Key insights
Transparency and feeling valued are essential for tech staff
Jobseekers assess your existing tech scene
Coach-style leadership can be vital for younger tech talent
Technology is a critical part of almost every business and having the right talent on board to manage this technology is essential. Years ago, it was only the tech companies who were on the lookout for candidates for software and technology roles.
Today, hundreds of industries require tech talent, and the competition to find it is fiercer than ever. In 2019, over 40% of all software developer and engineer hires were employed by non-tech companies.
Sourcing candidates who have the skills and experience in the technology you need is a challenging task. Global tech companies are hiring top talent at extremely high rates, leaving the smaller businesses with less qualified and experienced candidates.
Start-ups and those working in non-tech organisations are those struggling the most to attract the top tech talent. If your business is finding it challenging to source the right candidates for tech roles, read on for our tips on how to attract the top technology talent.
Commit To Diversity And Inclusion
Having a solid diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy in place can positively impact your business performance and help attract talented candidates. Many job seekers are considering DEI in their decision-making process for new roles, and if you do not have a strategy in place, you could be missing out.
A recent study revealed that 48% of employed adults would consider moving to another company if they had a built-out DEI strategy in place. When you are looking to attract the top tech talent, you need to make sure you’re not ignoring nearly half of the talent pool.
One way to help improve your DEI is to open up your recruitment beyond your typical sources. Instead of only relying on credentials and past experience when recruiting tech talent, look at testing capabilities and skills objectively.
Not only will this increase your talent pool, but it can help improve diversity in your company. Look for candidates with coding boot camp certificates or coding work samples online, regardless of whether or not they have higher educations from a top university. This can help you open opportunities to more underrepresented candidates and widen your funnel when recruiting tech talent.
Encourage Accountability And Transparency Among Management
Many major tech companies have increased their focus on ensuring management teams are engaging directly with employees and involved with the business on a day to day basis.
Employees want to work for an organisation that ensures managers are accountable, transparent, and decisive. A great example of this is business collaboration software Slack, who set up an internal ‘ask me anything’ chat channel, where employees have the chance to ask the executive team anything they want. Executives then respond openly and honestly to all employees.
The very best tech talent is always going to prefer companies that make them feel like their hard work is valued and making a real difference. When team members feel that management teams are unaccountable and intransigent, they are less likely to stay for the long term.
Making these values and processes clear to prospective employees will help you to attract the best in tech talent.
Develop A Coaching And Development Culture
Attracting top talent isn’t just about getting new recruits in the door, but it is about developing a culture they want to stay in and thrive in. Providing high-quality training and development to your staff is an excellent way to attract talent as well as retain existing team members.
Gen Z and Millennial workers in particular value this kind of culture in an employer and will be more inclined to join a team where coaching is present. Developing a learning culture can also help you to grow your talented employees. Particularly those with all the right capabilities but just lacking in experience.
Share Your Initiatives In The Tech Scene
It is all well and good having a DEI strategy, focusing on development, and encouraging transparent management, but none of these things will help you attract talent if you don’t tell them about it.
A study by Slack revealed that developers often learn about new potential employers through their content and media. When tech whizzes are job hunting, they are looking at your blogs, videos, and social channels to get an idea of your organisation.
Collaborating with your marketing department to share all the great initiatives your business has in place for employees is a great way to attract talent. Focus on producing content that showcases your company culture, your training initiatives and anything else which adds value to prospective employees.
Other ways to reach top talent is to take part in events and conferences in the tech scene or even use paid advertising to reach the right people.
Introduce Valuable Benefits For Employees
Tech candidates who are good at what they do have so much choice over the company they work for. Software developers and engineers with the right training and experience can afford to be picky over their employers, and your business needs to give them a reason to choose you.
Major tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter offer impressive benefits such as free haircuts, massages, and acupuncture to all team members.
It is unlikely that small brands will have the budget to compete with these impressive benefits, but you need to be offering something to encourage tech talent to your door. Consider benefits such as extra time off, remote working options, free food and snacks, discounts at local gyms, or anything else that comes to mind. Whatever you are offering, it needs to add value to your employees’ lives.
Attracting top tech talent isn’t something that happens overnight, and it will take time and effort to develop a culture that jobseekers are excited about.
Dedicating yourself to creating a workplace that tech professionals want to be a part of will undoubtedly pay off in the long run. You can soon expect to have a high-calibre and diverse workforce behind you, helping your business succeed.
Horton International’s Digitization and IT sector offers the chance for our clients to get ahead of the curve. Our global reach and the close cooperation between our offices means we can seek out the talent that helps businesses thrive and advance ahead of the rate of change.
At Horton International, we have been dealing with this industry since the very beginning and have a deep understanding of the goals and requirements for our clients.
Our expertise and experience allow us to identify talents who not only follow the technological changes but inspire and mould the digital transformation.
