Things I Know - Career Tips from a Technology Resourcer

Its that time again for "Things I know" interview from the latest Recruitment Matters Magazine...with Derek Brown, Managing Director of Technology Resourcing, gives us his career tips.

It’s good to know your own strengths

What works for us might not work for some of the other, very different recruiters. When I set up Technology Resourcing 19 years ago I wanted to deliver a true consultancy service rather than the commodity service I’d experienced with other recruitment companies. As well as securing the best people for our client’s businesses, we also have the experience and ability to sit down and consult with them, which they truly value. We invest an immense amount of time getting under their skin, asking them what their challenges are going to be over the next 12 months, how we can help them meet those challenges and so on.

It all comes down to hiring the best people

Part of what makes us different, I think, is that we only hire people who are capable of consulting at that high level. We have a very rigorous hiring process, with two or three interview stages, personality profiling and intelligence tests. The people we end up hiring are able to think on their feet and are instantly credible in front of our clients and candidates.

Specialist knowledge is less important than the ability to learn

I started life as an electronics engineer, before moving into project management and eventually recruitment, which has obviously been a useful grounding. That said, though, I’ve learned that for our business, where we specialise in very specific technology niches, it remains far more important to hire intelligent consultants with the core competencies we demand rather than industry specialists or sales people. Of course, we then need to develop them further to conduct our highly technical assessments, which they need to be able to understand and be confident on. Our clients often help us with this training, which has been brilliant, benefitting us all.

Company politics can be tricky

Nineteen years ago I left a large recruitment company because of internal politics and power plays, so I’m adamant that in Tech-Res the best employees are recognised not for how they play the corporate game but for the quality of service they deliver and, of course, the revenue they contribute.