With all the different job portals out there, one would think it would be easy to find great candidates, however, that is not the case. I specialise in finding devs which is honestly the hardest space in the industry. The simple fact is that there are only so many devs to go around. Seriously, for every five job specs there might be one candidate who is interested.

When getting a bite from a candidate and then they eventually agree to meet with your client, you think to yourself, yes this is it, finally…only for them to turn around and not meet with the client and then go off the grid which is another frustrating factor for recruiters! Although it’s not most candidates that do that, when building up relationships with candidates, they find it easy to communicate with you and will let you know well in advance if they cannot make it. That is why, as in any relationship:  communication is key.

Most developers have been contacted by many other recruiters and it’s up to you how to handle them. When I chat to most developers they think you do not know what you are talking about. So for recruiters, Google is amazing. Although, if you are not sure about what some things in a spec mean, feel free to ask your devs or hiring managers as they would feel much better knowing you are trying to understand what exactly they are looking for. If all else fails…Google was created for this (hahahaha).

Most recruiters work long hours and, come home time, they turn off their PC and that’s it, no further communication to either candidate or client. That right there is the mistake most recruiters have. If you are in the tech space, you know that after hours are the only times devs have to talk to you, so you would need to put in the extra bit now and then, because if you don’t, someone else will, and you miss out on great candidates or leads.

Getting feedback from clients can also be a nightmare at times. Yes we understand that clients are busy and cannot provide feedback on the very same day, and sometimes you need to wait weeks on end. Then all of a sudden they come back with interview requests, though, by that time most of the candidates are no longer in the market. Clients need to understand that we are dealing with very sought after candidates. So if they do take their time in getting back to us regarding CV’s sent, chances are that the one they were hoping for will most likely be off the market.