Jacob Skinner

Wasted 15 minutes on yet another fake candidate last week — so here are some quick red flags you can spot before you even get on a call. Comment if I’ve missed any 🚩 Red Flags Before the Call: • FAANG or Tier 1 logos on the resume — but fewer than 100 LinkedIn connections • Claims open-source or infra work — but no GitHub, portfolio, or public repos • No LinkedIn overlap or shared connections with their claimed past companies • Multiple short stints at big-name companies — no explanation e.g. “6 months at Google, 5 at Meta, 3 at Stripe” — all IC roles, no context • Title inflation without career progression e.g. “Senior Engineer” after 18 months in the industry • Based in a quiet town — resume stacked with Silicon Valley companies e.g. Lives in suburban Florida but claims Databricks, DeepMind, and Scale AI • Generic email that doesn’t match the resume energy • Zero LinkedIn activity or visible timestamps • Resume reads like a template — overly polished, vague, and keyword-stuffed

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Florida IT Hiring Snapshot – What We’re Seeing Right Now Over the past few months, a few consistent patterns have emerged: • Mid-level engineers are receiving multiple interview requests within 1–2 weeks • Employers with 3+ interview rounds are seeing higher drop-off • Hybrid flexibility continues to outperform fully onsite roles • Cloud, data, and security skill sets remain the most competitive The biggest differentiator? Speed + clarity around compensation. The market isn’t as frantic as it was a few years ago — but strong talent still moves quickly. If you’re hiring in Florida, it’s still a precision game.

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Hiring tech contractors has become more challenging. Not because the demand isn’t there, it’s quality. The new adjusted rate cards have a lot to do with it. On paper, it’s an employer’s market as there is more supply than demand, so rates have come down compared to 12 months ago. But top talent is and will always be at a premium. Rate cards speak to the market as a whole, not the top tier. This is creating friction. Leaders are navigating exceptions, or finding creative ways to bring in the right people outside of standard staffing programs, because at the end of the day, mission-critical projects don’t slow down just because rate cards do. With regulatory pressure forcing modernization, upgrades, and system builds while AI demand is sky rocketing; top talent will continue to be essential. The new rate cards just make it more interesting in how you attract and engage them. And that’s why we’re working closely with tech leaders who need the best people in place to deliver.

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I've talked to a lot of internal TA people over the years. When Internal TA teams are working with an agency, they just want to partner with external recruiters who are easy to work with. They want the necessary support and not an extra headache. Some agencies will try to bypass the process, throw resumes at job reqs they weren't even assigned to, and make things more difficult. Causing more harm than good. It's is a good way to blow it. Be cool. Be easy to work with. The opportunities will be there if you deliver results and not try to force your way into every opening right from the jump. Getting a contract doesn't mean it's a free for all. Not every position needs attention. You can inquire about other openings but submitting a bunch of candidates without a prior discussion is a recipe for disaster.

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Most people don’t realize this about staffing: Your success is heavily influenced by how many opportunities you actually get to work on. At a lot of larger firms: • Fewer reqs per recruiter • More internal competition • Roles that sit open for months So even if you’re working hard, your output is capped. At Bentley, it’s different. We have more client demand than we can handle. You’re not waiting around for the right opportunity. You’re working on it every day. That’s why once people push through the learning curve, they tend to stay here long term. I’m currently growing my recruiting team in Oldsmar, FL. 100% onsite Base salary + uncapped commission If you’re competitive and want to be in an environment where effort actually translates into results, message me.

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VCs, TA leaders and Founders... Fastest way to fix hiring is to stop doing more of the same. Actions in week one. - We defined a 3 line must have live scorecard in Notion - We replaced the weekly call with a async 20 minute proof of work screen. - We built a target map of 120 profiles from six look alike teams using Miro. - We ran outreach from three signals using Juicebox, not one. Actions in week two. - We stacked calendars for fast scheduling. - We set a two call limit and a same day decision rule using automated Slack polling. - We aligned comp to a tight band to avoid late churn. Outcomes. Short list delivered on day five. Decision on day 29. This is our embedded sprint model at VU Talent for technical and GTM roles. If you run a pre-seed to Series A team and want the case study deck, comment PLAYBOOK. Not for agencies or late stage enterprises.

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