Are you making it harder than it needs to be to hire good tech people?

Hiring someone with specialist technical skills isn't always straightforward, particularly when you're recruiting for an area where you don't have the same level of technical knowledge yourself.

You want to make the right decision. You need to know that the person you're hiring can do the job, work well with your team and deliver what the business needs.

And understandably, you want to feel confident before making an offer.

But sometimes, in trying to get that reassurance, recruitment processes become more complicated than they need to be.

More interviews, more technical tests, more people involved in assessing the candidate.

And there's a risk that the very person you're hoping to hire starts to lose interest.

Technical assessments have their place

I'm certainly not suggesting that businesses shouldn't assess someone's technical ability. Far from it.

But there's a difference between assessing someone properly and asking them to repeatedly prove the same things.

If you're not technically confident in the area you're recruiting for, think about who could help you make that assessment.

Perhaps there's someone within the business with relevant expertise, or an external technical specialist who could support the process.

Agree what you actually need to establish before the interviews begin.

What does the person need to be able to do? What technical skills are essential? And what would give you enough confidence to make a decision?

A well-planned technical conversation or relevant practical assessment can be far more useful than several rounds of testing without a clear purpose.

Remember what the process feels like for the candidate

While you're trying to establish whether someone is right for your business, they're deciding whether your business is right for them.

If they're being asked to complete lengthy assessments, attend multiple interviews and repeatedly demonstrate skills they've already discussed, they may start to question whether the opportunity is worth pursuing.

Particularly if they're already busy in their current role.

And it's not just about the time involved. The way you recruit gives candidates an impression of how your business operates.

Are decisions clear? Is communication good? Do people respect their time?

These things matter.

Confidence comes from asking the right questions

Good recruitment isn't about removing checks or rushing decisions.

It's about making sure every stage has a purpose.

Be clear about the skills you need, involve the right people in assessing them and avoid adding stages simply because you're still unsure.

Sometimes what you need isn't another interview. It's a better conversation about what you're actually trying to establish.

At Your Tech Future, we help businesses work through these questions so they can make informed hiring decisions without making the process unnecessarily difficult for candidates.

If you're finding a technology role difficult to recruit for, it might be worth looking at the recruitment process itself, not just the candidates you're attracting.