Power to the people, I say!
Enough of the spammy LinkedIn DMs of random recruiters trying to lowball us into low-paying jobs or never-ending struggle with applying to job posts! Bring out your torches and pitchforks, and let’s return the hiring process where it truly belongs!
But before we go all-in with anarchy, leather boots, punk tattoos, and tearing down the HR establishment, let’s first consider reverse recruitment, a fairly new practice that can balance the scales between candidates and recruiters.
You need to know a few things about reverse recruitment and how it inspires young tech professionals to seek world-changing jobs. So, let’s dig right in.
Reverse recruitment – what’s the fuss all about?
Reverse recruiting is the ultimate reverse card of hiring.
Here’s what I mean: In the old days, recruiters “hunted” the professionals and talent to work for their companies. It was like living in a Pokemon Go game but with people. And whoever caught Picachu or shiny Bulbasaur became the most praised -trainer- recruiter. But you don’t hunt the pokemon, you let the pokemon come to you, and by pokemon, I mean developers.
Unfortunately, this method is dying out, and young talent is realizing they are not an HR trophy but rather aspiring souls yearning for change.
In a nutshell, reverse recruiting is the hiring strategy in which instead of searching for companies, the companies search for you. You become your own recruiter, a sales team, and a business. And companies are your biggest hyping fans.
But don’t expect dozens of job offers to flow into your LinkedIn DMs as soon as you add that green looking-for-work frame on your profile pic.
Reverse recruitment hiring revolves around one core concept you should be aware of — find and bring them value before they find you.
So, what does it mean to you?
Creating an online presence on social media about the things you do, showcasing the value you’d bring to potential employers, improving your networking skills, and connecting to decision-makers at your dream company is the tricky part of reverse recruiting.
Let’s be honest: Most people don’t know how to market themselves and sell their skills. That’s why they turn to old-school hiring by bombarding dozens of job ads with their resumes. There’s nothing worse than being disconnected from the company you want to work at and not knowing how to evoke their interest.
That’s when reverse recruiters – hidden heroes of this hiring strategy – come into play.
Everyone needs a helping hand, a mentor, or a bridge-maker who’ll tap into one’s true value and show them how to market, leverage, and network their skills until they find the path to their dream job. Places where these magic people like to hang out are hiring tech fairs, IT meet-ups, networking events, or forums.
That’s why connecting with a reverse recruiter is so beneficial for getting yourself out there while staying at the forefront of the companies.
What differentiates reverse recruitment from regular recruitment?
Our parents were used to the old-school way of applying for jobs. Unfortunately, sending out CVs and crossing our fingers for someone to call us for the interview still lives.
Reverse recruitment tries to put that ancient relic to final rest with these benefits:
- By actively displaying your strongest skills and values, companies will find it easier to hand-pick you instead of going through mountains of resumes. Indirectly, you’re easing up their hiring process and cost-per-hire, which they’ll be very thankful for.
- Competition with reverse recruitment is slim to none. It does exist, but if you know which companies you’re targeting and showing examples of value to, you’re more likely to land that dream job.
- Finding out and leveraging reverse recruitment platforms speeds up the process of finding your ideal company match. Acting as bridge-makers, these platforms create a perfect environment where tech talent and companies meet on the same-leveled field with complete transparency.
How HR can leverage reverse recruiting
Opinion: HR is more used to old-school hiring while saying they use cutting-edge hiring processes.
There’s a reason for this bold statement. Businesses still struggle to grasp the concept of reverse recruiting. Most of them are used to candidates coming to them, not the other way around.
The trap is: Most people in Human Resources don’t have the technical background knowledge to define what they are looking for and how to filter out suitable candidates from the massive pile of resumes they receive. Failing to understand what type of tech talent your business needs leaves you with microscopic amounts of qualified candidates (and most likely low-quality ones).
Missaligning your job description by making it unappealing to the type of tech talent you want to attract is another fall of the old-school hiring.
Reverse recruitment tries to fix those pitfalls with these three things:
Better hiring strategy
Take a look at the current hiring strategy in your organization and see how you’re attracting talent. Forming your new reverse recruitment strategy around questions like: “What’s in it for me?”, “Why should I leave my safe place and work for you?”, “What impact will I have on the community while working for you?” from the professional’s perspective will significantly improve how you appeal to them.
Becoming the target
Put yourself in tech talent’s shoes. Find out which type of businesses and organizations would be on their radar and what traits their perfect employer has. What kind of benefits, work-life balance and support do they seek? What problems and worries do they have while working for SaaS businesses? Leverage those answers in your job description while keeping a clear image of what type of talent you want to attract.
Branding is the key
Signaling that you’re a trusted company that cares about its team members’ health and balance is one of the green flags many devs look for. Nobody wants to crunch restless hours. Showcasing how your team spends the day, what type of things they enjoy doing between the meetings, and why you do what you do is how you attract talent in this digital age.
Reverse recruitment – all that is to know about this Uno reverse card
An old dev once told me: “People hire people that know each other.”
Getting your face known and showcasing your talents and everything you bring to the table is what gets you your dream job. It’s what reverse recruitment is all about.
Reverse recruitment is one of those strategies where you must put time and effort into it. I know, it sucks. But when the wheel starts spinning, be ready to reap the benefits of high-quality job offers at companies one dreams of working for and bringing lasting change to.
