Valeriya
Lead IT recruiter in Lucky Hunter
IT staff recruitment: how to find iOS Team Lead for an international digital bank?
Karina
Junior IT recruiter
How can building a respectful and trusting relationship with the candidate prevent you from losing them after rejecting the job offer and give you a chance to suggest another, more attractive position?
Our lead IT recruiter Valeriya and junior IT recruiter Karina told about their case, which proves once again that IT recruiting is always about the ability to find a common language not only with employers, but also with candidates who are also important participants in the entire recruiting process, as well as about finding non-standard solutions and showing flexibility.
Our lead IT recruiter Valeriya and junior IT recruiter Karina told about their case, which proves once again that IT recruiting is always about the ability to find a common language not only with employers, but also with candidates who are also important participants in the entire recruiting process, as well as about finding non-standard solutions and showing flexibility.
The task and difficulties
Some time ago, one of our regular customers — a large digital bank — asked us to find an iOS team lead for one of their projects dedicated to investments. Despite the fact that iOS developers are a fairly popular profile, the position had a number of features (in our case, there is no other way :)) that narrowed the circle of potential candidates:
- 1The candidate had to perform the functions of team lead on the project, respectively, it was necessary that they passed not only a technical interview at the senior grade, but also showed high results at the managerial interview.
- 2The funnels were quite large — due to the fact that the bank was quite big and regularly hired tech talents, both inhouse recruitment department and IT recruitment agencies worked on the selection of candidates, which sometimes led to situations when the same candidates were contacted several times.
- 3Due to the specifics of the banking industry, it was important for the customer that the required specialist had similar experience in this field.
How we filled the vacancy?
Realizing that it is important to expand the number of potential candidates and avoid repeated “pings” of iOS developers who have already been contacted for this position, Valeriya and Karina used all possible resources: LinkedIn, specialized recruiting services Podbor and AmazingHiring, as well as our own database.
The candidate who was among the finalists and liked by the client was found just through AmazingHiring, and had not only the necessary skillset and the stack of technologies needed, but also a relevant professional background — he worked for several years as an iOS team lead on projects of another well-known bank, where he was responsible for services for VIP clients (digital onboarding, safe deposit box development, etc.) and led a team of five iOS developers.
The client made him a job offer, and we breathed a sigh of relief. However, as it turned out, it was too early to rejoice :) The problem arose unexpectedly: the candidate rejected the offer. His current employer made him a counteroffer, which he decided to take — after all, not only the company decides on cooperation, but also the candidate decides for their part how interesting and comfortable the received offer is to them.
The candidate who was among the finalists and liked by the client was found just through AmazingHiring, and had not only the necessary skillset and the stack of technologies needed, but also a relevant professional background — he worked for several years as an iOS team lead on projects of another well-known bank, where he was responsible for services for VIP clients (digital onboarding, safe deposit box development, etc.) and led a team of five iOS developers.
The client made him a job offer, and we breathed a sigh of relief. However, as it turned out, it was too early to rejoice :) The problem arose unexpectedly: the candidate rejected the offer. His current employer made him a counteroffer, which he decided to take — after all, not only the company decides on cooperation, but also the candidate decides for their part how interesting and comfortable the received offer is to them.
Refusals can be for various reasons: the conditions don't satisfy a candidate, the tasks that are supposed to be solved within a specific position are not appealing, or there simply did not happen a perfect match with potential employers.
When the refusal occurs, we usually analyze the reasons carefully to suggest some improvements on the recruiting process to the client.
Therefore, Valeriya contacted the candidate for a Zoom call: it turned out that, despite the fact that in general he really liked the employer, the main reason for refusal was an equivalent offer. In IT, this can really alienate many tech talents — as a rule, job offers with more attractive conditions than at the current place of work are of greater interest to candidates: for example, a higher salary and position, relocation or other perks.
Therefore, Valeriya contacted the candidate for a Zoom call: it turned out that, despite the fact that in general he really liked the employer, the main reason for refusal was an equivalent offer. In IT, this can really alienate many tech talents — as a rule, job offers with more attractive conditions than at the current place of work are of greater interest to candidates: for example, a higher salary and position, relocation or other perks.
In this case, the candidate was confused that the indicated conditions were almost identical to those offered by the current employer. In addition, the talent hesitated, because he did not want to leave an interesting project he was working on, and also considered the option of changing the field of activity and obtaining additional business education — his company provided such an opportunity.
A couple of months have passed since the conversation with the candidate, when he himself contacted Valeriya and said that he was ready to return to considering job openings: at some point, the candidate realized that he lacked the opportunity for professional growth and development in his old place, so he decided to switch from passive job search to active.
At some stage of the search, the customer himself came to this job seeker with an offer to participate in the selection, but already for a more attractive position — the head of mobile development in their internal startup. This role implied not only a higher position and salary, but also more opportunities for career growth.
Considering that not half a year has passed since our communication with the candidate, he was assigned to us, so Valeriya continued to lead him through the funnel. The end of the story was happy this time: the candidate, having successfully passed all the selection stages, accepted the offer and started working.
At some stage of the search, the customer himself came to this job seeker with an offer to participate in the selection, but already for a more attractive position — the head of mobile development in their internal startup. This role implied not only a higher position and salary, but also more opportunities for career growth.
Considering that not half a year has passed since our communication with the candidate, he was assigned to us, so Valeriya continued to lead him through the funnel. The end of the story was happy this time: the candidate, having successfully passed all the selection stages, accepted the offer and started working.
Key Success Factors
- PartnershipNot only with clients, but also with candidates. We always try to build trusting relationships with them, provide them with prompt feedback on each stage, stay in touch and build transparent communication: our recruiters are always ready to answer the candidate's questions on how to pass an interview, share useful insights and help navigate all the necessary nuances. Thanks to this, even if something does not work out with a specific vacancy, we stay in touch with purely positive impressions of each other and can always return to the dialogue if new job openings appear that are suitable for the experience and profile of the tech talent.
This principle also works in the opposite direction: the candidates, having remained satisfied with communication with our recruiters, get in touch themselves. This is a win-win situation for both sides: the IT recruiter gets a chance to bring the candidate through the funnel and fill the job opening, and the candidate gets help, feedback and support from the recruiter.
- ExpertiseBuilding an individual motivation strategy and a clear understanding of what should be emphasized in each case, as well as a detailed analysis of the reasons for refusals help to effectively fill the vacancies.
- Lucky Hunter professionalismIt is often more difficult to fill job openings for large clients, working in parallel with inhouse recruiting, due to large funnels and the risks of “ping” candidates with whom the other side has already communicated on the vacancy. Therefore, it is important to use the maximum possible number of recruiting tools and work carefully with them: specialized platforms and services, LinkedIn, the recruiting agency's own IT database. The huge advantage was that two recruiters were working on this case, so they managed to create a big funnel.
Do you have several job openings which should be filled as soon as possible? The Lucky Hunter recruiters will help you fill any urgent job opening, hire software developer, find the best tech talent for you.
What else to read