Behind every successful tech team is a recruiter who doesn’t just fill roles, but builds strong teams.
Meet Oksana Mandybura, Recruitment and Resource Management Lead at Mitrix, whose focus lies in one of the toughest yet most rewarding challenges in hiring – finding senior-level talent.
With a blend of strategy and empathy, Oksana shares how her team consistently attracts top-tier specialists and turns hiring into a competitive advantage. So if you’ve ever wondered what makes a recruitment engine run, grab a coffee and dive in.
Hello Oksana! How’s it going? Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
Hi there! I have over 8 years of experience in IT resource management and recruitment. However, my journey started quite unusually: after graduating from university, I started my career at the prosecutor’s office. But I quickly realized that my true calling was working with people. That led me to gradually transition into HR and recruitment, and I finally found my passion.
I love creating efficient processes, working with data, and seeing how the right people drive tangible business results. In my free time, I love traveling, playing table tennis, and reading.
How do you write job ads that catch the eye of senior engineers who get dozens of offers weekly?
In my 8 years in technical recruiting, I’ve posted over 2,000 jobs and interviewed more than 15,000 engineers. Every day, I see companies competing for the attention of senior developers, professionals who receive up to 25 offers per week. Most job posts get buried in the noise, but there are proven principles that cut through.
According to the 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 87% of senior developers aren’t actively job hunting. They’re open to offers, but highly selective. On top of that, GitHub’s State of the Octoverse reports that a typical senior engineer with 7+ years of experience gets 4–6 recruiter messages every day. These candidates spend an average of 20 seconds scanning a job post before deciding whether to engage. If you don’t grab their attention in that window, you’ve already lost them.
Over the years, I’ve learned that senior engineers aren’t just looking for “a job.” They want complex challenges, a strong team, and work that’s worth their time and skills. Thus, you have to write job ads for technical people, not recruiters. Speak their language, focus on real problems, and avoid fluffy marketing promises.
Here’s the script I use:
- A clear, specific title (role + technology + scale)
- The core challenge (2–3 sentences that explain the problem they’ll help solve)
- What they’ll actually do (specific tasks, not vague responsibilities)
- The tech stack (detailed, with context around how it’s used)
- The team and processes (who they’ll work with and how)
- Opportunities for growth (learning, leadership, tech challenges)
- Working conditions (schedule, flexibility, location, salary range, if possible)
With so many platforms and AI tools, which channels actually bring in top senior candidates today?
With AI becoming a bigger part of our daily work, the number of sourcing channels is growing rapidly. However, while technology plays a key role, successful hiring still depends on something much more human: the ability to recognize potential, even in an ordinary-looking profile. … AI makes research faster and smarter, but it can’t replace the personal connection. What truly makes a difference is how recruiters engage with candidates: being memorable, building trust, and communicating in a way that stands out. These are skills that remain at the heart of recruiting and are hard to automate.
How do you spot real senior-level skills during resume screening, especially with AI-enhanced resumes?
A resume often presents a polished version of a candidate, and don’t get me wrong – that’s not a bad thing. It gives us insight into their potential. That’s why it’s important not to exaggerate achievements or present aspirations as real experience. When that happens, it ends up wasting everyone’s time.
But the opposite is also true. Sometimes a candidate leaves out a skill or experience that’s highly relevant to the role. These gaps are usually easy to spot and clarify during initial messages or the first interview with a recruiter.
Our technical experts play an important role here. They often ask us to cover key topics in early conversations so they can quickly determine whether a candidate is worth moving to the next screening stage. This helps streamline the process and ensures we don’t miss strong matches.
What’s your secret to pitching Mitrix and its projects to senior candidates who have high expectations?
Honestly, it all comes down to solid prep. We take the time to understand each project, speak with team members already involved, and gather as many insights as possible from the hiring manager. Senior candidates value this approach: they want to know the specifics of the work ahead and understand how the project will contribute to their professional growth.
We also focus heavily on getting to know each candidate and personalizing our outreach. Personalization isn’t a waste of time: it’s the key to capturing the attention of experienced professionals and making them willing to invest their time in us.
We’re confident in our strengths. When we say that Mitrix works with senior-level specialists, we mean it, and we back it up with internal hiring data and the growing number of experts already thriving on our teams.
How do you keep the hiring process fast and effective without losing quality, especially in a tight market?
To work efficiently on an open vacancy, we start by defining who will conduct the interviews and who will make the final hiring decision. Before the process begins, we hold a kickoff call with technical experts and the hiring manager to align on expectations and agree on a unified strategy. This way, candidates know from the very first conversation with a recruiter how many interview stages to expect. … Our recruiters provide clear feedback after each stage. If there’s ever a delay in the decision-making process, the recruiter informs the candidate and stays in touch.
