Technical and Niche Roles, Hired on Skills
IT and specialised recruitment is permanent recruitment for technology and niche roles, where specific skills decide the fit and good candidates have options. We write a skills-based brief with your hiring manager, agree screening with your technical panel, source in the channels where specialists can be found and follow up through the notice period. The hiring decision stays with you.
IT and Specialised Recruitment in brief
IT and specialised recruitment is permanent recruitment for technology and niche roles, where the skills are specific, suitable people are fewer and good candidates often have several options. GullyHR provides it alongside talent acquisition and executive search. We work from a skills-based brief, agree screening and assessment with your technical panel, and leave selection, compensation and the offer with you.
- GullyHR is an HR consulting, HR services, training and software company based in Bengaluru, working with Indian startups and small and medium businesses.
- IT and specialised recruitment at GullyHR is permanent hiring for technical and niche roles, such as software engineering, data, IT infrastructure and other roles where specific skills decide the fit.
- The service can cover a skills-based brief, screening and assessment design with your panel, sourcing, candidate communication, interview coordination, and follow-up through the offer and the notice period.
- It differs from talent acquisition, which covers permanent roles in general, and from executive search, which covers senior and leadership appointments.
- Roles, levels, locations and assessment steps are agreed per engagement. The hiring decision, the compensation and the offer stay with you.
The starting point
Are Technical Roles Staying Open?
Technical hiring asks most of the people who can least spare the time. The engineer or manager who can judge the skills is also the one doing the work, so screening waits, feedback slips and candidates with other options move on.
We take the brief, the screening route and the candidate follow-up, and your panel keeps the technical judgement and the decision.
You may be experiencing:
- A job description that lists every tool the team uses and says little about the work.
- CVs matched on keywords, with the panel discovering in interview that the work was never done.
- Interviewers who each test something different and reach opposite views of the same candidate.
- Candidates who drop out while feedback waits for a busy engineer.
- Accepted offers lost during a long notice period.
- Suitable people who are not answering job adverts.
- A niche role nobody in the business can describe clearly enough to search for.
- A founder or senior engineer screening every profile personally.
- No agreed criteria for a technical task or a work sample.
- No record of where technical candidates came from or why they left the process.
What we can help with
Our IT and Specialised Recruitment Services
Skills-Based Role Brief
A working session with the hiring manager to describe the work, the skills it needs and the level expected for each, written into a brief you confirm before any search starts.
Screening and Assessment Design
A screening route agreed with your technical panel: what is checked at each stage, any assessment, and the criteria written down before candidates are approached.
Specialist Sourcing
A sourcing plan for the role, which can include specialist communities and forums, professional networks, technical events, referrals and your own applicant records, followed by outreach.
Candidate Engagement
Accurate information about the work at first contact, one point of contact and an update at every stage, for candidates who are likely to have other options.
Screening and Shortlisting
Screening conversations against the brief, notes on each candidate and a shortlist that sets out how each profile matches and what the panel still needs to test.
Assessment and Interview Coordination
Scheduling of assessments and interviews, candidate briefing on the format, and panel feedback collected against the agreed criteria within the agreed time.
Offer and Notice-Period Follow-up
Candidate communication while you finalise the offer, and agreed contact through the notice period, with a note to you if a concern, a counter-offer or a date change comes up.
Reporting and Handover
A report in an agreed format and at agreed intervals, and a handover of candidate records, assessment results and learnings at the end of the search.
The scope
What the Service Can Cover
These are the parts of a technical search we can support. Each engagement takes the parts that apply to your roles, and the scope is agreed with you in writing.
Work Definition
What the person will build, run or maintain, who they work with and what the first months of the role involve.
Skills and Levels
The skills the work needs, the level expected for each, and which are must-have, good-to-have or trainable.
Role Description for Technical Candidates
A description that tells a technical candidate what the work is, written from the brief rather than from a list of tools.
Screening Questions
The points checked in the first conversation, so the panel sees only candidates who meet the must-have skills.
Assessment Design
Where agreed, a structured technical discussion, a work sample or a practical task, with criteria agreed with your panel in advance.
Sourcing Plan
The channels chosen for the role, which can include specialist communities and forums, professional networks, technical events, referrals, your own applicant records and recruitment partners.
Candidate Outreach
How candidates are approached, what is said about the work and the team, and how interest is recorded.
Candidate Communication
One point of contact and an update at each stage, including delays and the outcome, given in a consistent and courteous way.
Panel Coordination
Scheduling, reminders and feedback deadlines agreed with panel members, so assessments and decisions do not wait.
Shortlist Presentation
A shortlist in an agreed format, with how each candidate's skills match the brief and what is still open for the panel to test.
Offer and Notice-Period Follow-up
Candidate communication while you finalise the offer, contact through the notice period, and reporting of any change to you.
Reporting and Handover
A progress report in the agreed format, and a handover of candidate records, assessment results and learnings at the end of the search.
