IT Recruitment Consultant: Our Experience

Tatia Tatoshvili

Last updated on February 10, 2026 | 17 min read

BusinessConsultingIT marketIT RecruitmentOutsourcing

• IT recruitment is increasingly competitive, demanding deep technical understanding, structured evaluation, and precise market insight to identify and retain top talent.
• This article explores how IT recruitment consulting helps organizations address these challenges through best practices and real-world insights.

Introduction

Finding the right IT professionals has become one of the biggest obstacles for growing companies. The market is crowded, competition is intense, and roles such as senior backend engineers, DevOps specialists, data engineers, and AI practitioners require a level of understanding that goes far beyond reading a CV. This is where an experienced IT recruitment consultant adds genuine value, identifying professionals who can thrive in fast-moving, technology-driven organizations.

The scale of the challenge is clear. According to a 2024 Deloitte study, seven in ten technology professionals received multiple job offers before accepting a position, showing how limited and in-demand qualified talent has become.

In addition, CIPD’s 2024 Resource and Talent Planning Report found that over 50% of organizations see a rising volume of unsuitable applicants even as overall hiring pressures intensify.

That’s why, in times of scarcity, the companies that succeed are those guided by consultants who combine technical fluency with an understanding of people and markets. The right partner helps you make decisions that shape the long-term strength of your engineering organization.

At DevsData LLC, our consultants connect technical precision with strategy by using role-specific technical interviews, real-world problem-solving tasks, and calibrated scoring that aligns engineering depth with business priorities. Over the years, we’ve helped companies across Europe, Israel, and North America build teams that not only perform but stay. In this article, we’ll share what defines successful IT recruitment consulting and the lessons we’ve learned from working on some of the most demanding technical searches worldwide.

What is IT recruitment consulting?

IT recruitment consulting helps companies find and hire skilled technology professionals in a structured and strategic way. A good consultant understands how each role fits into the company’s goals, product roadmap, and long-term plans.

IT consultants have a deep understanding of technology. They can talk confidently about programming languages, frameworks, cloud systems, and development methodologies. This allows them to evaluate candidates on real technical ability, not just on years of experience. They also pay close attention to communication style, problem-solving approach, and how a person might integrate with the existing team.

IT recruitment consultants often work as an extension of the client’s internal HR or engineering department. They help define job requirements, benchmark salaries, analyze talent availability in different markets, and recommend sourcing strategies.

For smaller startups, this might involve finding one key engineer who can handle several areas of responsibility. For larger organizations, it can mean assembling entire engineering or DevOps teams across multiple regions.

In practice, IT recruitment consulting turns business priorities into concrete hiring decisions. It ensures that every hiring decision is informed, practical, and focused on building teams that will perform well and stay for the long run.

Typical roles recruited

Hiring for technical positions requires understanding the unique skill sets, responsibilities, and collaboration styles that define each role. From software engineers and DevOps experts to designers and technical product managers, every position contributes differently to a company’s digital ecosystem. Effective recruitment consulting ensures that these distinctions are clearly understood, allowing consultants to tailor evaluation and sourcing strategies for each discipline.

Each of these roles demands a distinct recruitment approach, from evaluating coding depth and automation accuracy to assessing design thinking and leadership capability. Specialized IT recruitment consulting brings the technical fluency and assessment frameworks needed to match not only skills but also mindset and team fit, ensuring that every hire contributes meaningfully to product quality and long-term success.

Why companies partner with IT recruitment consultants

Faster access to strong shortlists

The BLS reported that total annual hires fell by 5.8 million in 2023 to 70.8 million, reflecting reduced employer turnover and slower recruitment momentum. In such conditions, IT recruitment consultants interpret market data and turn it into actionable hiring strategy, advising where demand is highest, which roles take longer to fill, and how to adjust sourcing or pay accordingly. They improve efficiency by building structured recruitment frameworks, calibrated pipelines, and consistent feedback loops that reduce time-to-hire and prevent costly delays. Their established talent networks give access to vetted professionals who rarely appear on job boards, enabling companies to reach ready-to-interview candidates even when market activity is low.

