How A Tech Recruiter Could Be Your Career’s Secret Weapon + Insider tips

A tech recruiter’s primary role is to help tech companies land the best candidates for their open jobs. While many tech companies have internal recruiters, others  work with recruiting agencies for various reasons.

To do their jobs successfully, tech recruiters need to be in touch with a wide range of tech talent — that’s where you come in. A recruiter for tech jobs can identify roles that fit your skills, goals, and experience, including exclusive roles you can’t come across on your own. Then they support you in standing out from other candidates in the hiring process, which in turn, lands you the job.

If you’re looking for your next job in tech, there’s always a tech recruiter looking for you.

Because tech recruiters are always looking for strong candidates for their client companies, finding one is often more about letting them find you.

First, make sure your LinkedIn is up-to-date and complete. List all relevant job experiences and include details about your responsibilities and accomplishments in those roles.

Recruiters often rely on keywords in LinkedIn profiles to identify matches, so be sure that important words related to your job skills are listed. Depending on your job function, that might include any programming languages you’re proficient in, software you have experience with, and soft skills you’ve demonstrated in your past work.

Once your profile is in excellent shape, open it up to recruiters. This setting is right at the top of your profile page and signals to recruiters that you’re willing to be contacted about roles they’re sourcing for.

You can also seek recruiters proactively by asking trusted colleagues for recommendations or searching LinkedIn. Once you’ve connected to a few recruiters, the algorithm will surface more of them in your feed.

Once you’re in touch with a tech recruiter, the next step is knowing the right questions to ask them. Here are some good questions to ask a recruiter to ensure that you’re a good match and that you’re getting the most out of the relationship:

• What made you interested in working with me? Tech recruiters tend to have specializations — be sure to work with one whose niche matches yours.
• What’s been your experience with candidates at my career stage?
• Is your process confidential? This is especially important if you’re currently at a job and don’t want your employer to know you’re looking for new opportunities.
• How do you prefer to communicate? How often and through what mediums can you expect updates?
• What do you need to know to find me the best match? This is a two-way partnership; help your recruiter help you by giving them all the information they need to land you your dream job.
• What’s the timeline for this hiring process? What will the steps be?
• What weaknesses do I need to work on to be a stronger candidate?

Putting your best foot forward in the hiring process is essential, but you still need to be your true self. You won’t do yourself or a tech recruiter any favors by exaggerating your skills or experience. In fact, dishonesty will only damage your relationship by eroding trust.

Be completely truthful, even about things you think could hold you back from getting a job, like negative past work experiences, skills you need to brush up on, or your personal dealbreakers, a recruiter can help you address these issues in your job search-- but only if they’re aware of them.

When you partner with a tech recruiter, you won’t just get to lay back and wait for them to snag you the perfect job. Instead, you’ll have to do some heavy lifting yourself, and the best recruiters will quickly tell you what they expect from you.

Partnering with a tech recruiter could be your secret weapon to landing your ideal job, earning higher pay, and accelerating your career.  

Advantis Global is a tech staffing company with specialized teams for different industry niches (tech, government, creative, marketing, gaming). Our staffing company puts candidate experience first and work with talent before, after, and during contract or permanent assignments. Submit your resume or apply for a job to get connected to an Advantis Global recruiter.