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How To Secure The World’s Top Tech Talent
5 Candidate Sourcing Strategies To Find Top Tech Talent
70%

of business leaders said that a digital skill shortage was preventing them from keeping up with the pace of change.

33%

1 in 3 (33%) of the skills listed in an average job posting in IT, Finance or Sales in 2017 are already obsolete.

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Solving The Tech Skills Shortage

Recruiting tech talent has never been more competitive. In a 2022 survey of almost 2000 digital leaders across 83 countries, 70% said that a digital skill shortage was preventing them from keeping up with the pace of change.

And for companies outside of the traditional tech sphere, hiring tech talent can be even more challenging. With the market more competitive than ever, these companies routinely find themselves outbid for tech talent or bypassed altogether by top candidates with more lucrative offers in front of them.

But there are still ways to land top tech talent, even as a non-technical recruiter or hiring manager. In this article, we’ll discuss five of the most significant barriers to recruiting tech talent that businesses are facing today — and how to overcome them.

5 Common Challenges Of Recruiting Tech Talent

1

Tech talent is expensive

Tech salaries have been on the rise for years, and smaller companies often can’t afford to compete with the big players.  

2

Long hiring processes are a hindrance

Competition for tech talent is fierce, and many candidates won’t stick around for lengthy, drawn-out processes.

3

Sourcing high-quality or niche talent is difficult

Companies need to be proactive in identifying and engaging quality candidates ahead of their competition.

4

Attracting talent in a competitive market is challenging

Today’s tech candidates have a lot more options to choose from, so businesses need to do more to stand out.

5

Tech skills and requirements are constantly changing

Non-technical recruiters and hiring managers can have a tough time keeping up.

 

1. Tech Talent Is Expensive:

The Challenge

When demand is higher than supply, prices increase. Tech salaries have been growing steadily over the past two decades, with salaries for some key roles surging by as much as 20% in the two years from 2020–2022 alone. Smaller organizations often find themselves outbid for the best candidates by the tech giants who can afford them. 

The Solution 

Thankfully, there are ways of recruiting tech talent while staying within your budget. 

Broaden your search by opening the doors to remote talent: You can access a much wider talent pool if you expand your search beyond your geographic area. Not only does this give you a better chance of landing a great candidate, but you might even be able to get them at a lower cost.

Revamp your recruitment process for maximum efficiency: The more streamlined your recruitment process, the less time and money you’ll lose to inefficiencies. Taking the time to optimize your processes also makes it less likely that you’ll lose candidates to more reactive organizations part-way through.

Find ways of reducing cost-per-hire, not salaries: Setting up alumni networks, building talent pools, and launching employee referral schemes can all help you to reduce CPH. The money you’ll save on each hire will mean you can offer more competitive salaries — and have a better chance of landing in-demand talent.


2. Long Hiring Processes Are A Hindrance:

The Challenge

Hiring teams want to make hires as fast as possible because open positions cost money and delay operations. And when you’re hiring tech talent, slow, inefficient processes can also mean losing the best candidates to the competition. 

Here’s the thing: top-quality candidates don’t have time to patiently wait for you to move them through your hiring process because they have other offers to consider. If it takes too long, they’ll just go somewhere else.

The Solution

To make sure you’re not losing the best candidates by being too slow off the mark, take the time to really review hiring tools and processes. That means looking at every step in your process to determine whether it’s needed or whether it could be achieved more efficiently. 

Another way to keep your T2H low is by building candidate pipelines ahead of time, so you already know which candidates to contact when a role opens up. Automating parts of your process using an ATS can also be a big time-saver.

3. Sourcing High-Quality Or Niche Talent Is Difficult:

The Challenge

In today’s competitive landscape, it’s not enough to simply post a job description online and wait for the applications to start rolling in. Companies must be proactive in recruiting tech talent — even when that means looking in unexpected places.

The Solution

When the market for tech talent is so tight, recruiters need to get creative with their sourcing methods. Here are a few key pointers to remember:

Don’t neglect passive candidates

You don’t need to wait until someone is actively searching for a role to reach out to them. In fact, passive candidates make up over 37% of the workforce, according to one survey.

You can get ahead of your competitors by getting on the radar of top candidates before they do.

Look at non-traditional career paths

Instead of focusing solely on people with computer science degrees, consider sourcing other STEM graduates, who are often good coders.

You could also look at coding bootcamps, which equip candidates with the right skills for a fraction of the price of a university degree.

Broaden your horizons

Most tech roles don’t need to be done from the office — so why limit yourself to people who live within driving distance?

You can even use tools like LinkedIn Recruiter to search for the top locations for certain skill sets around the world — and potentially uncover hidden talent pools.

Use offline recruitment methods

The traditional methods, like attending job fairs, conferences, and industry events still work — and can help you to stand out from the crowd.

If there’s not much going on in your area, consider putting on your own event to connect with potential candidates.

4. Attracting Talent In A Competitive
Market Is Challenging:

The Challenge

Today’s tech candidates receive frequent outreach from recruiters, even when they’re not actively looking for a job. And when they are looking, they have a lot of different opportunities to choose from — which means you need to do more to stand out. 

The Solution 

If you want to attract top candidates, you need to build an employer brand that draws them in. That means differentiating yourself from your competitors and showing potential candidates that your organization is the place to be. Here are a few things you could try: 

Host events (online or in person)

When you host successful events that bring together talented tech professionals, they’re likely to remember your brand. 

A positive memory from an event you put on can be enough to differentiate you from your competitors down the line.

Share meaningful content on social media

Using social media is a big part of building your employer brand — but what you share matters. 

Try to create content that’s actually useful, interesting, or entertaining to your target audience: people who may want to work for you in the future. 

Engage with your audience online

Engaging with your audience in the comments is almost as important as posting insightful content in the first place. 

After all, if a candidate is choosing between two opportunities in the future, a positive interaction with your brand might give you the edge.

Take Glassdoor and Indeed reviews seriously

86% of job seekers check online reviews before applying for a job. 

Make sure you know what your current and former employees are saying about you by keeping an eye on sites like Glassdoor and Indeed — and take any feedback seriously.

5. Tech Skills And Requirements
Are Constantly Changing

The Challenge

The tech world moves fast, and skills and qualifications quickly go out of date. But if you’re not from a technical background, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest requirements.

The Solution 

If you’re a non-technical hiring manager or recruiter, one idea is to turn to an internal colleague with a greater understanding of the tech landscape to see if they can help you. Even just having someone to proofread your job descriptions and advise you on the latest qualifications, skills, and technologies can be incredibly helpful.

However, if you’re really serious about building your tech team, it might be time to think about reaching out to an external partner who can provide the industry knowledge you need to hire tech talent with confidence. 

There are a few different options to choose from here. If you only need to make one or two ad hoc hires, a recruitment agency could be a good port of call. For a longer-term, more strategic approach, an RPO solution might be better. 

Alternatively, you could opt for a fully embedded recruitment solution — like Talentful. When you work with us, we’ll provide a team of experts who will work from within your company. That means they’ll be in the perfect position to help you refine your EVP and deliver it to the right audience. 

Plus, our team is experienced at recruiting tech talent for some of the world’s most impressive companies — so we have the know-how to make sure your new hires have the skills, knowledge and qualifications you need today, not two years ago.

Speak to a member of our team to find out how we can help your organization make quality hires and streamline your recruitment processes.


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