Why the Hell are CTOs Wasting their Time Trying to be Recruiters?

Some time ago I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is the owner and CTO of a small technology company. When I asked him what his ideal employee looked like, he answered "a Ruby developer who speaks English and works hard, but doesn't care about unit tests and 'cool' projects." He went on to tell me that he does all of his own hirings, and he doesn't search for candidates on any platforms because he doesn't have any time.

After listening to all of this, I responded "what the hell are you doing, man?"

Why is he, the owner/CTO of this company, worried about recruiting?

There is a plethora of other important matters to attend to that cannot be delegated. The extent of his recruiting efforts should be filtering an already-curated list of candidates, not searching from scratch. There's a lot of money in the IT field, and while CTOs waste their time learning the basics of recruiting to reach your talent, competitors are hiring that talent.

My friend isn't the only tech leader in this situation. Lots of small companies don't have automated recruitment and hiring processes. CTOs don't know how and where to search for talents. They don't know the norms, platforms, companies. They use Google.

Companies aren't always fond of classic recruiting either. It's expensive; recruiting can cost as much as $30,000 for a single candidate, and that cost offers no guarantee that the new hire will stay for any particular amount of time.

All of this paints a picture of CTOs as hostages of a situation where either they have to spend tens of thousands of dollars for a recruiter to find candidates, or they have to try (often unsuccessfully) to do it themselves, because those are the only two options. However, there is a third option that should be considered – outsourcing recruiting altogether.

Disclosure of vested interest: The author, Sasha Bondar, is the founder of Reintech, a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) service provider. This article serves to educate, not advertise, but a link to Reintech's website will be provided at the end of this article for any interested readers.

Reasons to outsource your tech recruitment process

Save time

The recruitment process is lengthy and time-consuming. Taking time to screen resumes, interview candidates, and check references can take a lot of time. Wouldn't this time be better spent focusing on other core operations of the business that you are more knowledgeable about?

Improve the quality of hires

Companies often fail to employ the best-qualified candidates, and it's not because they are offering a low salary. The best-qualified candidates are off the market within 10 days, and most companies miss out on hiring them because they don't look in the right places. Outsourcing your hiring process

will solve this problem. RPO service providers know where to look, who to approach, and who is the best-suited candidate for you.

Reduce costs

Hiring is an expensive process. From advertisement posting to background screening and reference checking, hiring is both a lengthy and expensive process. Outsourcing your recruitment process can help you cut down on your expenses. Outsourcing recruitment or any process also saves you the in- house staffing cost. RPO service providers provide varying levels of service, so you can choose to outsource a part of your recruitment process or the whole recruitment process, depending on your budget and needs.

Increase speed and efficiency of hiring

A good outsourcing company can deliver candidates in the shortest amount of time possible. Outsourcing your recruiting allows you to minimize the amount of time between deciding that you need more staff and hiring and onboarding new staff.

Sustainability

Once you start working with a reputable outsourcing company, you will realize that one of the greatest benefits is consistent access to their talent channels. Because of this access, outsourcing should be viewed as a sustainable, long-term solution to recruitment and hiring challenges.

Results are proven

You can outsource your recruitment needs to an agency that has years of experience finding the right candidates for all manner of roles in the tech industry.

What makes a great CTO?

Returning to the story of my friend, it was clear to me that he suffered from the same thing that so many small business founders suffer from; wanting to do everything and be everything for everyone. It's no small task to found a company, and it's understandable that he wants to do everything in an effort to maintain control over the fruits of his labors. However, I helped him to see that the best way for him to help his company was to focus his time and efforts on the area he has the most knowledge and expertise on - the technology side.

I believe there are some characteristics that define a great CTO:

• They have deep knowledge and understanding of technology,
• They know all the technology stacks being used in the company they currently work in,
• They deeply understand programming architecture,
• They are skilled at reading people.*

*A quick note about this last one - yes, it is important to have some HR and "people" skills in a CTO role. In larger companies, the CTO may delegate some tasks to their tech leads, who control the more granular and day-to-day processes, while the CTO focuses on the development process at a more holistic level. However, in a small company or startup, the CTO will likely be communicating more directly with the development team.

All in all, the level of responsibility, qualification, and communication skills play a crucial role in differentiating a great CTO from an average one.

Wrapping up

If you are a CTO reading this, I want you to know that the best way you can contribute to your company is by being a technology leader, not as an all-in-one sourcer, recruiter, interviewer, and hiring manager. Focusing on the technology and the product is how you bring value to your company, and if you outsource your recruitment efforts you will still be able to have as much control over candidate selection as you like. The difference, of course, is that you won't need to spend your time doing a recruiter's job as well as yours.

If you're ready to make the change into outsourcing your recruiting, or at least want to explore the option more closely, contact me at Reintech to see how much better your recruiting and hiring processes can get.