Technical accuracy and reduced mis-hire risk

Software roles are projected to grow 15% from 2024 to 2034, with about 129,200 openings each year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This scale demands evaluators who can distinguish real technical depth from resume buzzwords and align skills with architecture needs. Consultants fluent in stacks, tooling, and system design reduce false positives early and keep interviews focused on the right candidates. Accurate evaluation also minimizes costly mis-hires. Gallup’s 2024 meta-analysis found that highly engaged teams deliver 23% higher profitability, showing how structured assessment and cultural fit translate into business performance. Using calibrated tests, scenario reviews, and reference checks, consultants identify professionals who excel technically and integrate smoothly into the organization.

Access to scarce roles in AI, data, and security

Companies report that even with plenty of tech applicants, truly qualified AI talent is rare and heavily contested, with top specialists commanding extraordinary compensation. A recent Wall Street Journal report highlights employers waiting months for elite AI hires because the bar is so high, which is where niche networks and proactive outreach matter most. Consultants who live in these communities open doors you will not reach through general channels.

Market intelligence and strategic foresight

Effective hiring depends on up-to-date insights on pay, role demand, and regional supply. OECD’s 2024 analysis shows ongoing ICT talent shortages across many countries, impacting both compensation and time-to-fill. Consultants turn this data into practical guidance, defining roles, salary ranges, and sourcing locations that match real market conditions. They also help companies plan ahead. Global forecasts indicate that talent shortages will persist through the decade. For example, the World Economic Forum analysis estimates that by 2030 global talent deficits could reach more than 85 million unfilled roles, leading to around $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenue across industries. Consultants provide long-term perspective, helping organizations adjust hiring strategies and secure sustainable access to critical talent.

Limits of automation in hiring

Even as automation continues to advance, human expertise remains critical across most technical domains. Many systems still rely on creative judgment, contextual understanding, and cross-functional collaboration, qualities that machines cannot yet replicate at scale. Skilled professionals bridge gaps between data, product vision, and business outcomes, ensuring technology serves real strategic goals. Consultants help organizations identify where human contribution adds the most value today and design hiring strategies that balance automation with expertise.

The key challenges in technical hiring

Scarcity of flexible postings and sharper competition

The supply of new remote or hybrid roles has thinned, which concentrates candidate demand on a smaller pool of flexible openings. As of November 2024, remote and hybrid postings on Indeed fell to about 7.8% from over 10% in 2022, and LinkedIn’s share dropped to roughly 21% from 26% two years earlier.

How we handle it at DevsData LLC

We run parallel searches across regions, keep always-on talent maps for core profiles, and present calibrated shortlists early so clients see strong candidates even when posting volumes are low.

Tightening hybrid expectations and reduced flexibility

UK hiring norms have shifted toward more in-office time. In 2025 through August, 85% of UK job postings mentioning hybrid work required at least two office days per week, up from 65% in 2022, indicating fewer truly flexible options for candidates.

How we handle it at DevsData LLC

We set expectations upfront on overlap windows and on-site cadence, segment searches by flexibility level, and align offer terms with current norms to avoid late-stage drop-offs.

Identity fraud and interview integrity risks

Cybercrime is rising and targeting business processes. The FBI’s IC3 received 859,532 complaints in 2024 with reported losses exceeding $16 billion, a 33% increase from 2023, underscoring the need for strict verification in remote hiring.

How we handle it at DevsData LLC

We conduct multi-step candidate verification to ensure authenticity and protect clients from fraud. This includes government ID and liveness checks, controlled interview environments with camera and microphone validation, structured work-sample tasks, and metadata-verified references. These safeguards ensure every presented candidate is genuinely qualified and identity-verified before the client interview stage.

