10 Top Questions IT Recruiters Should Be Asking

Having an expert information technology (IT) recruiter by your side is a must in the competitive job market of today. IT staffing firms utilize their wide network of business relationships to connect employers in need with experienced and knowledgeable professionals in order to fill IT positions of all kinds. IT staffing companies find pre-screened, well-versed, and available professionals that your business wouldn’t be able to access otherwise.

Finding the right partner in staffing is the key to success, and one way to ensure you’ve found the right staffing agency for you is to see what kind of questions they ask during your initial consultations.

Below, we’ve listed ten questions that a great IT recruiter should be asking and why.

Table of Contents

1. What are your current staffing needs?

When employers are looking for IT talent, there is often a specific need they are looking to fill. When meeting with potential IT staffing agencies, they should first ask you for details about the staffing needs you have and what kind of IT professionals you’re looking to hire. Then they can better understand what area within IT they are filling.

Some of the most in-demand IT jobs that an IT staffing company can help with are:

Security Specialist
Cloud Professional
Database Administrator
Analysts (Programs, Systems, etc.)
Developer (Web, Mobile Application, Software, etc.)
Network Administrator
Engineer
Help Desk Support Professional (On-Site, Off-Site)
IT Consultant
Managed Service Provider

When deciding which IT staffing organization to work with, ask if there are any specific areas of IT that they specialize in. This can help ensure a good match for both parties.

2. What are your future staffing needs?

A great IT staffing agency doesn’t just want your business for a one-and-done project. The best IT recruiters out there want to form long-lasting business relationships and have a vested interest in businesses’ successes. When first discussing things with a potential IT staffing firm, notice if they ask questions about where your business and industry are headed. This can be a great way to tell if they care about your organization and want to be a part of its growth.

3. What is your budget for staffing?

It may seem uncouth to discuss finance parameters at an initial consultation, but it’s better to know sooner rather than later whether or not a staffing agency is in your budget. IT recruiters should ask questions about a potential client’s budget early on to avoid wasting anyone’s time.

If you’re unsure how to set a budget for your staffing agency, get multiple quotes from companies in your area to determine what the going rates may be.

4. What are your preferred staffing methods?

Just as every job opening is different, so is every method used to fill it. IT staffing companies have a wide range of experience filling open positions with various methods. Which method is right for you may depend on a variety of factors, including the types of IT professionals you’re looking for, how many people you’re looking to hire, the services you need new hires to provide, and more.

Types of IT Staffing Methods

There are many types of IT staffing methods out there. IT recruiters will usually have experience in all of them and can help explain what type of staffing method might be best for your needs. Staffing methods include:

Contract

Temporary

Contract-to-Hire

Project Staff Augmentation

Staff Outsourcing

Contingency Search

Retained Search

5. What are your staffing priorities?

The goal of working with a staffing professional is to find the best possible fit for your needs. Whether you are looking to fill an IT consulting or network security position, it’s important that your staffing team understand what is most important to you throughout the staffing process. Do you care most about finding an employee within the budget or would you be willing to expand the salary range to find a more qualified candidate? These types of distinctions can be important knowledge for your IT staffing firm to ask about.

6. What is your company's culture like?

Before they begin searching for the right person for you, recruiters should have a solid understanding of what it’s like to work for your company. This is because it’s equally important to your business as it is to job seekers to have a good match culture-wise. How does your business value work-life balance? What are the benefits available to employees? What is your reputation like with existing employees? These types of questions help establish company culture for staffers who can then find employees who would integrate well.

7. What are your core values?

Being a recruiter is more than just scanning resumes and finding available talent. It’s also about finding solid matches for both employers and employees so they can maintain a long and successful business partnership. Knowing your organization’s core values can help set staffers up for success.

8. What is your interviewing process like?

Understanding how your business normally handles the interview process can help staffing organizations determine what might be tripping up your search for the perfect employee. By knowing how your internal staffing team handles sourcing, vetting, and interviewing, an IT recruitment agency can provide changes or improvements to help streamline the process for all involved. In many instances, the staffing agency will take over the bulk of interviewing for you.

9. What are your onboarding procedures?

Onboarding is the part of the hiring process in which employees (temporary, contract-to-hire, or permanent) are introduced to and integrated into the company and their role within it. A solid onboarding process typically includes detailed introductions, training sessions, the filling out of necessary paperwork, and other helpful processes that ensure an employee has what they need to succeed.

By understanding your onboarding procedures, IT staffing agencies can offer advice on where to make improvements and even take over some of the more mundane processes. This alleviates strain on human resources, or HR, departments and frees up time for helping new hires integrate more quickly and easily.

10. What are your retention rates?

Employee retention rate refers to what percentage of employees stay on-staff for a company from one point in time to another. Retention rates say a lot about a business in terms of how well it’s run, how happy employees are, and what issues there may be in the scouting, hiring, interviewing, and onboarding process.

An IT staffing agency asking about your company’s retention rates can help them determine why your employee turnover is what it is. If it’s higher than you’d like for permanent or contract employees, they can provide insight into changes that can be made to help ensure longer placement. If it’s right where it needs to be, they can help your business continue to hold the same standards and benefits for employees to keep them happy.

10 Top Questions an IT Recruiter Should Be Asking to Bring You the Right Employees