Many tech companies are slowly realizing that a lot of job boards aren’t built for their needs. A decade ago, they may have been a treasure trove of the top talent, but now there’s a slim chance that top IT talent will seek employment from general job boards. That’s why startups and established but not-so-famous organizations have to know how to recruit IT talent innovatively. If you’re struggling to hire excellent IT engineers, you’re not alone. But it’s not all gloom and doom.
Slight optimizations to your recruitment strategy can translate to a massive competitive advantage in a tight labor market. The first step is to take a long hard look at your current recruitment strategy and identify opportunities for improvement. Simple things like researching what people in the IT field are looking for, respecting your candidates, promoting your company vision, and offering competitive remuneration can help you stand out. With these simple adjustments, successfully recruiting top IT talent becomes a lot easier.
Research Your Audience
To attract and recruit the best IT talent, you have to understand what motivates your prospective hires. A great salary, modern company culture, project ownership, flexible work arrangements, and growth opportunities are some factors that employees in the IT industry consider when comparing job opportunities. This means that just offering the biggest paycheck may not be enough to secure the best talent. Find out what is important to your candidates. If you know what matters to them, you can provide the best possible offer.
Researching your audience also ensures that you speak and understand their language. One survey by Stack Overflow showed that most developers considered the frameworks, languages, and technologies they’d be working with as the most important factors when considering job offers. That’s why you must understand and communicate these details when you’re scouting for new IT talent. Details can vary from how much a WordPress site costs to what languages the talent is fluent in.
Respect Your Candidates
Since most IT applicants probably have a few offers to consider, it’s essential to have a clear timeline for your recruitment process. Keeping your candidates in the loop throughout the process also ensures that they don’t accept offers before you present them with a potential job offer.
Respecting your candidates also communicates that you care for your employees. Don’t just be nice to the people you think you want to hire. Respond to everyone that applies, even those that aren’t right for the role. By doing this, you build connections with upcoming talent that may come back in the future. Also, your recruits may potentially share their experience with someone in their network who could be interested in working for you, so you’ll want to make sure you have a great reputation.
Promote Your Company’s Vision
If you’re already offering a competitive salary, what sets you apart from other companies in your industry are your projects, team members, and work environment. People in the IT industry want to be part of something big and exciting. As such, it’s important to give potential recruits a sneak peek into your company’s vision, what you’re working to achieve, and how your current employees conduct their daily routines. You can even arrange an informal meeting between shortlisted candidates and your team so that they have a real-time experience of your work culture.
Level the Remuneration Playing Field
A great work culture, exciting projects, and a complete understanding of your audience alone won’t attract top IT talent. You’ll also have to pay a competitive salary with decent benefits. Once you level the financial playing field, you can compete with tech giants for the best recruits. Most times, it’s easy to assume what potential employees are looking for in terms of remuneration. If you ask how you can sweeten the offer, however, you’ll find out where your competitors are falling short. Is working on a remote team a priority? If a potential hire’s requests are within reason, you can quickly offer them and instantly bring on a great new team member.
Conclusion
Recruiting for IT positions is increasingly becoming a challenge. The best talent on the market are often already working on other projects and will carefully consider their options before they jump into another organization. That’s why you’ll need to approach the hiring process strategically if you want to recruit the best IT talent for your business.
