Cooperation between Hiring Managers and tech recruitment agencies – best practices and challenges

The market has shifted: in recent times the availability of candidates has indeed increased, but the best engineers still remain out of reach for most companies. Only top organizations compete for them – and that competition is no easier than it was a few years ago.

This is why support from partners who can deliver truly well-matched specialists has become increasingly important. It’s no longer just about “filling vacancies,” but about deliberately building an advantage through top-tier talent.

In this article – based on our conversation with Lech Błażejewski, Senior Director of Engineering at Visa – we explore how collaboration between hiring managers and tech recruitment agencies really works, what mistakes recruitment firms often make, and what needs to happen for an agency to become a true partner rather than just a CV supplier.

Article Agenda

1. When does a hiring manager need support from a tech recruitment agency?
2. The most common mistakes made by recruitment agencies
3. What do hiring managers value in working with an agency?
4. The role of AI and authenticity in tech recruitment
5. TalentShield – addressing hiring managers’ challenges
6. Best practices for collaboration between hiring managers and tech recruitment agencies

When does a hiring manager need support from a tech recruitment agency?

A hiring manager usually has to work under constant time pressure. On the one hand, they are responsible for product development, and on the other – for quickly filling talent gaps. In the tech industry, every month of delay means not only additional costs but also the risk of losing a competitive advantage.

It’s no surprise that many managers turn to external support – help that allows them to reach candidates faster and take the weight off the most time-consuming stages of recruitment. This is exactly where collaboration with a tech recruitment agency comes in. An agency can take on, among other things:

• candidate sourcing – actively searching for tech specialists, including passive candidates who don’t respond to job postings,
• initial screening – conducting interviews and verifying the candidate’s fit for the role,
• market insights – supporting the hiring process with salary benchmarks, feedback reporting from candidates, and assessing how competitive the offer is compared to other employers,
• pipeline management support – maintaining ongoing contact with candidates, scheduling interviews, and reacting quickly when they are simultaneously involved in competing recruitment processes.

As a result, the hiring manager receives an organized pipeline and more room to focus on what truly matters: assessing technical skills and making the final hiring decision.

As Lech Błażejewski puts it: “For me, the recruitment process is the most important element of a manager’s job. The quality of people you hire determines whether the project will succeed at all.”

The most common mistakes made by recruitment agencies

Unfortunately, not every recruitment agency delivers the value a hiring manager expects. While many firms claim to specialize in tech recruitment, in practice the same issues often repeat themselves. From the manager’s perspective, this means not only extra work but also a loss of trust in the entire recruitment process. It’s worth knowing which mistakes occur most frequently:

1. Quantity over partnership

Some agencies focus primarily on volume. Recruitment is carried out with the aim of delivering as many CVs as possible, even if their quality is questionable. The hiring manager then receives dozens of applications, most of which are irrelevant to the role. Instead of support, they are left with extra work – sifting through profiles that should never have been submitted in the first place.

2. Rushing and flooding with CVs

Pressure to deliver results quickly can lead to absurd situations. “There were times when 30 candidates were pushed into the process, but only three were actually relevant,” recalls Lech Błażejewski. This is not a good recruitment process – it’s a numbers game where speed and volume matter more than fit. For a manager, this creates a major problem: instead of evaluating top candidates, they waste valuable time filtering out the wrong ones.

3. Lack of context and understanding

One of the most serious mistakes is failing to understand the specifics of a company – its product, culture, and the way the team actually works. A hiring manager expects a partner who goes beyond the job description and grasps the reality of day-to-day work. Without that knowledge, it’s impossible to capture the nuances that determine whether someone truly fits. As a result, candidates who look good on paper often turn out to be a poor match once hired.

This approach strips hiring managers of real influence over team development. Instead of focusing on selecting the best tech specialists, they’re forced to spend time filtering out candidates who should never have entered the pipeline. That’s why it’s so important for a tech recruitment agency to go beyond simply exchanging CVs and act as a genuine partner in the recruitment process.

What do hiring managers value in working with an agency?

A good tech recruitment agency is not judged by the number of CVs it submits. What hiring managers really look for is a partner who can take weight off their shoulders in day-to-day challenges and help them reach the right candidates faster. It’s the quality of collaboration that matters, not the volume of applications.

So what does ideal collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers look like? Here are a few key elements:

1. Genuine engagement

The biggest difference comes from the recruiter’s attitude – someone who genuinely cares about what the company is working on. When a recruiter truly understands the business, they can present it in a compelling way and spark a candidate’s interest. In this sense, they act as an ambassador of the organization – representing it on the job market and ensuring that only well-matched candidates enter the pipeline.

Equally important, a recruiter also acts in the candidate’s best interest. They want each person they bring into the process to be fully convinced that this is the right place for them – in terms of the product, the company’s values, and the work culture. That balance increases the chances of a successful match and makes it more likely the candidate will accept the offer and stay with the company long term.

A great recruiter doesn’t just describe the company’s culture – they can make candidates feel it. As Lech Błażejewski shared during our webinar:

2. Understanding organizational culture

Every team has its own DNA – a unique work style, communication rhythm, and set of values. For people inside the company, many of these elements feel obvious and therefore remain unspoken. This creates an “information bubble” – something everyone internally understands, but which is hard to clearly convey to a candidate.

