IT Recruitment: From Hiring to Being Hired

Have you ever wondered what goes on in the world of IT recruitment?

Whether you’re on the hiring side, looking for the best talent, or a candidate going through interviews- there’s a lot to unpack. We bring you exclusive insights from our experienced IT recruiter Jovana.
Check out how a background in Pedagogy can be aligned with tech recruitment.

Can you walk us through a typical day in your role as an IT Recruiter at our company?

Effective daily planning is crucial in achieving professional success as an IT Recruiter.
As the day begins, my first task is to review inbound emails, sorting them by their level of importance. Following this, in collaboration with a colleague, I engage with potential candidates. Sourcing talent is a substantial part of our daily responsibilities as recruiters, involving sending outreach messages and InMails on LinkedIn.
In tandem with our sourcing efforts, conducting interviews is the next crucial step in our workflow. Interviews are crucial because they allow us to assess a candidate’s qualifications and provide them with insights into our organisation. Our interview process typically follows a structured framework (with possible exceptions), including these stages:

• Intro call/HR interview
• Technical interview conducted by our Tech Lead
• The final interview, which provides an opportunity for direct engagement with the client

If time permits, I am using any free time of the workday for my professional development by participating in relevant courses and training sessions related to tech recruitment. Currently, I’m actively enrolled in the “Tech Recruitment” course by Michal Juhas.

How long have you been working in this role? What drew you to this field?

For nearly two years now, I’ve been passionate about helping people reach their goals, which drew me to this area. Before this career choice, I completed my master’s studies in Pedagogy, but I never truly felt content until I discovered the world of HR and IT Recruiting.
What I love most about this profession is the opportunity it provides to connect the right talent with the perfect roles for them. It involves engaging with people to understand their motivations, aspirations, and what they want to achieve in life. Then, I get to match them with opportunities that align perfectly with their goals. That’s what makes this IT Recruiter role so rewarding for me. 😊

Candidates need to have a positive experience during the selection process. In your opinion, what constitutes a positive candidate experience, and how does your team contribute to it?

We are receiving a lot of applications daily + we are talking with a lot of candidates too. One thing that we care the most about is the candidate’s experience with us, so we are trying to provide feedback quickly to each of them. We are working hard for everyone to receive detailed and personalized information about their application.
Long story short, we have our MetricsFlare scale and we are pretty impressed with the feedback our candidates left for us. I would like to use this opportunity to say thank you to each one of you who contributed and to welcome new candidates to join and experience our selection process.

Which soft skills are most helpful in your position?

Active listening, positive attitude, open and honest communication, keeping promises about deadlines, respecting boundaries and asking the right question, being kind and polite.

In what ways is working within BlueGrid.io helping you grow professionally? Are there any training or learning opportunities that stood out for you?

BlueGrid.io gave me an incredible opportunity to feel what teamwork is and to learn more about technical recruiting and its challenges. I have grown so much during these 9 months working with my team. I have had an opportunity to use the Udemy courses that we have. Our manager is always making sure that we are satisfied with everything. For example, a few months ago we received Michal Juhas Tech Recruitment course (I think all of you who are in this field know how much this course is important and detailed). We also had training that our CEO held to explain to us technical stuff that we didn’t know, so I’m really happy about learning opportunities and my professional growth here.

How crucial is technical knowledge for your position?

It’s really important, as an IT Recruiter you need to know the basics and you need to know how to ask technical questions during the interviews. Because of that, you have to be prepared to learn a lot. You don’t have to know how to code, but you need to know programming languages. Also, frameworks, differences between databases, FE, BE, and Full Stack differences. The more you know, the better recruiter you are.
As an IT Recruiter, it’s not up to you to conduct technical interviews, but it’s up to you to select who should be sent further to the next step – so for that purpose, you need to have technical knowledge.

Can you share a memorable moment or success story from your time recruiting for our company?

One of the most remarkable aspects of my time at BlueGrid.io is the incredible support I’ve received from both my hiring manager and my colleagues. I remember a moment during my selection process when the CEO encouraged me to start sharing posts on LinkedIn. Positioning myself as an IT Recruiter and sharing valuable advice is what others in the field could find helpful. This not only boosted my confidence but also underscored the high level of teamwork and genuine care for employees at BlueGrid.io.

What should a candidate highlight in their CV versus on LinkedIn?

CV and LinkedIn should give us a short but detailed version of your working experience and technical knowledge. The most important part is highlighting your previous projects, and describing your daily duties and tasks + including programming languages and frameworks that you know. Good VS bad CV and LinkedIn profile look like this (I have used my profile for this example):

What needs to be included:

Not so good example:

Your CV and LinkedIn profile should be:
– Up to date
– Do not add a skill you are not familiar with
– Matched: there shouldn’t be a difference between them (experience, projects, skills, languages, etc.)

What advice would you give to someone considering joining our company?

If you have a passion for working with cutting-edge technologies, tackling challenging and innovative projects, and collaborating with exceptional individuals who share your enthusiasm, then there’s no reason to hesitate! 🙂
Cybersecurity, Blockchain, Cloud, and FinTech are industries we are working with so there is plenty of space to make a difference and join us.

Advice for anyone who is doubting the possibility of changing their career path?

If you’re thinking about changing your career path and entering a new field that’s unfamiliar to you, my sincere advice is to go for it. Our world is filled with endless possibilities, and you should seize one for yourself. I shifted from a background in Pedagogy to a career in Recruiting, and it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made for myself.

The reality is, you never really know what exciting opportunities lie behind the next door, and you’ll never find out if you’re afraid to give it a try. So, take that chance, make yourself proud, and embrace those opportunities with enthusiasm. 🍀