Simple changes to make hiring easier in a tough tech market

Every year, we hear the same old story, with more and more concerning statistics — there are more technology roles than technology professionals, despite more tech folk entering the workforce year on year.

Recently, Digit wrote an article about this very topic, specific to Scotland.

Demand for technology professionals has jumped more than seven-fold in Glasgow and more than five-fold in Edinburgh during the past year.

The research also showed slower growth in the number of people with technology skills in Scottish cities compared with other UK regions outside London.

And with a new financial year for some, and plans and budget to hire, this doesn’t sound like great news! So, what can we do when hiring to try and combat this, when we might not able to change things like salary, benefits and home working?

A lot of it is in the way you appeal to a potential applicant, and a recent tweet I saw summed it up. It said, ‘there’s a lot of content in “how to get top candidates” and not enough in “how to be appealing to top candidates”’, which, when talented tech folk have their pick of roles right now, is especially relevant.

So, how do we do this? In this case, I think it’s always worth going back to the basics.

When advertising:

• Post the salary range! Adverts with salaries attract 40% more applications on average than those that don’t.
• What can you say (or can I say) in an advert that highlights all the pros of the company and the role? Too often, job adverts are just a list of tech requirements, and nothing to really draw an applicant in. Is your product saving lives, is it using new technology, is this the first role of its kind (so there’s lot of room for autonomy, responsibility and influence)? Basically, why should someone even care?
• What learning opportunities can you offer? Across technology, most people want a role that will allow them to grow and develop, whether technically or otherwise. But rather than just stating ‘learning opportunities’, say something tangible — can you pay for an ISTQB certification, develop their automation skills, give them the chance to lead a team? The more specific, the better!
• An actual benefits list (and no, a laptop isn’t a benefit when you need it to do your job).

When interviewing:

• Is your application process simple? If it’s any more than sending in a CV, it’s immediately less appealing than your competitors.
• Is your hiring process streamlined — two stages at most really, anymore and someone else is going to hire them first.
• Can you forgo the long tech test? It’s a real blocker, and as soon as it takes a significant amount of someone’s free time, they are less likely to complete it. A stat from one company found that they were losing two thirds of applications at tech test stage (because people didn’t want to spend the time completing it, especially with other roles/opportunities available). If you absolutely must do a tech test, make it short, or even better, do it in the interview itself.
• Are you actually speaking about or pitching the company? Too often an applicant is really keen on a role, and then the interview is just an interrogation of their skills with nothing about the company or role mentioned, and then they are thoroughly put off (and this will extend into the future as they might not apply again, and tell their pals not to either).

Most importantly:

• Have you actually spoken to your recruitment company? Because just sending us a job description with no other communication does not help us help you to the best of our ability. We are pretty decent at finding out all of the above (and in a nice, quick twenty min call that makes your life easier), and presenting that to a potential applicant which ultimately creates more interest and commitment to a role than if they hadn’t spoken to anyone yet (it’s why recruiters are a valuable resource!). But, we can’t do that without speaking to you.

If you are looking to hire or thinking about the best way to go about your hiring process, please do get in touch — I’d be happy to help!