Working together
Ways to Work With Us
Single Technical Role
Sourcing, screening and assessment support for one permanent technical or specialised role, from the skills-based brief to the notice-period follow-up.
Technical Team Build
Several technical roles, or several positions in one role, organised together for a new product, platform or team, with one screening route across the set.
Niche Role Search
A focused search for a role where the skill set is narrow and suitable people are few, with sourcing planned around where those people can be found.
Ongoing Technical Hiring Support
Sourcing and coordination as technical roles open over a period, with a regular report. For continuous hiring across many roles, recruitment process outsourcing may suit better.
Scope is agreed per engagement, in writing, before work begins. IT and specialised recruitment is scoped separately from talent acquisition and executive search, and background verification is a separate service added only where agreed.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the scope of your engagement, deliverables can include:
- A skills-based brief confirmed by the hiring manager, with must-have, good-to-have and trainable skills set out separately.
- A role description written for technical candidates, in the format agreed for the engagement.
- A screening and assessment plan agreed with your panel, with the criteria for each stage.
- A sourcing plan naming the channels and responsibilities for each role.
- A candidate tracker showing each candidate, the stage reached and the next step.
- Screening notes for each candidate put forward, recorded against the brief.
- A shortlist summarising how each profile matches the brief and what remains open.
- Assessment and interview feedback records collected against the agreed criteria.
- A follow-up log covering the offer stage and the notice period, with a progress report in the agreed format.
- A handover note on the search: channels used, where candidates came from and where they left the process.
Step by step
How We Work
Agree the Scope
We confirm the roles, levels and locations covered, the engagement type, the assessment steps, the channels, who communicates with candidates and what is reported, and write it down before work begins.
Write the Brief and the Screening Route
We write a skills-based brief with the hiring manager for you to confirm, then agree the screening questions, any assessment and the criteria for each stage with your panel.
Source and Screen
We approach candidates through the agreed channels with an accurate description of the work, track outreach in one place and screen against the brief, keeping notes on each candidate.
Present and Coordinate
A shortlist goes to the hiring manager with a note on each profile. We schedule assessments and interviews, brief candidates and collect panel feedback, and the decision is yours.
Follow Up and Report
We handle candidate communication while you finalise the offer, stay in touch through the notice period, tell you of any change, and report in the agreed format.
The difference
What a Skills-Based Search Gives You
An IT and specialised recruitment engagement run from a skills-based brief helps you:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering how long each technical hiring stage takes today, where panel feedback waits and where candidates are currently lost, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Start every technical search from a brief the hiring manager has seen and agreed.
- Compare candidates on criteria agreed with your panel, not on each interviewer's own questions.
- Spend panel time on candidates whose skills have already been checked against the brief.
- Give candidates one point of contact, so the process does not go quiet on them.
- Assign someone to the notice period, so a concern, a counter-offer or a delay reaches you early.
- Record sources, assessment results and drop-out points, so the next search starts from what this one showed.
- Keep technical judgement with the people who know the work.
- Carry joining details into onboarding without collecting them again.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
Startups and Product Companies
Businesses hiring their first or next engineers, where a founder or senior engineer is judging every candidate.
Businesses Outside Technology
Companies that need an IT, data or systems role filled and have nobody in-house to brief or screen for it.
Companies With a Niche Role
Businesses with a specialised role that general recruitment has not been able to fill.
Engineering and Technology Managers
Managers whose interview time is holding up hiring and who want candidates screened before they meet them.
Companies Without an Agreed Technical Interview
Businesses whose technical interviews vary by interviewer and who want a screening route agreed in advance.
Businesses Losing Candidates on Notice
Companies whose accepted candidates drop away during long notice periods and who want someone assigned to stay in touch.
Good to know
Is IT and Specialised Recruitment the Right Route?
IT and specialised recruitment suits you if
- The role is technical or niche and you want the person on your own rolls.
- The skills are specific enough that a general search keeps missing the fit.
- You want screening agreed with your technical panel before candidates are approached.
Another service may suit better if
- The role is not technical or specialised: talent acquisition.
- The role is a senior technology leadership appointment that must stay confidential: executive search.
- The work is a project with a defined period: contract staffing.
- Technical hiring is continuous across many roles and you want the process run for you: recruitment process outsourcing.
- Technical interviews break down because nobody has agreed the stages: recruitment process consulting.
If you are not sure, tell us about the role and we will suggest a route with the reasons.
Good to know
Scope and Service Boundaries
Each engagement defines
The roles, levels, locations, number of positions, the skills brief, the screening and assessment steps, the channels, who speaks to candidates and the reporting format.
Agreed separately
IT and specialised recruitment is scoped separately from talent acquisition, executive search and recruitment process consulting. You can take any of them on its own.
Stays with you
- The technical judgement of your panel.
- The decision on whom to hire.
- The compensation and the terms of the offer.
- How to respond to a counter-offer or a change in joining date.
- Issuing the offer and the appointment letter.
