Retaining Top Tech Talent: A Recruiter's Handbook

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Photo by Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels

In this ultra-competitive recruitment age, retaining highly talented tech personnel is a major issue for recruiters. There are a few things recruiters should keep in mind to accomplish so.

Finding and retaining STEM personnel in today’s competitive job market is a challenge. Sourcing is just a small portion of the battle for the best and brightest in today’s competitive job market. Talent retention is also a major problem.

In the current job market, there is a severe lack of qualified developers actively hunting for employment. Organizations spend tens of thousands of dollars on recruiting personnel. The costs of a poor hire are much higher when you include in the HR efforts that go into locating and hiring tech talent and the accompanying expenses of onboarding and training.

The need for qualified technologists is greater than ever. Hiring and keeping top tech talent are the top concerns for hiring managers, according to the Harris Allied 2014 Tech Hiring and Retention Survey. As a result, recruiters and talent acquisition (TA) teams should place retention at the top of their priority list. As a result, new staff should be allowed to learn the ropes as soon as possible.

If you’re wondering what it takes to keep your best players on board when a better opportunity presents itself, this article is for you. Tips for recruiting teams to remain one step ahead of the competition and keep their best employees happy are provided below.

1) Learn the lingo of the IT industry

As a recruiter or hiring manager, there’s a strong probability that you’re unfamiliar with the specifics of many of the roles for which you’re recruiting. The ability to “speak their language” will pay huge dividends when trying to establish long-term relationships with IT professionals.

You don’t have to be an expert programmer to be well-versed in technical jargon. A basic understanding of the roles you’re interested in filling is all that’s required. A Java software engineer is needed for your organization, and you’ve been given the assignment. It’s quite unlikely that you’ll have to spend a lot of time explaining the differences between PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Oracle to job seekers.

A better way of learning about a candidate’s skills and interests and any possible pain points or limitations is to have a fundamental grasp of those platforms and why they matter for the position before you even begin the interview. It’s essential to mention all of this in your report to the recruiting team.

2) Prioritize Benefits Over Compensation

Many millennials in the pool of computer talent have an optimistic and can-do attitude towards their careers and work. Undoubtedly, recruiting highly innovative and quick to pick up new technologies young employees may be a genuine problem for recruiters.

Stability, job security, and high pay are no longer the most sought-after rewards by job searchers. Today, highly qualified IT professionals may demand substantial salaries and benefits. Flexible working hours, help with student debt repayment, and professional and personal growth opportunities are all important considerations for job seekers.

In this aspect, forward-thinking is vitally essential. Many of the world’s most prestigious corporations currently provide their employee’s enticing perks packages. Competitive advantage is gained by doing so. If you don’t, your recruitment and retention efforts might suffer severely.

3) Forget the college degrees and go straight for the work experience

One of the simplest ways for a company to lose out on potential is to reject people who don’t meet formal schooling requirements. If recruiters insist on adhering to the rules, it is possible that candidates who may be a good match for the company would be overlooked.

Many programmers these days are self-taught. Coursera and Udemy allow students to access university-level courses and training without enrolling at a college. Over 90% of developers have learned a new language outside of their official schooling, according to Stack Overflow’s 2018 Global Developer Hiring Landscape study.

For example, Google, IBM, and Apple no longer need candidates to have a bachelor’s degree. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said that nearly half of Apple’s US workforce last year was individuals without four-year degrees. Aside from that, according to him, many colleges do not teach the kinds of skills that are in high demand in today’s workforce, such as computer programming.

As a result, recruiters must stop showing prejudice towards self-taught individuals and those without degrees from recognized institutions of higher learning.

4) Showcase the Power of Your Company’s Identity

Candidates that share a company’s core principles are more likely to stick around and contribute to its success. It is crucial to properly explain these principles early in the recruitment process to minimize misunderstanding, disengagement, and employer unhappiness. All of these factors lead to poor retention.

Employees in the United States often stay with their companies for four years on average. That’s a short time. Consequently, it is now more critical than ever for companies to think strategically about retaining their personnel. Having a strong corporate culture is one of the most effective ways to create a strong bond among coworkers and clients alike.