high demand.

I’ve been recruiting in some capacity for almost 10 years. Once I started recruiting technical recruiters, I realized:

1. Wow! They make a lot of money! 

2. Their skill set is really different from all other types of recruiting. 

You really have to know what you’re doing to be a technical recruiter. “Fake it till you make it” will only get you so far.  Unless you have a computer science degree or happen to read up on software engineering in your free time, you have to really study it. How do I know this? Because last year, I set off on my journey to become a coveted Technical Recruiter. 

First Stop on my Journey - Disappointment

I paid big bucks to listen to a well-known recruiting veteran share her screen and quickly run through training material on auto pilot.  Asking questions and having dialog was not feasible in a class of 100. I got my certificate and felt pretty disappointed and ill-prepared to do the actual job of technical recruiting. 

Second Stop on My Journey - Restored Hope

Thankfully, I found Brianna Rooney’s Millionaire Recruiter YouTube channel. She shared so much content for FREE and I loved her personality! I felt like we could be friends. She gave me hope. As fate would have it, months later I landed a job in her startup, TalentPerch. Can you believe it?  

Eureka! I struck Gold.

Finally, I found the training I had been searching for! Brianna's newest company, Thriversity, had just started testing their Full-Cycle Tech Recruiter Foundation Course. I was fortunate enough to be one of the first Thriversity grads. This course was a six-week live instructor-guided course that catered to every learning style. Before the course technically started, I had to take an assessment to find out what kind of learner I was. I was listening, reading, discussing, creating, and collaborating with my fellow students, which is what I personally needed to truly learn this new world and language. We reviewed the foundations of recruiting, and that’s where the difference between tech recruiting and renaissance recruiting became apparent. 

Hold up. What’s renaissance recruiting? It’s the long-overdue title for the formerly called “non-tech recruiters” (cringe). Renaissance means a person who has wide interests and is an expert in several areas. Renaissance recruiters do it all. Sales Manager? You got it. Digital Marketing Specialist? I can figure it out. They really can recruit it all, hence the fancy and well-deserved renaissance title. 

A few things that set tech recruiters apart from renaissance recruiters:

• The hunt: Unearthing engineering talent is no small feat. The level of competition to land top engineering talent rivals that of The Hunger Games. Kidding.
• The rigorous interview process: Tech recruiters have to navigate rigorous interviewing processes. Once you finally get an interested candidate, guiding them through take-home tests, 4-hour onsites that may involve a coding interview, pair programming, etc. can be very challenging to navigate.
• Longer learning times: Tech Recruiters invest more time into learning the roles they are recruiting for. They have to learn the tech, because simply entering coding languages in a LinkedIn search bar is not going to cut it. There is a bit of mystery behind what software engineers do. Other roles can be easier to grasp. 
• Slow recruiting process: The tech recruiting process is slower. Much… Slower. The time to fill is about 2-3 hires every couple of months. Sense of urgency is lower than renaissance recruiters due to their number of actual hires being less. 
• Longer time spent sourcing and closing: The recruiting process is different. Most of their time is spent sourcing and closing. Tech Recruiters must be incredibly talented at closing. 
• Complicated offers: The job offers Tech Recruiters make are more complicated. With equity and vesting schedules to explain, they must be highly knowledgeable about equity in order to explain why their offer is more valuable than the competing compensation and equity package. 
• Higher candidate pay: Tech Recruiter’s candidates get paid more than renaissance recruiters candidates. 
• Different terminology: The terminology is different between tech recruiting and renaissance recruiting. I didn’t even hear the term ‘onsites’ until I studied technical recruiting. It takes a lot of time and studying to even understand various Engineering disciplines.
• Not responsible for writing job descriptions: Tech recruiters do not write job descriptions. They have to understand enough about the position without completely knowing how they do it.  
• Different candidate profiles: The candidates Tech Recruiters interact with are very different from renaissance recruiter’s candidates. Software Engineers don’t like salesy email subject lines and lengthy outreach messages, so crafting a successful outreach message is challenging. Engineers don’t want to get on the phone as they are often introverted. Their interest in the role and company can be harder to gauge, so tech recruiters face more turned-down offers.

Let’s Sum it Up

There are two main categories of recruiters; tech recruiters and renaissance recruiters. Both are equally important, but fulfill different needs. 

Tech recruiters focus on hiring software engineers, which requires focused learning and training on tech terminology. Deals are harder to close due to longer processes, more complicated offers, higher demand, and a lower supply causing multiple offers, just to name a few obstacles. 

Renaissance recruiters have a broader focus, often recruiting/sourcing for many roles at once, which means they do a fair amount of juggling. The roles tend not to take as long to learn about as software engineers, allowing them to begin more quickly.  

If you are looking to break into the tech recruiting industry, I highly recommend taking one of Thriversity’s courses. 

Check out Thiversity.io, for more details or reach out to [email protected].  

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