- Joining formalities and onboarding.
Not assumed, and covered only where agreed in writing
- Background verification, offered as a separate GullyHR service.
- Executive search for senior and leadership roles, offered as a separate GullyHR service.
- Contract staffing for project work, offered as a separate GullyHR service.
- Paid assessment tools or their licences.
- Advice on employment contracts, notice terms or restrictive clauses.
- Software licences, procurement or integration.
Technical hiring outcomes depend on the skills required, the compensation, the availability of candidates, their notice periods and the speed of decisions. The engagement does not guarantee placements or hiring timelines.
Good to know
Timeline and How to Prepare
Timeline
The schedule depends on the roles, the skills, the levels, the locations, the assessment steps and how quickly your panel gives feedback. We confirm the plan after the scoping discussion.
Useful inputs
- The roles to fill, the reason each is open and the work it involves.
- Approval to hire and the compensation range.
- Any existing job descriptions or interview questions.
- The panel members and their availability for assessments.
- Any technical task or work sample you already use.
- Referrals, earlier applicants or partners you already work with.
If these are not available, we can start with a working session and write the brief with the hiring manager.
Good to know
Confidentiality and Candidate Information
Handled by agreement
A technical search involves personal information about candidates and can involve details of your product, systems or plans. Before work begins we agree what is shared, who can see it, how it is stored and the confidentiality terms.
Assessment material
A technical task or work sample can show how your product works. We agree with you what candidates are shown and how the work they submit is handled.
Used for the agreed search
Candidate information is used for the search it was collected for. We discuss with you how candidate records are kept or removed when the engagement ends.
Good to know
Measures We Report On
Measures we agree with you
- Time in each stage: where candidates or decisions are waiting.
- Source: which channels the candidates came from.
- Stage progress: how candidates move through screening, assessment and interviews.
- Panel feedback time: how long feedback takes after each assessment or interview.
- Candidate withdrawal: where candidates leave the process and the reason given.
Definitions and reporting periods are agreed at the start so results can be compared consistently.
Measures that follow the offer
- Offer acceptance: how often selected candidates accept.
- Notice-period withdrawal: how often accepted candidates withdraw before joining.
- Joining: how often accepted offers lead to joining.
- Early exits: whether new joiners stay beyond the first months, where records are shared with us.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
It is permanent recruitment for technology and niche roles, such as software engineering, data and IT infrastructure, where specific skills decide the fit. At GullyHR it is one of our hiring services, run from a skills-based brief.
Talent acquisition covers permanent roles in general. IT and specialised recruitment adds a skills-based brief, a screening and assessment route designed with your technical panel, sourcing in specialist channels and closer follow-up through the notice period. The two are scoped separately.
Executive search is for senior and leadership appointments, such as a head of technology, where the search is researched and usually confidential. IT and specialised recruitment covers technical and specialist roles that are not leadership appointments. Where a senior technical role needs a confidential search, we suggest executive search.
Roles, levels and locations are agreed at the start of each engagement and written into the scope. They can include software engineering, data, IT infrastructure and other technical or niche roles. Share the roles you need and we confirm in writing what we can support.
Through a screening and assessment route agreed with your technical panel before candidates are approached. It can include a structured technical discussion, a work sample or a practical task. The criteria are written down first, and your panel judges the technical result.
We screen candidates against the brief and coordinate the assessment and the interviews. The technical judgement stays with your panel, because they know the work and will work with the person hired.
Through the channels agreed for each role. These can include specialist communities and forums, professional networks, technical events, referrals from your team, your own applicant records and recruitment partners. For roles where suitable people may not be looking, we do not rely on job adverts alone.
By describing the work accurately at first contact, giving each candidate one point of contact and updating them at every stage. We agree feedback times with your panel at the start, because a long wait can lose a candidate who has other options.
We stay in touch with the candidate as agreed, answer questions, follow up the documents needed for joining, and tell you early if the candidate raises a concern, mentions a counter-offer or the joining date moves. How to respond is your decision.
You do. We brief, source, screen, coordinate and follow up. The technical judgement sits with your panel, and selection, compensation, the offer and its terms remain your decisions.
No. Technical hiring depends on the skills required, the compensation, the availability of candidates, their notice periods and how quickly assessments and decisions happen. We agree what we do at each stage and report on progress, but we do not promise a placement or a date.
A hiring manager who can describe the work, the approval to hire, the compensation range, any existing job description or interview process, and panel members who can give time to assessments and feedback.
Before work begins we agree what information is shared, who can see it, how it is stored and the confidentiality terms, including any assessment material your panel provides. Candidate information is used for the agreed search and not for anything else.
Pricing depends on the roles, the number of positions, the levels, the locations, the assessment steps and the support you want. Share your requirements and we will send a tailored proposal.
Describe the Work. Keep the Judgement.
Give each technical search a skills-based brief, an agreed screening route and a named coordinator, and keep the technical judgement and the hiring decision with the people who know the work.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
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