Wysdom Consulting Blog Does your IT recruitment agency have what it takes?

The foundation of any successful IT firm is the ability to recruit top talent; and behind every successful candidate placed is a great recruiter.However anyone can claim to be an IT recruiter, or have an IT recruitment line of business, so how do you know which firm to choose?Here are four requirements recruiters should meet to be considered specialists in IT:Education & Experience in ITWhen hiring IT recruiters, look at their qualifications. Have they graduated with a tech designation or worked in the technology sector? Also, talk with them and assess the depth of their knowledge. "If your IT recruiter doesn't have a background in the field, they won't be able converse with clients intelligently or screen candidates accurately," says JT Lalli, Partner at Wysdom Consulting Group, a firm that specializes in IT recruitment. "They don't have to be experts in everything, but when staffing a programmer, for example, the recruiter should know the difference between ASP and ASP.NET, C#.NET and VB.NET, Java and JavaScript, UML and XML." Up-To-Date on IT News & TrendsThe more an IT recruiter can get inside the heads of its clients and candidates, the more successful they'll be at finding an ideal match. Great IT recruiters have a passion for technology. They ask questions and read trade publications regularly to keep abreast of the latest developments in the industry they recruit. "A key reason we're successful at helping tech firms hire the best IT professionals is our backgrounds," says Lalli. "We can place IT professionals because we are IT professionals. We know the industry inside and out. We get it."Strong NetworkGreat IT recruiters keep their fingers on the pulse of the industry on an ongoing basis. Check out their LinkedIn profile to see if they network with other IT professionals and participate in key industry groups or events. "You'll know if you're working with a specialized IT recruiter if they know the right places to look for talent," says Lalli. "You should never pay an IT recruiter for candidates you can source by placing an ad on a job board such as Monster. They should have a deeper network they can tap into to find your dream candidate."Insight into the Skill-SetThorough knowledge of the industry and its job requirements mean IT recruiting specialists can evaluate IT candidates better than general recruiters can. For example, they can conduct hands-on assessments (for example, asking a candidate to install and configure software and hardware from scratch) or pose scenario-based questions (such as asking a candidate to outline how they would structure a software development initiative or primary functions of domain controllers). They can also weigh skills and qualifications against job requirements to make the right judgment. "We know that the best programmer may not have the best interviewing abilities because this entails a different skill set" says Lalli. "But because we've worked in IT ourselves, we know how to evaluate qualifications properly to identify why a particular candidate may or may not be a perfect fit a particular role."So when you choose a recruitment firm, make sure you find someone who meets all of the requirements above. You'll not only increase your chances of finding the best candidates to fill your roles, but also increase your chances of business success. After all, a company is only as strong as the people it hires.