The process of finding and hiring the best-qualified candidate (from within or outside of an organization) for a job opening, in a timely and cost effective manner. The recruitment process includes analyzing the requirements of a job, attracting employees to that job, screening and selecting applicants, hiring, and integrating the new employee to the organization.

An information technology (IT) recruiter specializes in hiring individuals to fill information technology positions in a variety of industries. The recruiter may fill permanent positions or temporary, project-based jobs. These recruiters will seek job candidates based on their skills, such as programming skills or technical expertise.

What IT Recruiters Do

IT recruiters screen candidates for the client company’s desired job requirements and qualifications as well as fit with company culture.
If the candidate passes that stage of assessment, the recruiter arranges interviews with the job candidate and key staff. After the decision is made to offer the position to the candidate, the recruiter explains the compensation package the company is offering the candidate and helps navigate any negotiation over salary and other benefits.

The IT recruiter is a liaison between the client company and the job candidates throughout the entire recruitment process and is usually compensated by the hiring employer. Some recruiters work as employees of the company itself, others work for recruiting firms that are hired by companies, and still others are individual consultants who work on a contract basis directly with the company.

Information technology recruiters work to fill both permanent and contract jobs. They may specialize in one type of position or type of candidate. Most have acquired the technical expertise and knowledge to better enable them to recruit candidates for jobs that require information technology skills.

Qualifications to Be an IT Recruiter

A college education is a minimum requirement. Most IT recruiters have bachelor’s degrees, and a smaller percentage have master’s degrees, although that is rarely required. What you major in isn’t necessarily important, although in the IT field, a technical major or at least related coursework might give you an edge down the road.

A LinkedIn survey found that the most common majors of recruiters in general varied from psychology to political science to business. That same survey also found that most recruiters didn’t start as recruiters in their first jobs out of college. Instead, many went into sales, but other jobs included research, operations and administrative positions.

The path from that first job to IT recruiting involves picking up the skills and experience along the way that will make you successful at recruiting. Soft skills are very important in recruiting, because you need to both read potential candidates for a good cultural fit and entice candidates to work for the company you represent. The most important soft skills include a strong social aptitude, the ability to communicate effectively, relationship building and top-notch organization. In the IT field, you’ll also need some level of technical knowledge in the are you are recruiting for, so that you can talk the talk with job prospects and also understand if their particular qualifications match what the employer is looking for.

Jobs Marketed by IT Recruiters

Information technology recruiters hire a wide variety of jobs. Some job areas include technology deployment, IT asset management, cloud computing, security systems, network design and integration, network maintenance, end-user services, communications technology and applications for business analysis, reporting and data science.