PERFECT CANDIDATES DON’T EXIST, BUT THE RIGHT ONES DO, NET-RECRUTE SHARES HR INSIGHTS

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With the ever changing market dynamics when it comes to recruitment and retention, companies are on the lookout for the ‘perfect’ candidate to join immediately, and talents are seeking opportunities to grow and thrive. How can the two sides come together to create more value? Net-Recrute’s General Manager for the Middle East, Fady Sayegh (FS), shares his insights on hiring strategies, the most in-demand skills in tech and the power of people-led innovation.

BDD: Where did the idea for Net-Recrute stem from?

FS: Net-Recrute’s founders are IT and technology experts and many headhunters were presenting us with new opportunities. One opportunity after another, we found that many headhunters do not master the IT industry and aren’t aware which competencies are needed for any given job. Another layer of challenges arose, when many of them could not describe the company’s strategic goals and its technological needs. So we decided to bridge this divide and founded Net-Recrute, to recruit the right talent in the right place, because we believe innovation is people-driven.

BDD: Is Lebanon a good market to hire talent from?

FS: All the markets that we cover, across Europe and the Middle East, are extremely dynamic and the demand for what we do is growing during the pandemic. The market is opening up lots of opportunities in Lebanon due to the fact that we have good talent, good universities and salary scales are competitive compared to the European and American markets. We are working with many clients to set up their businesses or technical centers in Lebanon.

BDD: Can you outline the trends in HR? How is the practice changing?

FS: Nowadays, companies are looking for talent with an equal share of excellent soft and technical skills. In a very competitive market, retention becomes crucial. This is why, some companies are paying attention to their onboarding processes to ensure that the employees’ integration is smooth and the deadlines are respected. Most companies are looking for mid-level and senior staff since they do not have time to train and teach fresh graduates.

BDD: So how do you guarantee matching the right candidate with the organization’s needs?

FS: This is a difficult matter. In fact, we need to understand the client’s requirements perfectly. We have the obligation to guide the client and fine-tune their requirements since, in some cases, they tend to draft job descriptions that are extremely difficult to match, and want candidates to join at the soonest.

At Net-Recrute, we have our own recruitment methodology that we enhanced over time to raise the level of quality which is key in this sphere. We have a very strict screening and qualification process. In fact our job is centered on filtering out candidates, rather than qualifying them for the role. We have a team of 4 technical experts that assess the technical skills of every candidate and we have our recruitment officers and consultants that are trained in the IT industry and are qualified to screen CVs based on a high level of technical assessment.

BDD: You share that you ‘recruit better and faster’. Can you elaborate on that?

FS: The demand in the IT industry is bigger than the offer. Companies are looking for talents that are very hard to come by and in most cases, they do not find. If they do not ask for professional recruitment assistance, such as what Net-Recrute offers, they will spend a long time looking for the adequate resources. Our active pool of candidates, our unparalleled understanding of the IT market, as well as the businesses of our clients, are in fact our assets, enabling the successful recruitment of qualified candidates happen in a short period of time.

BDD: We often do not hear from the candidates what their needs and aspirations are. Can you share any insights?

FS: This is a great question. At Net-Recrute, we treat our candidates the same way we treat our clients. First we owe them respect, professionalism and also we have to provide them better opportunities. More importantly, we work for their good and wellbeing, seeing that we never try to hire someone in the wrong place, as we believe it is unethical.  We work with our candidates’ on the long term, even though a candidate is not hired for a position, we have the commitment to find them another opportunity matching their requirements. We hear our candidates’ needs and we do our best to match them, in addition to guiding them throughout their careers. This starts with strong resume building, at no fees, coupled with long-term professional relationships with all of our candidates.

BDD: What are the most in-demand skills that candidates should have to differentiate themselves from others?

FS: Regarding the technical skills, the IT industry has become very diverse, especially with the internet revolution and the rise of smart devices. Currently we have hundreds of technologies in each IT sector. For developers we have scarcity in the new technology stack like the MERN and the MEAN. We also have scarcities in the mobile development area, needs in the QA field, and needs in the cloud architecture. Moreover, we have critical needs in security.

We advise all professionals in the IT field to leave their comfort zone, and then to keep their expectations acceptable since the clients are willing to provide good packages and benefits. Concurrently, companies understand the market and base their salary scales based on grids.

BDD: How important is the power of one’s network to find a job?

FS: This is the most important aspect for the job seeker and even in general we all need to have a good network. And this starts by having a very strong and updated LinkedIn profile, as well as posting, liking and sharing resources on the platform. They need to be active on technical forums and blogs, and in the community such as that of BDD, that provides an ecosystem to meet likeminded professionals.

BDD: What advice can you give companies that are seeking talent? And talent that are seeking opportunities to find the right match?

FS: For all companies, we understand that they might be looking for the perfect candidate. But we caution them to be make some compromises to make the recruitment happen. Our advice is to stop looking for the perfect candidate, which does not exist. The more complex the requirements are, the more challenging and longer the recruitment process is.

For candidates, we advise them to not apply to any opportunity if you are not willing to move, this will makes you lose time and effort for nothing. It will make both the recruiter and the employer lose time, and can have talent flagged as not serious, which will impact future opportunities.

For more on Net-Recrute, visit www.net-recrute.net

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