It’s not often that I get a chance to take 5 minutes out of my busy day of recruiting, to reflect. Whilst currently on a flight to Belfast for a busy day of client meetings tomorrow, I thought I would take a breath and put some thoughts down in words.
Recruitment is tough right now. There, I’ve said it. Tougher than last year? Yes, but with different challenges. In 2020, recruiters were worried about being able to find roles to fill and candidates who were willing to take a chance on making a move. In 2021, we started to see an increase in companies beginning to poke their heads out from the ground and think about getting back on track with hiring plans. Fast forward to 2022 and it’s a whole world of chaos.
Unprecedented levels of tech roles coupled with a lack of candidates in the market has resulted in fierce competition to secure new talent. What’s the solution?
• Visas for overseas talent. I was delighted to read that the government are looking in to changing the ease at which tech talent can secure a visa to work in the UK. Clients, if you aren’t registered already, you are missing out on huge talent pools.
• Stand out. It’s NOT all about who pays the highest salary, although remaining competitive in this current market is a necessity. However, people want to understand your business. What values do you stand for, what’s your brand, your story, your people, your passion.
• How do you treat your employees? Do you even know? If not, ask them. It is a lot more cost effective to keep the staff that you have rather than having to look at replacing them. Create an open and honest culture where feedback is encouraged and views are heard. This costs you nothing in terms of financial outlay.
• Consider the market. If you are competing with 10 other companies to hire a Senior React developer, don’t make them complete a 4 hour take home tech challenge. Consider changing this to pair programming on a call, this will give you a far better idea of how your potential new employee would work with you on programming tasks in the future.
• Don’t hang around. If you have a 3-stage interview process, that’s fine, but don’t take three weeks to complete it. Move fast because talent doesn’t stay on the market for long. If your role is urgent and critical, make time and commit to a robust process.
• Hire talent for the future. You want to hire people who can grow with the business and so look for future potential not just immediate skills. Talk to employees about future plans, create an inclusive environment.
• Make a difference. If your product or platform isn’t changing the world or fixing the planet, find a way to do so. Employees are becoming more and more interested in sustainability and their carbon footprint. (I am so excited to announce details of one of my clients in May that you are all going to LOVE)
It’s not rocket science and it’s not about reinventing the wheel. The most important asset any company can have, is people. So work hard to bring new talent in but just as hard to make sure that you keep them when you find them.
