Headhunting in the digital age: how to find talent in IT

Headhunting in IT is essential for companies to attract talent to their teams. Technology companies in particular are the most affected. Therefore, in this article we want to give some indications to help those who read us to start developing this kind of recruitment systems in a successful way.

What is headhunting?

This is a selection process that seeks to find and attract highly qualified professionals for important positions in a business. Team or project managers who can make a difference in managing other employees and getting the best out of them. These types of profiles are very necessary, as they are the ones that will make a company stand out or stagnate. Hence the importance of attracting them properly. How can we do this?

The idea is not just to search for applications. The aim is to find the most suitable leader for each position. And it matters little whether he or she is actively seeking employment or not. What we want to do in headhunting is attract the most successful profiles, whatever their situation.

Furthermore, the great advantage is that this service is outsourced. As one can imagine, finding such technical and precise profiles is very complex, and can take many hours, especially in such a competitive and novel as it is IT. That is why it is so convenient to have companies that deal with this type of job profile. As external consultants we have seen that this means a very significant saving of working hours.

Why is headhunting important in IT?

IT talent is probably the most valuable thing there is. At the end of the day, technology and systems are nothing more than an investment outlay. However, human talent is what can really bring the most interesting projects forward. It is, in the end, a leader who will coordinate all the teams, who will have the ideas and who will get his workers to work better and waste less time.

Furthermore, by outsourcing the service, a company can ensure that it will not unnecessarily waste time on this whole process. Competition between technology companies is often fierce. For these reasons, having external professionals who know how to carry out this task is so important. For example, offering greater confidentiality throughout the process so that it can be successfully completed.

How to find IT talent in the digital age?

It is not enough to simply open LinkedIn or enter your email to discover the CVs that may have arrived at mail of a company. The fact that talent is in such high demand in this sector can lead to it often being protected and hidden. And therefore difficult to recruit. Now, those professional profiles with greater experience and ambition are going to present their skills on work networks such as LinkedIn.

The way to find talent is not only to search properly and examine the CV or the professional life of some profiles. Also it will be necessary to attend conferences, meetings, events or to be in touch and up to date on these topics. Knowing who is working and bringing projects forward also gives an insight into the professional teams behind the process. In this way, we can get an idea of which profiles are the most valuable and, also, understand what their motivations or interests are for a hypothetical and future recruitment.

Tips for a successful headhunting process

This is the advice we always offer to leading companies that want to get started in this system.

1. Study well the profile you are looking for

Especially in IT, we can find a great deal of specificity in the positions or tasks to be undertaken by each professional. It is therefore not surprising that it is necessary, first of all, to analyse well which particular sector you intend to access. This will already give us some clues: we will find study centres or some companies that directly take on this type of task and that stand out for doing it more efficiently. And we will be able to look to it for future recruitment.

2. Choose in which media we are going to move

LinkedIn is always thought of as the big playground for this kind of hiring, but it doesn’t have to be. There will be many professionals who are outside this network and for whom other means will be needed to reach them. For example, going to conferences or lectures at university. Once we know what we are looking for clearly we can try to understand where we can find it.

3. A conversation of a confidential nature

Duly controlling information is essential for a business-friendly relationship. If we do headhunting in IT, it is most likely that companies will want to keep their professional profiles with them, and this will often mean a significant escalation of counteroffers.

Conversations with the profiles will not only help us to avoid such situations, but will also be essential to obtain information and to see to what extent they can adapt to what is requested. This is when the IT headhunter will have to speak with the company that has hired him to share his impressions and see if this profile adapts to what was requested.

It can be seen, however, that this is a time-consuming and painstaking process. Therefore, in the digital age, AIs are also being used to take care of these tasks.

In short, carrying out a headhunting process in IT is essential for a company to have emerging talent. In this way, you can count on the professionals you need to help you move forward. It is not, however, without its difficulties. This is why external advisors are often brought in to take on such a costly task. To do this, we can help find that talent.