How to find, hire, keep and develop tech talent

With the technology sector growing and developing at pace, year after year, attracting and recruiting the very best talent for its various technical industries and roles is increasingly important. But while the sector grows, talent pool growth isn’t keeping up the pace.

This means that tech companies have a challenge on their hands; a challenge to not only find the right people, with the right skills, the passion, and the cultural traits to suit their business, but also set themselves apart from other companies and fend off competition for such talent.

However, with challenges come opportunities. Thankfully, there are plenty of opportunities – and ways – to find, hire, keep and develop tech talent that will not only impact your company, but the wider industry too.

In a highly competitive market, where top tech talent is often in the unique position to ‘hold the cards’ when it comes to where and how they want to begin or progress their career, it is important to make the right moves when finding and hiring.

Here are a few tips to help you do just that:

‘Think like a recruit’

The world has changed, and so has recruitment. Traditionally, the focus for HR departments and recruiters was to formulate and improve their own strictly formatted processes, ones which were centred around the business, rather than people.

Today, however, it is arguably more important than ever to put yourselves in the shoes of the talent you want to attract.

Consider who they’d want to talk to; interviewing the right people with the right people will produce more insightful, informed conversation. Think about where you’re active in your search, considering the variety of channels talent will use. And be ready to answer key questions, not just ask them; the best, most ambitious talent will want to know why they should choose you from their multitude of employment options – think of it as being interviewed by them.

Invest in (and use!) the right talent hiring tools

There are tools aplenty available for helping you find talent, assess their skills, and decide whether they are the perfect match for your company.

Ironically, the work of some of the brightest tech minds have created systems and tools that take advantage of the latest technological advances, from recruitment software to AI-powered programs that measure a candidate’s task competency.

By using such tools, you can systematically narrow down your search to ensure that the hire you make is the right one, for your company and the specific role in question.

Alternatively, invest in a recruitment specialist…

If you really want to hone in on the very best tech talent available, the help and guidance provided by experts such as our specialist recruiters at Carbon60 could be invaluable.

With knowledge and expertise built over decades of hands-on experience, and a network of people who understand business needs and what it takes to seek-out and secure candidates for a variety of roles in the technology sector, you can rely on Carbon60 to create effective recruitment campaigns that will deliver on your unique objectives.

Finding talent is tricky. For any company. Thankfully there are experts at hand to connect you to the exact talent you need.

Be brutal (in the right way)

You know what your company needs and the sort of talent you’re looking for to meet those needs. So, while you should of course treat every potential candidate with care and respect, it pays to be focused on the talent you require, and the particular skills and attributes they’ll need to bring to your company.

Think about specifics, be clear on your requirements and act accordingly – the market is too competitive, with other companies seeking the very same people you are, to spend time working with ifs and buts.

Be prepared to embed tech talent quickly

Technology doesn’t stand still, and the tech talent with the brightest of minds will likely want to get moving quickly too.

You’ve put in the time and effort to find the perfect hire for your role, so now it’s time to put them to work. The reason you’ve chosen a particular person to work with you is because you’ve identified that they have the skills and attributes to do the job, so you should feel confident in embedding them in your company, team, processes, and projects.

It’s best for both your company and your new hire to get going as quickly as possible – you benefit from their talent, while they get to learn, develop, and work towards producing results from the moment they join, which will not only help them settle, but provide a sense of belonging and trust.

Think beyond just hiring – you need to keep and develop your tech talent too

You’ve put in the hard work, attracted the very best tech talent, and made the perfect hire for your company. Don’t let that work go to waste by not providing opportunities for your talent to develop their skills, grow their knowledge and expertise and build a career – doing so risks losing them, setting you back to square one.

Here’s a few ideas on how to help keep and develop your tech talent:

• Promote and provide opportunities for learning and skill development

  As your new employee looks to build their career, with you and in general, they’ll be looking to build on their skill set and experience too. It is imperative that any business provides opportunities for learning and development, but it is all the more important for companies in tech, as the game changes so quickly it is easy to be left behind.

  Don’t restrict learning opportunities to practical elements either; it is just as important to help your employees’ personal development too, providing them with all the knowledge and skills they need to perhaps progress to management or leadership roles, or simply to help communication, teamwork and to imprint the company’s culture.

• Offer clear, interesting career paths

  After any hire, you should always think about the ‘what’s next?’ – you can be sure that your new employee will be. Whilst you will have found, attracted and secured talent for a specific role, it is beneficial for both employer and employee to have clear career paths ahead and consider which future roles the journey could lead to.

  Employees will likely want to progress their career, and if you don’t give them the chance to do so with you, they’ll go elsewhere to take the next step. Therefore, it is important to have regular conversations about the future, give and take feedback that’ll help progression and continually develop skills. Doing so will also hopefully ensure that the company continues to benefit from the talent they identified long into future.

• Trust in talent & let them work

  Empowerment is, well, powerful. This is especially true for the tech sector and the way talent works within it. Trusting in the skills of the talent you hire, to allow them to get on with the work you hired them for, can have a huge impact on employee happiness, development, and the likelihood of them wanting to build their career with you, rather than elsewhere.

  Guide, offer advice and support. Don’t micromanage. You’ll soon discover the benefits of doing so when you allow your company’s bright minds to do what they do best.

• Ensure effective ways of working
  

  Having an effective, established working environment is as important as the people working in it. Bad practices, poor quality equipment, not providing the tools required to complete a task effectively; these are elements that can frustrate, restrict workflow, and prevent your tech talent from producing the results that they, and your company, want to achieve.

The very best companies not only invest in the very best talent, but they also invest in providing the very best working environments they can too. A functioning workplace is a happy, productive workplace, one that encourages people to thrive, develop and drives them forward.