2024-04-11 00:18:05
Application of the Bulgarian start-up company – TalentSight, helps recruitment specialists in the process of finding suitable candidates in the IT field.
The idea for the platform was born in March of last year between three programmers – Alexander Gekov, Todor Ranchev and Krasimir Dyulgerov, who often encountered problems in their communication with personnel selection specialists and discrepancies in the understanding of a given technical position.
In an interview with BTA, they talked about the problems of finding personnel in the IT field, as well as about market trends.
Finding the right candidates for a given IT position is quite time-consuming, as most recruiters lack technical knowledge. Looking at the profiles available on the various platforms, often the technical information is highly specific, making it difficult for recruiters. Accordingly, it takes time to analyze the technical profile of a candidate and in which field of programming he is a specialist, Alexander said.
He noted that recruiters do not use a wide enough range of methods to search for candidates, but rely on current market decisions, thereby missing candidates who are suitable for a given position. Platforms like “job boards” or others of this type target only 30% of candidates who are actively looking for a job. The more qualified personnel, which make up 70% of the market, must be found proactively, Alexander pointed out.
There are two types of candidates in the selection process. Active candidates who are actively looking for a job, but there are also passive candidates who tend to change jobs for better conditions, said Todor. According to him, active candidates prefer job posting platforms. He explained that they focus on the larger problem of hiring candidates who aren’t actively looking for work, but are often more valuable candidates with more experience. What we are doing is optimizing the process for attracting candidates, he pointed out.
Problems between programmers and selection specialists
There is a huge disconnect in language and terminology, in the technical jargon that we programmers use and the one that recruiters use. A recruiter is often not a technical person, which creates some distance and misunderstanding, Todor said. In his words, the recruiter tries to present the best opportunity for a given candidate, but without being fully aware of the specific technical knowledge of the candidate. The IT field, as well as medicine, are fields that are developing at a rapid pace, which requires a person to be constantly informed in order to keep up with new technologies. This is also where the gap between the basic technical knowledge of the selection specialist and the more narrowly specialized knowledge of the candidate himself, explained Todor.
According to Alexander, the main problem is communication. A recruiter reads a candidate’s resume, but must analyze the candidate’s suitability by understanding the technical specification. We are working to strengthen this relationship between programmers and people who want to offer them a good but also relevant opportunity, he explained.
What we do for recruiters is save them time by allowing them to navigate faster and find suitable candidates, Alexander added.
It takes a long time for recruiters to find enough comprehensible information about a candidate, searching through a sea of candidates. The search process slows down until the specialist comes across a potential candidate they want to find out more about, Todor noted.
Optimization of personnel selection
Our application focuses on a dedicated search engine that screens relevant candidates for a given role. This is also key for the industry, Todor pointed out. He noted that currently recruiters use platforms like LinkedIn for a similar type of search engine, although LinkedIn has a dedicated account for recruiters, it remains a professional social network. It is a professional social network that is not specialized, and accordingly its functionalities are not aimed directly at facilitating the work of personnel selection specialists. We use AI to summarize the profiles of potential candidates and rank them based on a given search by key characteristics. Based on this information, we make an assessment that ranks candidates by relevance to the search made, Todor said, adding that TalentSight is a Google search engine for IT candidates.
Trends in the IT staffing market
According to official data, open positions in companies have decreased significantly. At the same time, there are quite a few novice programmers who fall into that 30% of active job seekers. But the demand for mid and senior programmers is high. It’s already reducing the tendency for whoever applies to be approved in order to train, Alexander explained. He noted that TalentSight is also an option for passive candidates who can be found by a recruiter.
An overall shrinking of the companies’ budgets in the direction of training new personnel is also observed, Ranchev added. The demand for quality in the market is increasing, not so much for quantity. And the quality in most cases depends on the passive candidates with experience, he explained.
AI and candidate selection
In the last little over a year, AI has become a hot topic. We see many new solutions in various industries such as recruitment. The difference is that in other areas AI is entering more quickly. In the recruiting industry, it’s a bit more difficult for professionals to find an application for AI, Todor pointed out. He explained that AI can help in the selection process and refine the work of specialists accordingly.