How do you assess soft skills and leadership potential when you only have a short time with candidates?
We recently held two internal workshops focused on recruitment for team members who already conduct interviews or are interested in doing so in the future. The most valuable part? Through real case discussions and open dialogue, we were able to share practical insights, especially on how to evaluate soft skills effectively and conduct hands-on practice.
Here are the top recommendations we covered:
- Use behavioral questions with the STAR method. Ask for specific, real-life examples.
- Offer mini-cases on decision-making, conflict resolution, or prioritization.
- Pay attention to the clarity and structure of responses. Senior candidates can explain complex things simply.
- Assess emotional intelligence. Listen to how candidates talk about past teams, challenges, and mistakes.
- Analyze the questions they ask. Strong candidates inquire about processes, team dynamics, and the broader impact of the role.
- Watch non-verbal cues. Look for confidence without arrogance, and how they adapt to your reactions.
- Always check references. Especially around their impact on the team and how they handled difficult situations.
And a golden rule: don’t let candidates get away with vague answers. Ask for examples every time. It’s the best way to reveal their actual experience and depth.
Interview with Oksana
What’s your approach to working with engineers to make sure technical and recruitment goals align?
When any of our technical experts conduct an interview, there are two scenarios. If the interview is for their current project, the process is straightforward: we simply add to the client’s input and clarify the functional requirements. Typically, the client already provides a detailed profile of the ideal candidate, and we stick closely to that during our search.
If the interview is for a different project, the technical expert first connects with the relevant team or hiring manager. They align on expectations, ask clarifying questions, and get familiar with the project’s specifics. After the interview, we gather their feedback and quickly adjust our search strategy if needed.
A major win in this process is our universal feedback form. We involved engineers in shaping it: sharing several options and voting for the most intuitive and structured format. The final version includes rating blocks, customizable sections for specific interviews and projects, and space for qualitative input. This structure helps interviewers provide objective, comprehensive reviews and supports smarter, more consistent hiring decisions across the board.
What are the biggest mistakes companies make when hiring seniors, and how do you help avoid them?
Our approach is simple: move fast, stay flexible, and focus on long-term impact, not just ticking boxes. Here are the key hiring mistakes we avoid:
- Prioritizing tech over potential
Senior specialists aren’t just stack experts: they solve complex problems and think at scale. That’s why we assess adaptability, not just familiarity with tools. - Ignoring cultural fit
Even top engineers can underperform if they don’t mesh with the team. We explore work style and values through real case discussions and meetings with potential teammates. - Dragging out the hiring process
The best candidates usually get snapped up within 2-3 weeks. That’s why we streamline the process and prioritize fast, clear feedback at every stage. - Confusing charisma with competence
A senior isn’t just someone who speaks well: it’s someone who lifts the team. We dig into past contributions and check references to understand real impact, not just presentation.
How do you handle salary talks when candidates have multiple competing offers?
We make it a point to understand each candidate’s priorities, whether it’s salary, the project itself, flexibility, or growth opportunities. We highlight what sets us apart, focusing on unique advantages competitors can’t offer, like a strong team culture or rapid career advancement. When possible, we stay flexible with offers, adding perks or benefits that weren’t initially on the table. … We also speed up the process, cutting down decision times to stay ahead and keep candidates engaged. Most importantly, we don’t haggle but provide candidates with a clear, informed choice that respects their needs and values.
How do you keep up with shifting candidate priorities and market trends to adjust your hiring strategy?
Our recruiting team regularly attends events to stay on top of the latest global trends, and we do a lot of reading too. Afterward, we share what we’ve learned within the team, analyze new insights, and explore ways to integrate them into our workflows. We’re always experimenting, improving, and adapting our approaches, whether from online or offline events. As a team leader, I encourage everyone to learn from industry experts, which helps us refresh our knowledge and boost professional skills.
Plus, we work closely with analytics, examining data from multiple angles to quickly spot bottlenecks and fine-tune our processes. This approach improves our early-stage workflows and allows us to alert management about emerging market trends.
How do you balance using AI tools in recruiting while avoiding bias and keeping the process human?
Well, AI is just a tool that helps speed up routine tasks. However, the most important part of our work is communication, assessment, and analysis of relationships with candidates. These are the aspects that require our attention and skill. The time saved on searching allows us to dive deeper into each person: identifying important details, noticing red flags for the team, and understanding what exactly the candidate wants to see in their work. This approach helps us to meet expectations as accurately as possible and achieve better hiring results.
