Recruitment agency recommendation
Discussion
I'm about to start recruiting again for an experienced C# developer in north Hampshire. In the past, I've found the biggest challenge has been communicating with the agencies the exact technical requirements of the role. I've lost count of how many agencies we've tried over the last 8+ years.
Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations for an agency where the agents are actually from a technical background and have half a chance of understanding our requirements?
Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations for an agency where the agents are actually from a technical background and have half a chance of understanding our requirements?
I completely understand your frustrations, in what is a relatively saturated market it's amazing how hard some clients find it to build a relationship with a good agency.
Depending on what you are looking for I may be able to help you (I'm an experienced IT Recruitment Consultant, with a Computer Science background).
Without wanting to make this post look like a bid for business, it won't let me send you a PM so feel free to send me one with a contact number/email address and I'd be happy to help.
Depending on what you are looking for I may be able to help you (I'm an experienced IT Recruitment Consultant, with a Computer Science background).
Without wanting to make this post look like a bid for business, it won't let me send you a PM so feel free to send me one with a contact number/email address and I'd be happy to help.
Edited by topless_mx5 on Monday 22 October 14:03
Hopefully helpful for you and the consultants you end up using.
It's completely impractical for a recruiter to know all the technical ins and outs of every role that we ever work on. Depending on the agency they can be be reasonably knowledgeable in one field, talk-the-talk in a range of fields or go in to each job spec session with a blank sheet. We're matchers and deal makers, if we were developers, project managers, risk analysts or anything else then it's highly unlikely we would be doing recruitment.
Unfortunately a lot of recruiters fall into that middle category of talking the talk which inspires some confidence, then knowing very little of the actual nature of the job, which leads to disappointment. I tend to err towards the latter category and ask the hiring manager what he wants from that particular person, in (intelligent) lay mans terms.
Tell him how he can qualify that, and how he can spot the sort of talent you want to hire. You will still have to qualify the best ones yourself, because there's no way you can really measure someones technical skills without having done it yourself. So tell him what you want as the manager, then you don't need to get bogged down in technicalities, and an alphabet soup of terms that any developer of any level will be able to bull s
t his way past anyway.
So if you want a C# guy who has updated large scale applications for big companies with ~5,000 users, then tell him that. If you want a C# developer who can lead a team building brand new products, tell him that. If they must have worked in say the insurance industry then tell him that. Sorry if the examples aren't that relevant, I haven't done IT recruitment for years but I do remember it being an industry full of people who like to reel off lists of technical terms, which can bamboozle consultants (and PMs and everyone else for that matter), yet never really explain what it is they do.
You get the point.
Go light on the technical terms and try to explain what this person actually does for the business and how you can qualify whether someone else is able to do that.
And recruiters - stop being so vain. You don't know everything and you'll never fool a knowledgeable client or candidate that you do. Ask what this candidate will do for the business, and how you can qualify it. Understand it in layman's terms.
It's completely impractical for a recruiter to know all the technical ins and outs of every role that we ever work on. Depending on the agency they can be be reasonably knowledgeable in one field, talk-the-talk in a range of fields or go in to each job spec session with a blank sheet. We're matchers and deal makers, if we were developers, project managers, risk analysts or anything else then it's highly unlikely we would be doing recruitment.
Unfortunately a lot of recruiters fall into that middle category of talking the talk which inspires some confidence, then knowing very little of the actual nature of the job, which leads to disappointment. I tend to err towards the latter category and ask the hiring manager what he wants from that particular person, in (intelligent) lay mans terms.
Tell him how he can qualify that, and how he can spot the sort of talent you want to hire. You will still have to qualify the best ones yourself, because there's no way you can really measure someones technical skills without having done it yourself. So tell him what you want as the manager, then you don't need to get bogged down in technicalities, and an alphabet soup of terms that any developer of any level will be able to bull s
t his way past anyway.So if you want a C# guy who has updated large scale applications for big companies with ~5,000 users, then tell him that. If you want a C# developer who can lead a team building brand new products, tell him that. If they must have worked in say the insurance industry then tell him that. Sorry if the examples aren't that relevant, I haven't done IT recruitment for years but I do remember it being an industry full of people who like to reel off lists of technical terms, which can bamboozle consultants (and PMs and everyone else for that matter), yet never really explain what it is they do.
You get the point.
Go light on the technical terms and try to explain what this person actually does for the business and how you can qualify whether someone else is able to do that.
And recruiters - stop being so vain. You don't know everything and you'll never fool a knowledgeable client or candidate that you do. Ask what this candidate will do for the business, and how you can qualify it. Understand it in layman's terms.
AJS- said:
stuff
So far , the 5 recruiters we've tried with have all failed at the first step - sending candidates with skills that match our requirements! If we ask for c# developers with experience of Oracle databases, why send a VB.Net programmer who has only worked with SQL Server...
Similarly when we say must have 2+ years experience coding in a commercial environment, why send the guy who is currently on a help desk but is hoping to move into coding ?!?!??
AJS- said:
stuff
So far , the 5 recruiters we've tried with have all failed at the first step - sending candidates with skills that match our requirements! If we ask for c# developers with experience of Oracle databases, why send a VB.Net programmer who has only worked with SQL Server...
Similarly when we say must have 2+ years experience coding in a commercial environment, why send the guy who is currently on a help desk but is hoping to move into coding ?!?!??
AJS- said:
stuff
So far , the 5 recruiters we've tried with have all failed at the first step - sending candidates with skills that match our requirements! If we ask for c# developers with experience of Oracle databases, why send a VB.Net programmer who has only worked with SQL Server...
Similarly when we say must have 2+ years experience coding in a commercial environment, why send the guy who is currently on a help desk but is hoping to move into coding ?!?!??
rscott said:
So far , the 5 recruiters we've tried with have all failed at the first step - sending candidates with skills that match our requirements!
If we ask for c# developers with experience of Oracle databases, why send a VB.Net programmer who has only worked with SQL Server...
Similarly when we say must have 2+ years experience coding in a commercial environment, why send the guy who is currently on a help desk but is hoping to move into coding ?!?!??
Unbelievable isn't it? I've heard stories of Aircraft maintenance staff being put forward for Business Intelligence positions before. I think part of the problem is that many recruitment companies have very staff turnover rates. There are always new people coming and going, and management sometimes fail to mentor newcomers properly.If we ask for c# developers with experience of Oracle databases, why send a VB.Net programmer who has only worked with SQL Server...
Similarly when we say must have 2+ years experience coding in a commercial environment, why send the guy who is currently on a help desk but is hoping to move into coding ?!?!??
Another reason is that many Agencies have strict KPI's to hit. For example many Managers will say to their team that you must send at least 7 CV's to an open vacancy. This often puts pressure on the Consultant to send 7, even if it is a niche role and there is no way that you could possibly send 7 high quality CV's.
The sheer number of cases similar to yours defies belief though.
My offer earlier on in this thread still stands, if you need help from a recruiter who isn't going to send you CV's for the sake of playing the numbers game, please feel free to drop me a PM.
Edited by topless360 on Tuesday 20th September 17:56
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