An experienced external recruiter can fill this gap. By entering the organization, asking questions, and observing, they combine the perspective of an insider – someone who knows the company inside out – with the fresh viewpoint of a candidate who is just discovering it. This helps capture nuances that don’t appear in the job description but are crucial for cultural fit. In practice, it leads to better alignment not only in skills but also in personality, which reduces turnover and increases satisfaction on both sides.

3. A recruiter as a partner, not just a CV supplier

The best agencies act as an “extension of the HR team” – but in practice, this means much more than formal support. It’s a relationship in which the hiring manager and recruiter complement one another. The manager knows the product, the team, and the required skills, but often lacks the time or bandwidth to run extensive sourcing or hold in-depth conversations with every candidate. That’s where the recruiter steps in – taking responsibility for talent sourcing, initial interviews, and ongoing communication with the market.

Crucially, an experienced recruiter also provides an invaluable external perspective. Even the best hiring managers, knowing their team inside and out, naturally evaluate candidates through the lens of their own experience. Collaboration with a tech recruitment agency offers a fresh, more objective view – a “second pair of eyes” that helps break the information bubble and ensure the hiring decision is truly well-grounded.

This allows the hiring manager to focus on what they do best – assessing technical skills and deciding who will bring real value to the team – while having confidence that the process has been thoroughly validated.

Ultimately, it’s hiring managers who shape teams and drive their success. But they can only do this effectively when they have a partner on the other side, not just a CV vendor. That kind of partnership makes recruitment faster, more accurate, and far less burdensome – for everyone involved.

The role of AI and authenticity in tech recruitment

Even the best collaboration between a hiring manager and a recruiter doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The tech job market is changing rapidly, and one of the biggest factors influencing recruitment today is the growing role of artificial intelligence – along with the challenge of verifying candidate authenticity.

Lech Błażejewski highlights that AI can be both a powerful tool and a potential risk:

At the same time, the problem of fake applications is on the rise. Gartner predicts that by 2028, one in four candidates in tech recruitment may be fake or seriously misrepresented. Fake CVs, candidates using AI during interviews, or the so-called “bait & switch” practice – where one person shows up for the interview but a completely different one takes the job – are becoming increasingly common challenges.

This is why a tech recruitment agency that wants to be a true partner to hiring managers must be fully aware of these risks and have measures in place to neutralize them. This is exactly where our TalentShield process comes in – a candidate verification system designed to ensure that only authentic, thoroughly validated professionals make it into the pipeline.

TalentShield – addressing hiring managers’ challenges

Being aware of risks is one thing, but what truly matters is how we respond to them in practice. With Gartner predicting that soon as many as one in four CVs may be fake, a hiring manager simply cannot afford to waste time on inauthentic candidates. This is precisely why we created the TalentShield process at Team Up.

For a hiring manager, this translates into less risk and less frustration – because the pipeline is filled with candidates who not only meet the requirements but also approach the process honestly and are genuinely interested in joining the company. For the recruitment team, it’s the confidence that their efforts are focused on the right candidates, not on filtering out questionable CVs.

In practice, TalentShield works like a safety filter – cutting out cases that could slow down the recruitment process or undermine trust in collaboration. This gives the hiring manager more space to focus on what matters most: selecting the best candidate for their team.

As a result, the recruitment process becomes transparent and reliable, ensuring that the company hires real experts – not AI-generated profiles.

Best practices for collaboration between hiring managers and tech recruitment agencies

Successful collaboration with a tech recruitment agency is about much more than exchanging CVs. The best agencies act as true partners – supporting hiring managers, taking over time-consuming tasks, and bringing a fresh outside perspective. In our Team Up Live #10 session, Lech Błażejewski shared insights that perfectly illustrate what this model of cooperation looks like in practice.

That’s why we’ve prepared a short checklist of proven tips – practical guidelines that make everyday work easier and help build a relationship based on trust, partnership, and effectiveness:

1. Regular communication

The best results come from a rhythm of short, weekly check-ups. They keep both sides aligned on the recruitment process and allow for quick adjustments. No surprises after weeks of silence – just fast feedback and joint decisions.

2. Shared goals

A vendor–client relationship means each side plays for their own scorecard. True results come when both sides act as one team, with one objective: hiring the best possible candidate. Hiring managers have a real impact on success when the agency “plays on the same side of the field.”

3. A partnership model

Investing time in a good brief, a conversation about the product, and the company culture pays off quickly. The better a recruiter understands the organization, the better they filter candidates. This means fewer irrelevant CVs and more candidates who genuinely fit – both in skills and personality.

4. Active candidate sourcing

A strong agency doesn’t wait for responses to job ads. It proactively reaches out to specialists, including passive candidates who aren’t actively job hunting but may be open to opportunities. These candidates often turn out to be the best hires.

5. Ongoing tech recruitment

For long-term roles, a partnership approach works best – thoughtful, steady recruitment instead of a race for numbers. This makes the process less burdensome for hiring managers and more effective in securing candidates who will stay for the long run.

These practices may sound simple, but in reality they are what distinguish average cooperation from truly effective collaboration. For hiring managers, they mean confidence that the recruitment process runs smoothly, securely, and ends with hiring the right person.

Conclusion – what does a good recruitment process look like in tech?

Effective collaboration with a tech recruitment agency is built on partnership, regular communication, and candidate authenticity. A hiring manager needs to be sure they’re spending time only on tech specialists who are real, verified, and fit the team. The best agencies share responsibility for the outcome and act as true partners in the process.

If you’d like to discuss the challenges of hiring top tech talent in the face of a flood of fake candidates – get in touch with us!