Hiring the ideal senior software engineer for your company is no easy feat. Between a developer talent shortage in the US and your ever-growing tech demands, you may be hard-pressed to find the right senior engineer who can lead your business into the future.
As you seek out the best engineering talent, you should think carefully about using headhunters vs. internal recruiters. While internal recruitment may seem like the obvious choice, HR staff typically have extensive experience in junior or unspecialized roles. For this reason, they may not have the right skills needed to recruit senior software engineers.
By leaning on the expertise of a headhunting agency, you’re more likely to find highly qualified candidates who can truly tackle your company’s technological challenges. Here are some top reasons why headhunters are essential to filling your company’s senior software engineering positions.
Ready to hire senior software engineers? Reach out to our specialized headhunting agency at Nexton.
The Advantages of Headhunters vs. Internal Recruiters for Tech
There’s no doubt that your internal recruitment team is excellent at what they do. Yet, HR recruiters are often focused on filling a diverse assortment of positions and rely on using job postings to attract candidates.
While internal recruitment teams are great for filling junior roles across your company, you may need a more robust, specialized process to capture industry-leading senior software engineering talent. Senior tech professionals are in short supply, which means companies everywhere are trying to poach them. Without a headhunter, you may struggle to get the right senior talent for your company’s needs.
Specifically, headhunters have key advantages over internal recruiters for tech, such as:
1. Headhunters specialize in a certain type of role.
While internal recruiters seek candidates for a wide range of positions, experience levels and skill sets, headhunters are laser-focused on a specific, specialized role. Headhunters are highly technical recruiters who know exactly what they’re looking for and have extensive experience recruiting for this type of role.
2. Headhunters have industry-specific networks and databases.
Internal recruiters may leverage more general job networks to post jobs and search for candidates. In contrast, headhunting agencies have a huge advantage because they work in niche markets and have built up a specialized network for the tech industry and senior tech roles.
3. Headhunters know how to screen tech qualifications.
Another challenge for internal recruiters is knowing how to screen candidates to ensure they have the top tech skills that the job requires. As technical recruiters, headhunters have the specialized knowledge to carry out tech skill tests and interviews to verify candidates’ credentials. In this way, you can be sure to consider only candidates with wow-worthy skills.
Our engineer-led headhunting agency brings you the best candidates in record time. Learn more about our recruitment process at Nexton.
4. Headhunters have a proactive approach to recruiting talent, even if candidates aren’t actively looking for work.
It’s common for internal recruiters to depend on job postings to receive candidate applications and then undergo recruitment from there. While this is an effective, low-budget process, it may not be enough to capture world-class talent.
Headhunting agencies take a more proactive approach and leverage networks to find talent – even if candidates didn’t submit a job application or aren’t actively looking for work. By starting conversations with a variety of potential candidates, headhunters can find hidden talent that’s perfect for your team.
5. Headhunters offer a great cost-benefit for finding the right candidates for senior roles.
Businesses often rely on their internal recruitment team because it works well for most roles. Plus, it tends to be more budget-friendly.
However, hiring the wrong person for a specialized senior position (such as CTO, VP of Engineering, Senior Engineering Manager, or Senior Software Lead) can be extremely costly. A competitive salary, signing bonus and benefits package can be hefty bills if your company ends up with somebody who isn’t right for the role.
While hiring headhunters may involve an initial investment, they offer a great cost-benefit: the guarantee that you’ll get the right candidate and avoid expensive job turnover.
Why Choose a Headhunter for LATAM Tech Talent
Given the developer shortage in the US, companies are relying on talent worldwide to meet their needs. In particular, LATAM is an excellent region for discovering top tech engineers. Senior developer candidates from Latin America tend to have incredible skills, remote experience and English competency –all within nearshore time zones.
Yet, internal recruiters may not have the know-how to find talent in global regions such as LATAM. Without understanding the local language, tech industry platforms and communication tools, your HR staff may have trouble successfully recruiting top developers from these regions.
That’s why technical recruiters that focus on top-tier LATAM talent (like us here at Nexton) are essential to discovering candidates beyond US borders.
Summary: Headhunters vs. Internal Recruiters
Hire Senior Developers With a Specialized Headhunter
Your internal recruiters may be the right choice for filling many roles at your company. However, finding senior candidates – especially in the competitive tech industry – may require a more specialized approach. Ultimately, using a headhunting agency can make a difference in hiring a spectacular senior engineer who takes your company’s IT solutions to the next level.
As you look for senior software engineers and other senior technical talent, leverage our tech headhunter expertise at Nexton. We hand-select candidates from our robust, carefully designed LATAM talent pool to match your business needs.
