Sourcing across the full IT stack

“Find IT consultants” sounds like one search. Once you open it up, it turns into a dozen different talent markets, each with its own language, communities and expectations.

During a short internship at Nova Hunte I sourced consultants for NATO projects across the full IT stack, from infrastructure to software. The timeline was short and the range of roles was wide. These are the habits that helped most.

Map the stack before you search it

Before writing a single search string, I sketched the territory: infrastructure and networks, cloud and platforms, security, data, and software development. Each area has its own job titles, certifications and keywords, and people in it describe their work differently. A short map like this stops you from treating “a developer” and “a network engineer” as interchangeable profiles. It also shows you early where the hardest-to-fill roles will be.

Speak each sub-market’s language

Search works best when it mirrors how candidates describe themselves. Infrastructure people list tools and certifications; software people tend to list languages, frameworks and projects. I built separate search strings for each area in LinkedIn Recruiter and used X-Ray search to reach profiles and communities that sit outside a single platform.

Short timelines reward structure

With little time, the temptation is to search harder. What helped more was searching in a more organised way:

• One pipeline per area, so progress and gaps were visible at a glance.
• Clear must-haves versus nice-to-haves, agreed early, so screening stayed quick and consistent.
• Tidy records from day one. Accurate candidate data saves far more time than it costs.

The psychology angle

Sourcing is often treated as pure search, but it’s also about people. Understanding what motivates someone in a specialised technical role, whether that’s mission, the technical challenge or stability, makes outreach more relevant and more respectful of their time. That’s where a background in work and organisational psychology quietly earns its keep.

The main lesson: a wide brief becomes manageable once you break it into the markets it really contains.