How do you manage the flood of applications from AI-assisted candidates without losing quality?
Our ATS is a vital tool that the recruiting team continuously updates with all the essential information, from incoming resumes and skill sets to detailed feedback. The more complete and accurate the candidate profiles, the better the system can use its algorithms to match the right candidates with the right roles.
As we track the entire candidate history, we can review past interactions, analyze why some processes didn’t work out, and identify which projects best suit each candidate’s strengths. We can also reconnect with candidates after some time to reassess their growth and readiness. Sometimes they’re ready for an offer that wasn’t possible before due to gaps in experience or skills.
That’s why I always stress the importance for recruiters to master the art of communication and relationship-building. It’s a game-changer that speeds up the search and ensures more precise and timely hiring decisions.
Can you share a story where your hiring process found a senior engineer who made a big impact?
Every hire impacts the client’s willingness to continue working with us, the quality of the product, and the cohesion of the team. You want a true story? Once, we hired a senior specialist for a fintech startup who ended up saving the entire project. He quickly proposed a plan to split the monolith into modules and led a flexible refactoring process without disrupting production.
Within three months, he transitioned the system to microservices, implemented automated testing (reaching 80% coverage), set up error monitoring, and organized autonomous teams with a clear prioritization system. His leadership helped the team grow, hit the release deadline, and eventually led to his promotion to CTO.
That hire taught me the value of identifying true problem-solvers, I mean, people who shine not in theory, but in real crisis situations. Now, I focus on assessing candidates’ ability to lead under pressure, rally a team, and drive results when it matters most.
How do you balance technical skills, cultural fit, and growth potential when making hiring decisions?
When hiring senior engineers, we rely on the “assessment triangle”: technical skills, cultural fit, and growth potential. Each is evaluated with clear criteria and balanced weight.
- Technical skills are verified through practical tasks, case studies, and code reviews.
- Cultural fit is assessed via situational questions and team meetings, focusing on values and emotional intelligence.
- Growth potential is evaluated through reference checks and how candidates approach unfamiliar challenges.
We tailor our decisions to the priorities of each role. For example, with a Tech Lead, cultural fit is crucial, and technical expertise takes center stage when approaching a developer. Anyway, if a candidate has strong potential but falls short in one area, we create a personalized development plan to bridge the gap.
For instance, we once interviewed a senior DevOps engineer with over 10 years of experience. He initially proposed a complex solution during the case study but showed adaptability by refining it collaboratively. We saw his potential, invested in his development, and he became a highly valued team member. However, we do have clear red lines: lack of core technical skills or a misalignment with our values leads to an automatic “no”.
How does ongoing feedback between recruiters and engineers help improve your hiring success?
Feedback between recruiters and engineers helps us continuously refine our assessment process. It allows us to:
- Adjust tasks to better reflect real-world scenarios
- Incorporate soft skills evaluations to better assess cultural fit
- Streamline stages based on team input and pain points
- Discover hidden talents through alternative assessment methods
- Analyze data to implement what works and drop what doesn’t
This isn’t just a formality: it’s a tool for fast, meaningful improvement. We gather feedback at three key points:
- After each interview, to fine-tune questions and approach
- After three months on the job, to check how well our predictions held up
- Quarterly, to spot trends and improve our long-term strategy
Thanks to this process, hiring becomes less of a guessing game and more of a data-driven, team-aligned discipline.
How do you use market data and candidate feedback to refine your senior hiring approach in 2025?
In 2025, we use market data and candidate feedback as key inputs for ongoing A/B testing and iterations of our hiring process. Every rejection, feedback, and market trend is a valuable insight that helps us better understand the motivations and expectations of senior specialists. We actively monitor macroeconomic indicators, analytical data, and behavioral trends to quickly respond and adjust our strategy. It is important not only to be aware of changes, but also to offer a unique, personalized approach – this is what inspires trust and helps attract the best professionals for whom the human factor is important, not only in numbers.
Thanks, Oksana! To wrap things up, do you have a personal story from your recruitment journey that’s stayed with you?
One story I often share is about a team lead we kept in touch with for over a year. When the right opportunity came along, we knew he was a fit, and so did he. Today, he’s not just part of the client’s team, he’s helping build it, with our ongoing support. That’s the kind of long-term relationship tech recruitment should be about.
One of the things I’m most proud of is the number of referrals we get. When colleagues and employees recommend Mitrix to their friends, it tells us we’re doing something right. It means our approach is working, and more importantly, it’s appreciated. That trust fuels our confidence in the future and reminds us that even in an AI-powered world, people still matter most.