Blog

Competing for Top Tech Talent

on May 19, 2017 in IT Clients

 

The “traditional” means of filling open tech positions looks a little something like this:

Post the job opening. Weed through the resumes and applications and pray your ideal candidate applies.

If that’s the method your company uses to find tech talent, you’re probably losing out. There are myriad reasons why this model doesn’t yield positive results, but above all else, it fails to consider one important fact: The best tech talent is already employed and unlikely to be browsing job boards. Waiting for them to come to you is an exercise in futility. If you want to truly compete for top talent, you’ve got to up your recruiting game.

Proactively Pursue Passive Talent

Don’t wait until a position opens up to start looking for talent.  If your competitors are consistently winning the war for the best and brightest, they are probably actively recruiting passive candidates at all times. In order to connect with passive talent who aren’t out looking for an opportunity, you must be networking online and in person and you must consistently check in with talent to stay top-of-mind. Building relationships with passive candidates takes months or even years, but it is a necessary step in building a strong pipeline.

Streamline Your Hiring Process

If your hiring process is slow, if you aren’t responsive during the process or if you make candidates jump through a series of complicated hoops, you will lose talent to competitors. Your hiring process must be transparent, streamlined and efficient to keep the attention of bright tech talent. If candidates feel like you don’t respect them or their time, they won’t want to work for you.

Focus On Culture

Tech positions come with a great deal of pressure and stress. Tech pros know and accept this, but they want to work for an organization where they will be happy and where the culture allows them to do their best work. This means focusing on culture throughout the interview process. If you work in a laid-back environment, buttoned-up corporate-types won’t be happy (and vice versa).  Strong matches cannot be made when there is cultural misalignment.

Know The Market

Top tech talent knows what type of salary, benefits and perks they can command in the marketplace. Do you know what the going rates are for skilled technical professionals? If not, you’re likely losing them to competitors who do know the market. You don’t have to necessarily offer the top salaries, but you do need to offer packages that attract attention. You can often create a competitive edge with perks like telecommuting options that promote work-life balance if you can’t compete on salary. The key is to study the market and develop a strategy that keeps you in line with trends.

Work With A Strategic Recruiting Partner

Overhauling your hiring process to attract the best and brightest can take years. An efficient way to connect with the talent you need today is to partner with a niche recruiting firm that has a proven track record of success. If you are ready to work with a strategic staffing partner who can show real results, PEAK Technical Consulting can help. Contact us to learn more about the ways we can help you achieve your IT recruiting goals.

About PEAK

PEAK Technical Consulting is a leading provider of IT and technical talent, offering contract staffing, contract-to-hire and direct hire solutions throughout the United States. With nearly fifty years of technical recruiting experience, we are committed to delivering real value to our clients by providing the resources, support and solutions they need to succeed.

PEAK consistently delivers top talent for even tough-to-fill positions. See some of the IT jobs we have recently filled for our clients:

  • Sr. Software Engineer (C++)
  • Senior Engineer / Team Lead (Cloud Services)
  • EBS Projects Consultant

If you are looking for skilled, experienced IT professionals to help your business grow and prosper, contact the IT recruiting experts at PEAK Technical Staffing today.