Where Data meets Business
Artificial Intelligence
Navigating the Current Tech Talent Landscape
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Navigating the Current Tech Talent Landscape

Insights from the head of a leading tech recruitment agency

Podcast Guest: Mariano Allegra

In this episode, I had an informative conversation with Mariano Allegra who is the Head of Commercial Strategy at Lawrence Harvey (LH), one of the most well-known technology recruitment agencies.

In his role, Mariano partners with companies from the Fortune 10 to cutting-edge startups building in GenAI, cryptography, and decentralized tech platforms. Over the past 15 years, he’s helped scale world-class teams in data, cyber, infrastructure, and software.

More recently, Mariano has been instrumental in building impactful AI teams across industries, helping organizations navigate the evolving talent landscape. Over the past 9 years he has helped LH grow from 4 people in the USA to 200+. He’s also a recognized speaker at AI summits and a champion for philanthropic causes as a board member at the Go Project NYC.

We covered topics including -

  • The Changing Landscape of Recruitment in Tech

  • Recruitment Model and Candidate Engagement

  • Upskilling and the Importance of Continuous Learning

  • Company Concerns in Hiring and the Need for Exceptional Talent

  • Common Mistakes Candidates Make in Resume-Building

  • The Role of AI in Recruitment

Highlights from the Episode

The change in the tech talent market

  • Companies, which were fighting over talent back in 2021, now have the upper hand in recruitment. That makes the market a lot more competitive for talent which is seeking jobs.

  • Companies want to find the top people in a certain field. It used to be the role of technical interviews to weed out the weaker candidates in the pipeline. Now, companies want evidence and guarantee of technical competencies before even adding candidates to the pipeline.

  • Hiring is slower than it has been in the last few years with most recruitment cycles taking over two months.

  • Currently, most tech roles including leadership roles are ‘doer’ roles requiring almost ~60% of hands-on work because of the reduction in workforce at any places.

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What companies are focused on right now

  • Finding fewer but more exceptional talent; i.e. doing more with less headcount.

  • Getting leaner by switching to AI to increase productivity.

How candidates can stand out

  • Learn new skills in AI and your specific field through continuous learning.

  • Put evidence of your work and competencies on GitHub and other public platforms so that you can get discovered.

  • ‘Brag’ about what you are doing in your space.

Advice for resume-writing

  • Use AI to become better at writing your resume but make sure that the information is complete and accurate.

  • If you are managing people, include the number of people on your team.

  • Include the impact of your work on the business, whether on the sales bottom line, increase in revenue or any other achievement.

  • What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) in your role and how did you perform against them? Make sure to put that on your resume in brief.

  • Length of resume does not matter as much but 1-3 pages, depending on your role is fine. But make sure that what is on there is important work.

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References

  1. Mariano Allegra (LinkedIn profile) and email address (m.allegra@lawrenceharvey.com)

  2. Opportunity to network at the Rust meetup held every two weeks in NYC

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