Due to a hiring crunch created by COVID-19, recruiting in the field of Information Technology (IT) has grown extremely competitive.
The pandemic created a movement in the workforce known as “the great resignation.” With the great resignation, “people weren’t satisfied with their work environment, the industry they were in or their work-life balance and left their jobs.” The IT space was hit particularly hard by this movement, as employees shifted to remote work and took opportunities that were previously unavailable.
The hiring crunch for IT talent has grown so pervasive that aggressive recruitment for IT is quickly becoming critical to the success of any company. To help our clients better understand how to better attract high-level IT talent, CulverCareers put together this brief guide on tech recruiting.
Why is Recruiting Tech Staff So Hard?
It seems that each year, the gap between qualified IT candidates and the number of available jobs grows wider. With large companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon expanding their IT teams by thousands of people annually, smaller businesses are left wondering how to find good candidates in such a competitive market.
The IT field has been exceptionally volatile due to COVID-19. Not only did many people quit their IT jobs during the great resignation, but the pandemic also caused a massive boom in certain facets of the IT space. When millions of people transitioned to remote work, we saw an unprecedented shift to online work tools like video meetings. In turn, as companies like Zoom grew over 300% in 2020, they had to hire more IT talent to stay afloat.
Computerworld explains the effect of COVID-19 on the tech space as such: “While unemployment is at historic lows in many sectors, the tech industry has been hit hard by the pandemic…leaving companies facing a dearth of qualified job candidates to fill more than one million openings.”
Successful Tech Talent Recruitment Strategies
There is no doubt that the IT industry of today is a candidate-driven market. Since hiring competition is fierce, it’s more important than ever to employ the right IT recruitment strategy. CulverCareers put together a few tips to help you make smart decisions on key IT hires:
Be Patient When Hiring
Especially for those hard-to-fill IT roles, it can be tempting to hire a candidate who isn’t quite the right fit for your needs. However, acting hastily and hiring the wrong person will only lead to more stress and heartache down the road. As such, be patient when hiring IT talent and you will eventually find the right person.
Create Interest in Your Business
No matter what industry your work in, the best employees always enjoy being challenged. As such, when you market an open IT job, be sure to explain that your company offers a stimulating environment where people can progress their skills. Creating interest in your business with passionate and motivated candidates is key to developing your IT talent pool.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Especially for tech-savvy millennials, explaining your approach to diversity in the workplace could make all the difference in making key hires. By openly discussing your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) management plan, you will show candidates that you promote a vibrant and diverse business culture. Even more, will build a creative environment where people can do their best work.
Candidate Experience
The term “candidate experience” refers to how people feel about your business after undergoing the recruiting, interviewing, and hiring process. For example, if it takes 2 months for your company to get an offer together for a new hire, it could result in a bad candidate experience.
Especially in highly competitive fields like IT, good candidate experiences are extremely important. To this end, if people consistently have bad experiences when applying and interviewing with your business, you will eventually develop a bad reputation among candidates. This reputation can easily spread via word-of-mouth and job boards like Glassdoor.
Reverse Interview
In order to provide the best possible candidate experiences for IT applicants, companies have begun implementing “reverse interviews.” By using reverse interviews, you will stand out from competitors, while also empowering key IT candidates.
Reverse interviews generally take place after you have narrowed down a slim pool of candidates. With reverse interviews, candidates actually get to question potential employers about topics they find important – including company culture, benefits packages, and remote work. Importantly, candidates feel empowered by reverse interviews.
Workplace Environment
One of the most surefire ways to attract leading IT talent is to create an environment at your company where people want to work. Especially when it comes to attracting younger candidates and millennials, showing that you will give them the tools to succeed is very important. This includes not only great training and support but also inclusive company culture.
In the event that you are operating a hybrid office or full-remote model, it’s even more important to make sure that people have the support they need to be successful. Without the office culture, it’s much harder for people to identify with the values of your company. As such, organizing social events or offering extra paid training is a great way to earn the loyalty and respect of employees.
Tech Recruiting with CulverCareers
When you work with CulverCareers, you get an IT recruitment team that understands the challenges and opportunities in your particular niche. Whether you need onsite talent or remote work employees, we can handle your most challenging tech recruiting needs. While it can take months to find qualified IT talent, CulverCareers will have candidate profiles on your desk within 2 weeks.
Contact Us today for help recruiting tech staff.
Ty Culver is the Client Development Director of CulverCareers focusing on talent acquisition and workforce solutions with a wide variety of local, national and global clients.
Ty has been working in various aspects of the industry for over 10 years and developed deep expertise in Executive Search, Executive Benefit and Talent Acquisition Programs along the way. He has a range of experience from SMB to Enterprise clients and hyper specific executive searches to high volume recruiting with companies in a dynamic state of flux.
Today, Ty leads a talented team of Talent Acquisition Specialists, Executive Recruiters and Client Success Managers at one of the most respected Recruiting Firms in the Nation, CulverCareers. While leadership is a key aspect of his role, Ty still enjoys working with clients on recruiting strategies, executive benefit solutions and workforce solutions to help clients build a holistic approach to talent acquisition and talent retention.
