Good talent is hard to find, but when it comes to tech positions, it is markedly more challenging. For quite some time, there has been a shortage of tech workers, and the number of job openings to available talent is being thrown even more out of balance now that businesses are motivated to invest in technology.
According to Spice Works, 44% of businesses increased their technology budget for 2020. This increase is up by 6% from 2019. Reasons for this include added protection against security threats, upgrading to meet demands, and adopting AI to improve customer and employee experiences.
While this increase in jobs is great for the tech industry, at times it is quite perplexing for recruiters, especially in the Bay Area. The fact is, that many techs aspire to join one of the highly acclaimed Silicon Valley startups or a major brand that is IT-based and focuses on a preferred specialty. However, in this day and age, technology is becoming an integral part of other industries as well, such as healthcare, biotech, retail, banking, and construction.
With so much competition across the globe. How can your company recruit and source software engineers in the Bay Area? I was inspired by a recent interview that Matt Buckland did with Workable. He has worked at many startups in the past including Thoughtworks, Facebook, and Workable. His article shed some good light on how companies can navigate through this competition.
Put the Scale Into Perspective
Applicants want to make an impact at scale, so putting the scale of a position’s impact into perspective will help attract the best talent. For instance, tell them how many people their work will influence. How many people will see it, interact with it, or learn from it? If you make a change and it effects millions of users – yes that’s exciting for a software engineer!
Explain the Scope
People want to understand how they fit into the bigger picture and they typically want to be more than just a cog in the wheel. Explain the scope of the position by highlighting how and who they’ll interact with on a day-to-day basis. For instance, maybe the position requires interaction from project testing all the way to deployment. Explain who they will be working across different departments and how they can make a major impact on the bottom line.
Boast About Complexity
Team-building challenges can add interest to any job, but what about the other complexities that help keep work interesting? Explaining the complexities of a position will help it stand out in the eyes of any applicant. Every company, no matter the industry, has extensive complexities that they can sell through the job description. For instance, maybe the position requires interacting with the latest in AI and ML technology. If you’re team is using cutting edge tech stack- make sure to sell those areas!
Build Your Employer Brand
More and more companies are starting to catch onto the importance of an employer brand. While connected to your overall brand, the employer brand is a subset of your company where you change your language just a bit to better speak to the people you want working for your company.
Diving into employer branding efforts is truly as simple as setting up a Company page on Facebook dedicated to the work culture side of things rather than selling to your retail/front-end clients. It can make a huge difference in how applicants see your brand, and the Walt Disney company is just one great example of excellent employer branding.
Sell The Perks
Don’t just highlight the salary comp ranges. Do employees get free food, access to special events, complementary dry cleaning, or just the chance to bring their dog to work with them? Whatever the perks may be, big or small, you should emphasize them in the job description or over your screen. Free food, remote options, pet friendly offices, flexible work hours, inclusive cultures, or casual office settings can be good motivators in general.
Focus On a Big Purpose: Mission Statements
At the end of the day, everyone wants their work to have purpose. So, as a final piece of advice, think about how you can make it clear to applicants that their work will have a bigger purpose. Tell them how their work will go beyond your company and its clients to actually positively affect the real world. Most Developers in general are paid very well and are given many perks. So, you will need to have a good mission statement and culture that focuses on the greater impacts.
Employee Referrals
A current employee can be your best resource when poaching other engineers. Make sure you create incentives for employees to give referrals. A lot of companies are creating gamification when it comes to this strategy. They not only have bonuses but offer other perks like vacation/conference trips etc. When a hiring manager or developer on the team is reaching and saying how awesome there team is – that’s a great motivator to attract the best talent. Good developers get bombarded with recruiter spam so you will need to look at creative ways to attract and recruit your team.
When you talk with software engineers make sure to highlight: the scale, scope, and complexity. Talk about the problems you’re looking to solve with this opening. Once you get them listening you’ll be able to hook them in!
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