Cross-border compliance and pay-transparency complexity

Pay-range disclosure has expanded and keeps evolving. The Minneapolis Fed notes that the share of postings with pay information has surged as state and local mandates proliferate, which raises the bar for accurate, location-specific ranges in multi-region searches.

How we handle it at DevsData LLC

We blueprint compensation by region with clear salary-band matrices, tax and benefits assumptions, and legal inputs, then synchronize these with hiring managers so offers are competitive and compliant across jurisdictions.

Uneven connectivity and infrastructure constraints

High-bandwidth work still depends on reliable home internet. After raising the US broadband benchmark to 100/20 Mbps in 2024, the FCC reported that 24 million Americans lack access to fixed broadband connectivity, a practical barrier for fully remote technical roles.

How we handle it at DevsData LLC

We verify connectivity during the process when appropriate, recommend equipment or stipend options, and emphasize asynchronous collaboration to lower dependence on live video during critical hiring steps and onboarding.

Tips for choosing the right consultant

Choosing the right consultant directly affects how strong and stable your tech teams will be. Here’s a quick comparison to help you spot great vs. poor consulting practices:

Real-world insights from our experience

Website: www.devsdata.com
Company size: ~60 employees
Founding year: 2016
Headquarters: Brooklyn, NY, and Warsaw, Poland

DevsData LLC is a trusted partner in IT recruitment consulting, helping global companies hire exceptional software engineers, data experts, DevOps specialists, and technology leaders. We treat recruitment as a strategic consulting process that blends technical understanding with data-driven evaluation to strengthen both team capability and business outcomes.

With a proprietary network of 65,000+ vetted professionals and a 60+ person team across the United States and Europe, we deliver qualified candidates quickly and precisely. Each applicant completes a rigorous, 90-minute problem-solving interview that tests both technical depth and analytical reasoning. This process also places strong emphasis on communication and collaboration skills, qualities essential for cross-functional, distributed teams. As a result, fewer than 6% of candidates pass our assessments, ensuring that only the most capable and well-rounded professionals reach our clients.

Operating under an official, government-approved recruitment license, DevsData LLC works on a success-fee model and provides a guarantee period for every hire. Our consultants have supported clients in FinTech, Healthcare, eCommerce, SaaS, and Education, completing 100+ projects for over 80 global clients. With consistent 5.0 ratings on Clutch and GoodFirms, we are recognized for precision, transparency, and measurable impact in IT recruitment consulting.

Successes and challenges in our process

Hiring AI and NLP specialists for Hypatos

Hypatos, an automation and AI company, needed to recruit senior developers specializing in natural language processing and machine learning, alongside product managers who could connect technical and commercial objectives. The challenge was sourcing candidates with both advanced AI expertise and strong product ownership experience within a limited timeframe.

To address this, we conducted in-depth role calibration sessions with Hypatos’s engineering and product leads to define precise success indicators, from algorithmic problem-solving to stakeholder communication. Our consultants then developed custom AI-domain test tasks that mirrored real data-classification and automation challenges faced by the company. Combined with structured technical interviews and analytical reasoning evaluations, this process filtered out theoretical specialists and identified professionals capable of translating research into deployable solutions. The result was the successful placement of several engineers and product managers who met both the technical and business expectations.

Key learning: for AI-driven roles, evaluating both algorithmic depth and product alignment is essential to ensure the new hires can deliver innovation that translates into measurable business value.

Building tech capacity for a Canadian publishing company

A leading Canadian publisher the Globe and Mail sought to modernize its digital infrastructure by hiring developers and data professionals across North America. The challenge was balancing editorial culture with agile software delivery and recruiting individuals comfortable with both legacy systems and modern tech stacks.

