How to go from Engineer to Recruiter

Are you an engineer looking (perhaps even leering) at the recruiting organizations saying, "You know what, I could EASILY fix and improve this industry with all my engineering knowledge!" Or do you perhaps have a passion for changing the way the world views recruiting as a whole...(as we recruiters truly hope you do). As an engineer, you already have the skills and experience in the field to be effective, but is it as easy of a transition as you might think? Here are some of the best tips to turn those technical engineering skills into an impactful recruiting career:

• Determine your focus area, niche or generalist
• Get training on recruiting, networking, and "social engineer"
• Understand your uniqueness, both good and bad

You should consider your soft social skills and whether you've ever considered yourself a "people person." Recruiting is often about making a connection between you, the candidate, and the HM.

Specialization or All-Purpose Recruiter?

So first things first…are you going to want to recruit what your niche is or are you going to expand a bit? For example, if you are an ML or Security Engineer, do you want to fill just those roles, or do you feel you could fill other software engineering roles? This is important as some specialty positions aren't widespread, meaning you won't find many clients and openings to support. Being able to narrow down on specific jobs you are most familiar with could help to ensure you're finding the perfect candidate, and let's face it, you know the challenges and what hiring managers are looking for. BUT you could still find the need to fill more sought-after general roles (like Full-Stack, Backend, Frontend, etc.), so don't be closed to expanding your hiring horizons.

Skills, Tools, and Social Awareness

You went to school to be an engineer, so it's probably fair that you need to go to school to be a recruiter. Now, it might not be computer science, but there's absolutely a science to it. But knowing the ins and outs of recruiting is critical for client satisfaction and candidate experience. Recruiting is a constant whirlwind of sourcing candidates, shepherding them and hiring managers (HMs) to move through the process efficiently, negotiating salaries, and likely quite a bit of stewardship. There are great tools and platforms to keep you organized and streamlined throughout this process, such as Recruit CRM for agency recruiters or Greenhouse for internal recruiters. But even with the tools, you need to know what the HM is responsible for because many HMs are not actually trained in best practices. Recruiters have learned to do the tasks required for successful talent acquisition. They're trained on who should be performing specific functions, as well as company on-brand company communications and how an InMail or email sequence needs to look and be delivered. You might be saying, well, I get those email sequences from recruiters all the time. I can see the messages, I can see the things that don't work….Yes, maybe. But you also need to know how to craft them. You also need to know how to talk to other candidates and engineers to get exactly what the company needs, as well as understand whether a candidate will end up leaving a few months later. Additionally, there is the tricky navigation of negotiating salaries and equity.

Lastly, as far as training goes, you should consider your soft social skills and whether you've ever considered yourself a "people person." Recruiting is often about making a connection between you, the candidate, and the HM. There's the additional piece of potential business development as well, so let's throw in future clients. Knowing how to network and build relationships will make the whole process run smoother.

You know engineers…almost too well

Having a wealth of knowledge from working or studying as an engineer can add extreme value, almost giving an organization the impression that they finally have someone who can fix all their recruiting problems. I caution you to be conscious of this, both from an expectation-setting and a potential bias-forming perspective. Being an engineer previously gives you clarity into how other engineers might approach problems, describe projects they've worked on, or explain how certain functions might operate, which is great! But keep that from getting in the way of how a candidate might differ from you, or not meet your own expectations. You are supporting the company and what they need, so keeping that in mind will help to ensure a fair evaluation.

Summary

The bottom line is that software engineers can make some of the best tech recruiters. Figuring out your area of focus, training up on tools, skills & experience, and keeping in mind that your engineering perspective is helpful, but not the only way, can help you succeed in this industry. All the knowledge and ability is there, so if you play your cards right, you could actually make more than you did as an engineer. So how cool is that?

Check out Thriversity ’s Full-Cycle Tech Recruiter course to get the training you need to be a successful tech recruiter.