10 ways to tell that IT recruitment & project resourcing has turned into a Catch-22 numbers game.

10 ways to tell that IT recruitment & project resourcing has turned into a Catch-22 numbers game. Tell us what you think? Do you agree?

In an industry that prides itself on innovation & human-centric solutions, we're facing an ironic paradox.

Companies globally chant the mantra that "people are our greatest asset." Yet, when it comes to tech project resourcing, why is there a stark disconnect?Our recruitment methodologies & processes, designed to be the gateway to these future 'assets,' often reduce candidates to mere numbers.

The tech recruitment industry has turned into a classic Catch-22 – one that we know is broken, but we just seem to accept without questioning.

So, based on my industry experience, let’s explore the process & see where the problem lies:

1️⃣ Organisations seem to need an endless supply of tech talent

2️⃣ Organisations often engage multiple recruiters simultaneously, or contingently – they don’t seem to trust that only one recruiter can supply

3️⃣ With high recruitment industry competition, large organisations tend squeeze recruiters on profit to save cost in exchange for access to volume

4️⃣ With high competition generally comes low average success rates (win 25%, lose 75%) - recruiters play a transactional speed & volume game to earn profit

5️⃣ Multiple recruiters automatically advertise the same vacancy on multiple internet job boards (Seek, Indeed, LinkedIn Jobs)

6️⃣ Candidates receive multiple job board notifications about the same vacancy, over-hyping the market, increasing candidate expectations & asking rates

7️⃣ Many candidates apply, creating large volumes of applications that are difficult for recruiters to respond to appropriately

8️⃣ Hiring managers are inundated with resumes from multiple recruiters, creates time pressure & slows the hiring process. A lack of trust (or not knowing the candidates) also slows the process

9️⃣ Recruitment campaign focus on successful candidates - it is not uncommon for all unsuccessful candidates to not receive meaningful feedback & be ghosted.

🔟 Not all vacancies & job ads result in successful hires – some ads are duplicates, market tests, referred candidates, filled internally, funding or headcount withdrawn etc etc

What's missing here? Trust. It's the cornerstone that seems to have slipped through the cracks in our current numbers game. We must pivot back to what matters: relationships, respect, & recognition of individual talent.Let's shift from high-volume tactics to high-value strategies that provide true value to everyone in this critical process.The change starts with us. Ready to join the movement for a more trustworthy tech recruitment landscape?