To ensure technical and cultural alignment, we combined structured technical interviews with portfolio-based evaluations and targeted soft-skills screening. Candidates participated in scenario discussions simulating cross-team collaboration with editorial staff, problem-solving exercises focused on communication under deadlines, and behavioral interviews assessing adaptability and openness to non-technical stakeholders. This blend of technical and interpersonal evaluation allowed us to identify professionals who could bridge newsroom context with engineering execution. We delivered five successful placements in under three months.

Key learning: when hiring for digital transformation, assessing adaptability and communication with non-technical teams is just as important as evaluating coding skills.

Recruiting cross-functional engineers for a fashion technology brand

In the fashion industry, our client needed full stack developers, designers, and data engineers to expand their eCommerce and analytics capabilities. The main challenge was finding professionals who combined technical proficiency with creative problem-solving and user-centric thinking. Through role-specific simulations and design-system familiarity checks, we filled 26 roles within ten weeks and supported a smooth integration process.

Key learning: in creative industries, technical recruitment must prioritize cross-functional collaboration and an understanding of user experience beyond the codebase.

Interactive quiz: Do you need an IT recruitment consultant?

Not sure if partnering with an IT recruitment consultant is the right move? Take this short self-assessment. Answer the questions below and count how many times you respond “Yes.”

Quiz questions

• Are your technical roles (developers, DevOps, data engineers) taking longer than six to eight weeks to fill despite active sourcing?
• Do you receive large volumes of applicants but few who pass technical screening or align with your engineering culture?
• Have recent hires failed to meet performance expectations within the first six months?
• Are your internal recruiters struggling to assess candidates’ coding, architecture, or problem-solving depth?
• Are you expanding into new regions and uncertain about local salary benchmarks or tech-talent availability?
• Do you want to reduce dependency on referrals or job boards and access vetted passive candidates instead?
• Are you planning to scale engineering capacity quickly but worry about quality and retention?

Results

Mostly yes: you’ll benefit from partnering with a specialized IT recruitment consultant who combines technical expertise with data-driven hiring processes. They can shorten time-to-hire, improve screening accuracy, and secure candidates who perform well and stay longer.

Mostly no: your current internal setup may be working effectively. Keep a consultant in mind for moments of accelerated growth, new market entry, or when hiring becomes more specialized and technically demanding.

Conclusion

IT recruitment consulting is not just an extension of general hiring, it is a specialized discipline that combines technical evaluation, market insight, and strategic advisory. Identifying engineers, data professionals, or DevOps experts who can genuinely elevate product quality requires more than resume screening. It requires both strong technical insight and a structured approach that connects business goals to effective hiring strategies.

The evidence is clear: global demand for software and AI professionals continues to rise, while the available talent pool remains limited. This imbalance makes hiring slower, costlier, and riskier for organizations that lack dedicated expertise.

Engaging an IT recruitment consultant helps companies navigate this challenge with accuracy and speed, ensuring that each hire contributes directly to long-term technical success.

At DevsData LLC, we focus on what matters most in IT recruitment: engineering excellence, cultural alignment, and measurable impact. Our consultants apply structured technical interviews, scenario-based assessments, and deep market knowledge to deliver candidates who integrate seamlessly into existing teams. With a vetted network of 65,000+ professionals, 100+ completed projects, and consistent 5.0 client ratings, we help organizations build teams that drive performance and innovation.

Whether you are scaling your engineering team, entering a new market, or hiring specialists for complex technical domains, partnering with DevsData LLC ensures precision, transparency, and lasting results.

Learn more at www.devsdata.com or contact general@devsdata.com.

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Tatia Tatoshvili Copywriter and Marketer

Tatia Tatoshvili is a Marketing and Communications professional with deep expertise in digital strategy and project management. Tatia’s experience includes implementing strategic marketing campaigns, elevating brand visibility, and building partnerships that expand education and job opportunities in the digital sector. She is passionate about fostering innovation and advancing digital literacy to create lasting impact.

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BusinessConsultingIT marketIT RecruitmentOutsourcing