Technology is advancing at such a pace that the top tech talent has a wide range of options, and companies are having to work even harder to attract the most skilled employees.
Many companies are thinking outside the box and looking at alternative ways to improve their recruitment. Hiring managers are in higher demand as they have the knowledge and skill to hire the best talent. Some companies are employing the help of tech recruiters and taking advantage of the contacts they have. There are even companies now who are focusing on in-house tactics like employee referrals and dedicated recruiting teams.
It seems that no company is safe from the strain of hiring top tech talent. A study from Pricewaterhouse Cooper showed that 93% of CEOs recognize the need to change or are in the process of changing their recruitment strategy. These changes need to occur in every stage from recruiting to interviewing and screening—even onboarding. While competition among companies remains high, employee satisfaction has to remain a priority.
Like many, you are probably already aware of these challenges, and so the question is, what can be done about it? How can you ensure the right talent is filling the vacancies and in the quickest time possible?
Let’s look at 6 tips for your company to hire top tech talent and ensure that they stay.
Where do the best tech talent ‘hang out’?
The traditional recruitment method of scanning resumés for degrees is not going to work. Not enough students are graduating in time to fill the positions, plus, degrees don’t necessarily equal experience. If you rely too much on a candidate’s degree, you miss out on a massive talent pool.
This is because, according to Stack Overflow, 69% of developers are self-taught compared with 34.8% with a B.S. in Computer Science or a related field. By looking where the top tech talent ‘hang out’ you will find a much larger pool of candidates. The first place to look is sites like GitHub and Stack Overflow. It is also a good idea to visit industry-related conferences and hackathons.
- Create a referral program
In the same survey from Stack Overflow, 28.3% of developers found their job through a friend referral. That’s higher than any other job discovery method— including external recruiters. Referrals have two huge advantages; it takes less time to complete the hiring process, and retention is higher.
If you are looking only to fill a small number of vacancies, it’s a good start just to ask your current team to see if they have anyone in their IT networks that would be a good fit. For larger companies or companies expanding at a higher rate, you can create incentives for each successful referral that an employee brings in.
- Be careful when wording your descriptions
It’s normal that your job description is more jazzed up and even more humorous than in the past. These descriptions can reflect what it would be like to work for your company. You may even have a quirky job title that you assume will set your advert apart from the others. However, you have to make sure that quirky doesn’t become unrelatable and that the candidate scans over the role without truly understanding what the job entails.
Before publishing your tech vacancy advert, consider having your employees look over the advert and ask for their honest feedback. The newer the employee, the better as they are the ones who have most recently read and applied for your posted positions. On top of this, they will be able to help word the advert in a way that precisely describes the job, the culture, and they may even be able to inspire you with ideas they have seen.
- Plan company tech events
If you have never done this before, it might seem like a lot of hard work, but you do get more benefits than potential new recruits. Tech events like workshops, hackathons, coding challenges, conferences and boot camps provide your employees with a chance to improve their networks while getting your company name seen and heard.
Now is probably the best time to begin organizing tech events because they will be online. This can help keep costs down and allows for a worldwide audience.
- Optimize your interview experience
When the applications start coming in, some tend to take their foot off the gas thinking that the job is practically done. On the contrary, this is the moment when efforts need to be increased. One report from Harvard Business Review stated that we are spending twice as long on interviews as we did in 2009. So, the first step is to refine the interview process..
To do this, each interviewer and interviewee must have the same set of questions and information provided. This will help to keep the interview on track and within the right time frame. It also stops interviewees from straying and asking questions that may cause bias.
- Use the technology available
Remember that your candidate probably has other interviews lined up. Your process must stand out from that of your competitors. Waiting too long to get through the screening process could cause candidates to accept positions with your rival.
Coding platforms and online assessment tools are a great way to simultaneously evaluate the skills of dozens of candidates. They are professional, fair, engaging, and provide you with results much faster than traditional evaluation methods.
- Get to know what is important to your candidate
A good interview has a healthy balance of what your company requires and what the candidate requires. The same can be said for what you can do for your candidate and what they can do for you. Nevertheless, you won’t know what is important to your candidate unless you take the time to ask—and listen. Have a careers page on your website that answers some of the most typical questions candidates would want to know. You can also include employee testimonials, photos and even videos to give candidates a clearer idea of what your company is all about.
In Conclusion
Despite so many companies recognizing the need for a change in the recruitment process, more than 60% have yet to make a change. There is no need for you to be in this percentage. Just by introducing some of these small changes, you can see a difference. And for those who are serious about hiring the top tech talent, these six tips will keep you ahead of the game.
Still not sure? We are well aware that hiring expert developers is one of the most difficult parts, however, the Talentooze team can help you to efficiently overcome this challenge by enabling your company to hire expert developers from our vetted community of expert development teams and engineers.
Our hiring process consists of AI empowered tools and a set of specific guidelines, that will help you to avoid major pitfalls and will ensure your project’s success.
Feel free to contact us if you’d like to see if we can help you bring your idea to life!
