96% of tech employees don’t believe recruiters are best at evaluating candidates

Nearly all (96%) tech employees don’t think recruiters are the best at evaluating prospective hires, a Blind report found. The majority (66%) of employees instead said that team members would be better at recruiting candidates. 

SEE: Recruiting and hiring top talent: A guide for business leaders (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

The main reason behind employee skepticism of recruiters is experience. Employees feel like recruiters are less qualified to assess a candidate’s technical capabilities, since many recruiters don’t have actual tech backgrounds, the data found. 

Some respondents said it was common for the recruiters to bring in 10 resumes, but for all of the options to be sub par. Employees said they felt like they could do a better job bringing in talent, since they know what skills are necessary for the job.

What about using AI for hiring? 

Companies have begun turning to artificial intelligence (AI) as a mode for faster and less-biased recruiting. 

IBM, for example, launched Watson Recruitment’s Adverse Impact Analysis capability to remove bias from the hiring process. CareerBuilder followed a similar route, using AI for skills-based hiring decisions.

While using AI for recruiting has its merits, particularly with being able to sift through large volumes of data at a quick pace, there is something to be said for recruiting the old-fashioned way.  

Employee referral 

One useful tactic focused on in the research was employee referrals. The professional community doesn’t typically look highly upon referral programs, as some employees will refer anyone because their reputation is relying on it. The data proves otherwise, however. 

Nearly three-fourths (74%) of respondents said they wouldn’t have an issue referring someone they didn’t personally know, as long as they are a qualified candidate. 

With professionals willing to give a referral to any qualified candidate, Rooftop Slushie–Blind’s career advice and recruiting platform–created an online platform where employees can request and fulfill referrals. Users can pay other users for referral completions. 

The site has seen more than 2,000 fulfilled referrals, with 37% of referred candidates receiving an onsite interview at the companies where they applied. 

Referred candidates reportedly had a 95% response rate with a decision rather than not receiving a decision at all, according to Rooftop Slushie. 

With unemployment being so low, referrals can help candidates get the bump they need to land jobs. 

For more, check out LinkedIn launches ‘Ask for a Referral’ feature to use your network to help land a job on TechRepublic. 

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