How to Find and Keep Top Talent
Developer Experience is not just about the tools and technologies you and your team pick. It's also about the people in your organizations. Artur Meyster, founder of Career Karma, writes about one of the biggest challenges companies face today: How to find and keep top technical talent.
If you have a company like Facebook or Google, hiring tech talent is probably not a problem. However, for other smaller companies, finding capable tech workers can be a real struggle. The industry is now facing a massive shortage of professionals. The supply is not nearly enough to meet the demand. That’s why there are so many job opportunities in the tech sector, according to Glassdoor.
Most tech workers are glad to work at companies like Tesla or Facebook, for reasons that we’ll show you next. Here are some useful tools for hiring and retaining tech talent.
Build Your Brand as an Employer
Tech professionals want to work for a company that meets their expectations. The best way to find out if you are a desirable employer is through employer reviews. If you want to start attracting tech talent, it’s time to build your brand as an employer. Encourage current employees to participate in these reviews and use them to build your reputation as a brand.
Oftentimes, companies don’t pay attention to their reputation because they’re busy with other things. However, this is a very important aspect of the company. Pay attention to what current employees have to say and attend to their queries.
This is the best way to work on your reputation as an employer. You can submit your company information at one of the many review sites out there, such as Indeed or Glassdoor. This is particularly important if your company is a startup. Since it’s a relatively new brand, potential employees will be disappointed if there’s nothing on the Internet about your reputation as an employer.
Remote Work
Having work-life balance is another factor that tech workers consider when choosing a company. According to a recent LinkedIn survey, 54% of tech workers decided to join a company because of the benefits. One of the most coveted benefits is the possibility to work remotely, at least once a month.
The remote work trend is only increasing. According to FlexJobs, the number of people who work remotely has grown from 3.9 million to 4.7 million in only three years. Some of the benefits of having remote workers included reduced expenses from utilities like energy and water.
With a sophisticated cloud system, employees can access the company’s system regardless of their location. Offering remote work opportunities will allow you to both attract and retain top tech talent.
Build Relationships in Higher Education
Building relationships with higher education programs or coding bootcamps can help you on your journey to finding tech rockstars. You’d be able to hire their best graduates, and your company will be enriched by the work of top-notch professionals. Whether you need someone for web or software development, you’re going to find talent in these universities and schools.
Career Development
According to a recent StackOverflow survey, companies that offer career development are more likely to find tech workers. This is a win-win situation: employees can further their education while you get more qualified and professional workers. This way, you’ll be able to retain tech employees and also improve your productivity and the overall performance of your workers.
The same LinkedIn survey we mentioned previously has something interesting to say about this. Employees who don’t think they’ll achieve their career goals at their current company are 12 times more likely to leave their job.
To provide career development, you can:
- Provide training programs and resources.
- Pay for formal education, like bachelor’s or masters degrees.
- Finance online coding bootcamp.
- Coach them with one-on-one conversations.
Workplace Culture
Workplace culture is something that most company owners don’t take into account. However, it can drastically improve your reputation as an employer. Balanced and healthy workplace culture will help you attract top tech talent. According to the previous LinkedIn survey, 36% of tech workers left their jobs because they were unsatisfied with the company’s workplace culture.
Provide the Right Tools
Tech employees who have the latest tools are more productive than those who don’t. If you want to attract top tech talent, you need to become a developer’s heaven. Make sure you provide them with all the tools they need to make their experience in your company more enjoyable.
This is a win-win situation also. These tools help tech employees do their work, which means the productivity in your company will increase. You’ll have happier employees and your company will perform better.
There are some useful tools out there like Monday.com or Embold. Both of these tools facilitate software development work.
Good Compensation
The tech industry usually offers high salaries. Whenever there’s a shortage of professionals and high demand, companies tend to give employees higher wages. Therefore, if you’re planning to hire tech professionals, you should consider offering them reasonable compensation.
However, most tech professionals prefer benefits over compensation. Since most companies are willing to pay them a high salary, the only way to compete is by offering other benefits. It could be the option to work remotely or career development opportunities. Don’t feel bad if you can’t provide reasonable compensation at first; you can always offer other advantages.
Offer Career Advancement
Most professionals are looking for a company where they can grow. Tech workers are no exception. Maybe at first, they’ll be working in a developer position, but they can climb up in the company with time and become an IT manager, for example. If you offer the possibility of career advancement, you’ll probably attract tech workers.
Conclusion
Recruiting tech talent isn’t an easy task. Due to the undeniable tech gap, companies usually struggle to hire tech professionals. However, there are always techniques and strategies you can implement. Partnering with schools and universities will help you find tech talent. It’s also essential to take care of your reputation as an employer.
Melissa Williams
