So how can you compete with the recruitment campaigns, salaries, and benefits that bigger companies offer candidates?
The market for tech talent continues to grow year on year, with more competition for candidates, with the top tier candidates being priced out of the market by the big tech firms.
Whilst salaries are an important factor, money isn’t always the key factor in securing tech talent, so it’s important to focus on your companies’ strengths and unique selling points.
Build a strong employer brand
Just as your products or services have a brand, so too does your company as an employer. Building an attractive employer brand is essential: if you have a poor reputation, the best candidates will stay away. Create stories to help prospective candidates understand what it’s like to work at your organisation. Talk about what you’ve accomplished and get them excited about what the future has in store.
Establish your company’s values and include these in your vision and mission statements. Share these on your website and make sure you actively market your employer brand on social media channels
75% of hiring decision-makers agree it’s easier to attract top talent when they know about your organisation.
Speed up your hiring
The best candidates get snapped up quickly. Your hiring processes need to be fast to catch your top choices before they look elsewhere. Larger companies can be slow, taking months to hire. You can be more agile: make the top candidates feel wanted by quickly getting to know them on a personal level and making them feel they’re already part of the team.
- Ensure your job ads are clear and appealing, and hosted on the job sites that deliver the type of candidates you’re looking for.
- Once you’ve chosen your top applicants, accommodate their busy schedules by interviewing early in the morning, during lunch breaks, afternoons, or even weekends. Conduct telephone interviews or video calls.
Let candidates know they can make a real difference
At smaller firms, workers wear different ‘hats’ and get a greater variety of experiences than most larger companies are able to provide. They have a say in guiding company strategy and develop deeper skill sets that pay greater dividends down the line. Employees aren’t just cogs in the machine: they have more responsibility and can see the impact their work has.
Create an employee-centric culture
Widespread automation of generic tasks, combined with growing trends in workforce mobility, has meant that modern employees have more flexibility to work in a way that suits their strengths, and takes their individual needs and aspirations into account.
- If it is practical to enable your staff to work flexibly, this is a great place to start. Employees that set their own schedules are often more productive, as they can choose to work at times when they are most focused and alert
- Encourage general fitness and promote well-being. This reassures staff that you care about them as individuals, while simultaneously promoting a more peaceful working environment
- Combine your business’ aspirations with those of your staff. This will enable you to construct meaningful challenges and goals to work towards
- Celebrate success by acknowledging the achievements of individuals within your team. Offer incentives for completing projects on time, and keep bonuses uncapped, so you can encourage productive dialogue, and reward those who consistently go above and beyond
- Find out which causes matter to your team, and consider ways to help support them
- Don’t be afraid to recruit older candidates Their knowledge and understanding can be invaluable, and a diverse workforce gives you far greater problem-solving potential.
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