Recently, we highlighted What Type of Recruiters Are Most In-Demand?, where we found Technical Recruiters to be the most commonly advertised niche recruiting job. Today, we wanted to review this recruiting specialization to see what the labor market looks like. Technical recruiting encompasses both engineering and IT jobs. During the past 60 days, demand for Technical Recruiter jobs grew 13% over the same 60-day period last year, according to data from WANTED Analytics. Occupations in these fields also saw higher demand during the same time period, up 3% in both engineering and IT. The percentage growth in these fields isn't as high as rising demand for Technical Recruiters, but it may signal that employers are planning to increase IT and engineering hiring in the 4th quarter or in 2015.

Technical Recruiters were most in-demand in the New York; San Francisco; Washington, DC; and Seattle metro areas. Amazon, ADP, and Facebook had the highest number of job ads posted online for this recruiting specialty. These businesses have headquarters in the metro areas where demand is the greatest. These and other companies commonly require candidates to have the following skills.

Most Required Technical Recruiting Skills

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

As may be expected, technical recruiting is the most sought after ability for Technical Recruiters. However, this skill set is only advertised in 34% of Technical Recruiter job ads. The title of the position may make it clear that technical recruiting is a prerequisite for the position. The other most commonly advertised skills are applicant tracking software (ATS), software development, full lifecycle recruiting, and social networking sites. ATS, technical recruiting, and full lifecycle recruiting were also in-demand across all recruiting jobs. 

Currently, there are 209,000 qualified Recruiters employed in the US workforce. Of that candidate supply, about 16% (33,000) currently work as Technical Recruiters. An even smaller percentage have technical recruiting skills listed on their resume, 4%. Since a small percentage of Recruiters have the technical experience, this may be a skill that companies may choose to train on the job.

Percent of Recruiters That Are Technical Recruiters 

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

The Technical Recruiter candidate supply is largest in the New York metro area. Despite having more candidates with these qualifications, it won't be easy to recruit in this area because of the competition for talent. New York scores a 66 on our Hiring Scale, indicating that it will be moderately difficult to source Technical Recruiters in this metro area. Our Hiring Scale score ranges from 1 - 99, with 99 meaning hardest-to-fill. On average across the US, conditions are likely to be more challenging, scoring a 77. Employers filling these positions may want to look for Recruiters without specific technical recruiting experience. Companies should consider looking for candidates that are adaptable and quick learners, so that they can gain information about engineering or IT on the job. Set up a program or meetings between your Recruiter and your technical employees or enroll candidates in tech classes to expose them to concepts in the field. Employers may also want to consider hiring IT and engineering professionals that understand the skills required in open positions and may have insight into sourcing qualified candidates. 

Are you filling Technical Recruiter jobs? How are you overcoming challenges to find talent? Are you a looking to improve your own technical skills? Do you have this ability listed on your resume?