Hello. I am Nathalie, and I’m quite international.
I grew up in Germany, but my parents are from Poland and Iran. So I speak fluent German, Polish, Farsi and English – but not Romanian.
Why is the Romanian language so important? Because I am an IT Recruiter in Romania.
I came to Romania last year in October for an IT Recruiter internship, in a talent-acquisition company specialized in Technology and Telecommunications. I had planned to be here three months, but ended-up gradually prolonging my stay, at first for three more months, and now I’ve been here for almost a year.
Recruiting in the IT field is challenging. The market is over-flooded with IT job-openings. So our candidates are overwhelmed with proposals.
And there is my first chance as an English-speaking IT recruiter: by approaching developers in English, I make them curious and get their attention. Some candidates start listening to me more carefully than they would have if I had been ‘just another native recruiter’, because they are curious to see why an English-speaking person is calling them. They’re curious to find out if it’s for a position abroad or in Bucharest. I have the chance to start the conversation and give them the details for the open positions.
Of course, the upper hand is sometimes also a challenge. Since it’s not their native language, there’s always the risk of not being fully understood. I have to admit: when I first started, I thought it’d be a bigger problem. But the issue didn’t come-up quite as often as I expected. A lot of people in Romania, especially those working in IT, speak fluent English.
As an IT Recruiter, I handle interviews. It’s crucial that I understand and evaluate the candidate on a technical and personal level. Again, the candidate’s curiosity gives me a head start. Some of them come to the interviews to see who I am, for what and why I am recruiting. Additionally, I can break the ice by being ‘international’ and starting the conversation with questions about Romania.
And, again, the upper hand is, at the same time, the challenge. Of course, it depends on the candidate. Some of them are not used to communicating in English. They become shy and insecure. I have to evaluate, and decide if this is due to the language barrier, or simply related to the candidate’s personality.
Summarizing, I see a balance between chances and challenges as an international IT Recruiter in Romania. During the initial search phase, I don’t see any major differences between me and a native speaker, as the key skills are mostly technical terms. But I do experience some differences in the contacting and in the interviewing phase, with an overall balance between chances and challenges.