Recruiting Strategies the Top Tech Companies Use
Building a successful company requires more than just a good product or compelling service. In order to scale over time, you need a team of talented people to steer the ship. And the only way to consistently onboard top tech talent into your organization is by setting up an intentional recruiting strategy that puts you in contact with highly skilled professionals who can take your business to the next level.
The Importance of Hiring the Right People
Hiring the right people is important on multiple levels. Here are are a few of the biggest impact areas:
- Growth. Very few investments will help lay the groundwork for future growth quite like bringing on the right talent. Highly talented tech workers infuse creativity and skill into your workplace, which gives you the freedom and flexibility to make growth-oriented decisions.
- Continuity. When you hire talented people who are a good fit for your organization, they’re more likely to stick around. And there’s something to be said for having continuity on your team. It leads to increased trust, camaraderie, and job satisfaction.
- Cost. Speaking of continuity, did you know that turnover costs can make up almost 30 percent of the role you’re filling? Yep, that’s right. The average cost of a bad hire is 30 percent of the employee’s first-year salary ($30,000 on a $100,000 salary). These costs include hiring, recruiting, training, and other related expenses.
- Culture. At the end of the day, your company is a combination of people. You are the best and worst parts of your team all rolled into one semi-cohesive unit. Each time you make a hire, your culture changes ever so slightly. It can change for good or for bad. It’s simply up to your hiring decisions.
When you look at hiring through these categories, it becomes clear that recruiting top tech talent to join your team is something you have to take very seriously.
5 Tips for Attracting Top Tech Talent
Skilled tech workers are in high demand; they pretty much have their pick of jobs at this point. So while you’re definitely facing a challenge in your pursuit of attracting top tech talent, there are several things you can do to increase your chances of onboarding the right people.
- Treat Your Culture Like a Brand
Today’s top tech candidates aren’t as much focused on the highest paying jobs as they are on the best cultures. They want to work for companies that share a similar ethos or set of values. To be competitive with these individuals, you must treat your culture like a brand. This means defining who you are and going so far as to market your culture.
What exactly do employees want in a culture? According to one study, here’s what tech professionals value: work-life balance (52 percent), professional development (44 percent), collaborative environment (36 percent), above-market salary (34 percent), and diversity and inclusion (20 percent). Other priorities include company size, social work environment, community, and technology.
- Use Your Employees
Your employees may be your best source of talented candidates. So before posting a job listing, begin by asking your most talented and trusted employees for a list of potential candidates.
Asking existing employees for referrals is beneficial for numerous reasons. For one, you get a filtered list of people who are likely to be good fits (otherwise, your current employee wouldn’t recommend them). Secondly, the fact that the candidate already knows someone in the company gives you instant credibility in the interview process.
- Provide Perks That Matter
Silicon Valley has totally polluted reality. With giants like Facebook (News - Alert) and Google introducing ridiculous workplace perks like nap pods and draft beer, many companies have been duped into thinking these are the perks that employees want. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
When creating perks and benefits, think about the things top tech talent actually want. (Hint: it’s not foosball tables and gourmet snacks.) People want things like office furniture allowances, flexible scheduling, time off for personal development, and childcare allowances.
If you’re hiring from out of state, consider partnering with a local property management company to provide new hires with six months of free housing. Or you could offer to pay for moving costs. (There are so many options!)
- Embrace Remote Work
It’s time to get on board with remote work. Not only is it less expensive on your end, but it’s something employees want. Plus, on top of that, there’s the fact that it broadens your pool of candidates.
If you still require all of your employees to come into the office, your talent pool is limited to candidates in the local area or who are willing to move here. By offering remote positions, you can now pull from anywhere. This can increase the number of potential candidates by 1,000-fold.
Remote working is also shown to lead to better job satisfaction. This means you’re less likely to lose a talented employee once they’re on the team. This reduction in turnover reduces the burden to constantly find new talent.
- Deliver a Great Interview Experience
Most of the time, we view the interview as an opportunity for the candidate to impress us. But in a competitive field like this, you also have to do your part to impress them.
According to one survey, 82 percent of tech talent says a negative interview experience changes their mind about a role they previously liked. Thus, delivering a great interview experience is a must.
How do you create a compelling experience? For starters, do more than just interview them in a boardroom. Walk them around the office, provide free company swag, and give them an idea of what day-to-day life will look like if they accept the job offer.
Putting it All Together
If you’re serious about growing your business over the next three to five years, it starts with making an investment in talented individuals. Because while innovation and customer service are key ingredients to your success, both of these aspects of the company are driven by the people behind the scenes. Acquire the right talent and everything else will fall into place!
