Top tech recruiters have one thing in common; they tend to continually invest some time and energy acquiring a solid macro level understanding of the technologies they are recruiting for. They also school up on trending tech to stay ahead of the masses. Sage choice on both counts.

It’s no secret that most recruiters today rely solely on tech keywords while some figure out the basics of what they are hunting for. However, the more effective and successful recruiter puts in a bit more time digging beyond the basics of just learning what a tech stack acronym stands for and it pays off time and time again.

Reap immediate benefits:

Not only does a better understanding of tech make your search efforts more effective, but a valuable added benefit is that you’ll earn respect and trust from candidates and hiring managers when you exhibit some smarts on the technologies being discussed.

We’re not implying that a recruiter be able to review actual code in GitHub repository or anything like that. We’re just encouraging you to do more than the average tech recruiter to differentiate yourself. It’s also very rewarding and builds confidence when you deal with on with techies. 

Beyond online dictionaries, etc.

The absolute minimum is to utilize online tech dictionaries (e.g. glossarytech.com, etc.). and general online research. Most likely you’re already doing these two things now. The rare recruiter might even take a tech related class, read books on software dev, etc. but that would be the exception and possibly over kill from an ROI perspective.

The golden nugget of just asking.

Simply reach out and connect with existing tech talent in your network asking for their assistance and expertise. People generally love to help and it’s a great ego boost for them. Don’t be shy and you will be rewarded.

It’s also a fantastic ice breaker with new and untapped talent versus just messaging them with “Any interest in a full time MERN dev role with a growing company here in town?”. For example, “I see from your GitHub activity and repositories that you tend to develop in either the MEAN or MERN tech stack. I’d like to learn more about how you choose Angular versus React and visa versa.? Thank you ahead of time for your personal take on this topic.”

Step it up and reap additional rewards.

Perhaps take it a step further and consider leading a 5-10 minute standup for your recruiting peers which forces you to really know you’re stuff. It’s amazing how you will invest time to prepare when you’re under the office spotlight. Also, learning new tech is also good for a recruiter’s sanity so things don’t get too stale in the day-to-day routine.