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Problem 1: Bigger Applicant Pools Are Difficult to Manage

The more the merrier, right? If you’re a hiring manager or recruiter, you’re likely already standing up at your desk, shaking your fist in frustration, and shouting back at your computer, “No!”

And you’re right to do so! Looking for the perfect candidate to fill a tech role is a lot like looking through a needle in a haystack. A bigger applicant pool doesn’t make it any easier to find your needle, it just increases the size of the haystack.

With the average recruiter spending a third of their week on sourcing new candidates (and that’s not even including time spent interviewing and vetting them), bigger applicant pools often create more problems than they solve. It takes more time to vet applications, validate the accuracy of information and screen candidates. At the end of all the extra work that comes with a larger pool, you may not be any closer to finding that ideal candidate.

Good talent is hard to find in a crowd of 30, but even harder in a crowd of 300.

Fix 1: Narrow Your Pool of Applicants with Filters and Requirements

Recruiters are able to consistently save time, energy and resources when they focus on narrowing initial applicant pools as early on in the hiring process as possible.

This isn’t to say that you should limit or exclude applications without due consideration, but you should employ application and hiring practices that encourage candidates to self-qualify.

This means being more direct in your requirements and more purposeful in your prospecting. For example, instead of saying, “in search of an experienced Java programmer,” you should say, “in search of a Java programmer with 3+ years of experience working with modern UI frameworks such as Angular.js and React”. This focused approach can be further supported by recruitment platforms that provide filters and allow for more nuanced prospecting.

Quality, not quantity, is the secret sauce in your successful hiring sandwich.

Problem 2: General Recruitment Platforms Aren’t Working

The most popular online recruitment platforms are, unsurprisingly, also the largest in terms of applicant pools and job postings. In fact, these general platforms function less as recruitment software and more as online marketplaces, where large groups of applicants can go to window-shop job offers.

For broadly defined roles, these platforms disproportionately benefit job seekers and leave hiring managers out to dry. This isn’t to discredit these larger recruitment platforms — there’s a legitimate need for this marketplace approach. However, this sort of approach favors quantity over quality and isn’t designed to vet candidates in a particularly substantive way.

When tech recruiters are trying to fill tech roles, they often look for software engineers and programmers with a specific subset of skills and qualifications. If you need a C++ guru to develop complicated back end systems, there’s simply no settling for a junior dev who only codes in Java. As a result, these popular hiring platforms cost recruiters more time and are less effective than more narrowly focused recruitment platforms.

Fix 2: Use a Recruitment Platform Built For the Tech Industry

While general recruitment platforms function as giant marketplaces, industry-specific platforms function as dedicated hiring consultants.

The biggest benefit of using a recruitment platform that caters specifically to the tech and software industry is that most of the work is already done for you. When your recruitment platform only focuses on tech hiring, that means most of the initial surfacing is already taken care of — every applicant will, at the least, belong to your appropriate industry. Additionally, these industry-focused platforms will employ vetting and matching services and filters that are closely designed around industry-specific requirements, allowing you to further qualify leads on the way in.

Problem 3: Feeling Overwhelmed With Sourcing Tech Talent

Gone are the days of straight-forward paper applications, newspaper job postings and straightforward phone interviews. Technology and software is updated daily, causing general occupations to split into hyper-specific roles and responsibilities. As companies go remote, interviews are being conducted across different time zones and countries. On top of this, DEI hiring practices encourage a more focused, sophisticated and nuanced hiring process.

In other words, hiring managers and recruiters are caught in the middle of multiple major industry changes that are affecting the hiring process in substantial ways. They’re expected to be well-educated on the nuances of the tech sector so that they can better vet candidates, expected to navigate cultural barriers as applicant pools expand, and are expected to facilitate an inclusive hiring process that is free from bias.

In the modern tech hiring landscape, it’s next to impossible to do it alone.

Fix 3: Find Your Sidekick in Tech Hiring

And you shouldn’t be expected to do it alone. Instead, you should have access to a software partner that empowers you with effective recruitment tools and solutions. A service provider on standby, ready to support you as the superhero recruiter you were meant to be.

Email, social media and phone calls will only get you so far in the modern digital landscape, but the talent you are really searching for is going to be found patronizing new platforms that provide for more exciting methods of interaction. A hiring manager is only as good as their tools, like Batman. But, unlike Batman, you shouldn’t go it alone.

Recruitment platforms built around your industry will function as more than just a job board; they provide services and functionality that caters to your specific needs and are designed to evolve with your industry.