Tips to Eliminate the Skills Shortage and Hire More Effectively

Despite the effects of COVID-19 on the United States economy, technology jobs continue to be in high demand. With a skills shortage that threatens a huge shortfall in talent in the coming years, you will need to be more skillful when hiring for tech talent.

Recently, we published a blogpost discussing how to adjust your hiring strategy for the skills shortage. In this post we delve deeper, and outline a few of the most effective tactics to use to develop a talent pool that will eliminate the problems caused by a lack of skilled candidates in the general technology jobs market.

Hiring for Technology Jobs Is Going to Get Harder

According to technology jobs analysis conducted by 8allocate, the forecast shortfall in technology talent is approaching a huge tipping point. In 2019, almost two-thirds of employers struggled to fill their technology jobs within 12 weeks. The figures for the impending shortfall in tech talent in the United States are staggering, and include:

• Fintech and BFIS will be missing 10.7 million tech workers by 2030
• High-tech, media, and telecom will be missing 4.3 million digital workers by 2030
• The NYC tech ecosystem is believed to be most affected by the talent shortage

With such a backdrop, those companies who fail to strategize their hiring are likely to be those who are worst affected and consequently fall behind in an economy that is increasingly dominated by organizations with highly effective technical capability.

Developing Your Own Talent Pool to Hire From

One of the major reasons that companies find it hard to hire talent for their technology jobs is that they only consider their hiring strategy when they need to hire. In other words, hiring is not encompassed within the overall strategic direction of the company, but rather as a short-term solution to what is really a long-term need.

If you treat hiring as a strategic aim, you can build a strategy that will help you develop a talent pool from which you can draw when needed. You’ll be swimming in an ocean of talent instead of dipping your toe in to test the water.

A Talent Pool Washes Up Many Benefits

With a talent pool ready to dive into, you will also eliminate a lot of the hard work that accompanies recruitment. For example:

• You won’t need to craft compelling job descriptions
• You won’t need to advertise your open technology jobs
• You won’t have to spend huge sums of money to market your jobs
• You won’t waste time screening and interviewing unsuitable candidates

Developing your own talent pool is the most effective way of hiring the skills you need, when you most need them. It’s faster and more cost-effective.

Here are seven strategies to put in place to help develop your talent pool.

1.    Start with Who You Know

Previous candidates who were close to being hired can be a good source of potential recruits. They have shown interest in joining your company, and may only have been a whisker away from an offer.

To develop these candidates as a potential source of future talent, you should ensure that you provide a good candidate experience and a reason to keep you on their radar. Instead of a simple rejection letter, give positive feedback on their performance and the reasons for rejection. This will give them direction on which skills to develop to be an ideal fit next time.

2.    Look Within

Especially if recruiting for a middle management or senior management role, never neglect your internal talent. Do your existing employees have the skills, ability, and experience to be promoted? The reasons for hiring from within include that your employees are already engaged with the work they do, they are good cultural fits, and they understand your strategic direction.

To generate an internal talent pool, you should ensure that you put training and development strategies in place that develop the hard and soft skills your business strategy needs to be successful. When you provide the framework that supports your employees’ personal development, you will develop employees who are ready to assume more senior roles when they become available.

3.    Develop an Employee Referral Program

As well as being a valuable source for internal recruitment, your employees could be a conduit to external employees. Referred candidates are often faster and cheaper to hire, and generally good cultural fits. To garner more referrals from your employees:

• Keep your employees updated about your vacancies
• Ensure that you provide detailed job descriptions
• Reward those who deliver good referrals

4.    Create a Technology Jobs Community

Another great strategy to encourage talented candidates to apply for your technology jobs is to create an online community.

Begin by ensuring the careers page on your website is continually updated with available jobs, relevant company information, and employee experiences.

Don’t neglect your social media. LinkedIn is a particularly useful tool to foster engagement by participating in existing technology groups and forums and encouraging talented candidates to reach out to you.

Other tactics that can be used include fostering relationships with education establishments, and being active in trade shows, recruitment events, and delivering consistent and continuous online content, as well as newsletters, videos, and webinars.

5.    Review Your Remote Working Policy

There may be a skills shortage in your city or state, but this does not mean that those skills are impossible to hire. For many technology jobs, the skills you require are more readily available by casting your net wider.

To take advantage of skills that may be located across the United States, you should consider your remote working policies and hiring strategy. While this may mean adjusting how your team works, and putting in place processes and practices that enable effective collaboration online, the benefits of hiring remote talent are plentiful.

6.    Consider Contract Staff to Plug Talent Gaps

Contract staffing is a cost-effective way of filling technology jobs, providing access to talent without the need for long hiring cycles and training of new employees. The staffing agency conducts all the sourcing and screening to deliver the talent you need at speed. You have lower liability to provide benefits, further reducing your costs.

7.    Offer a Little Extra Than Your Competitors

If you find that the offers you make are rejected, it may be your compensation package that is lacking.

Ensure that the salaries you offer for technology jobs are competitive, and be mindful of other benefits and perks that help to attract top talent to your roles. Increasingly, we are finding that the most talented candidates are attracted by offers of equity, signing on bonuses, and great in-work benefits (including an element of flexible work arrangements) rather than salary alone.

Start Developing Your Talent Pool Today

Building a talent pool is not something that happens overnight. It takes a strategic approach, investment, and a lot of collaborative effort.

Creating a community, getting your people involved, and providing training and development opportunities for existing employees are all strategies that will help you to build a wider and deeper talent pool.

The sooner you start, the more effective your talent pool will be. We’ve spent years developing our talent pool and connections, which is why our contract and consulting services, direct hire, and executive search capabilities are second to none. Whatever your staffing and hiring needs, contact Irvine Technology Corporation today to benefit from the breadth and depth of our talent pool.