How To Find The Best Talent For Your Technology Business: 4 Easy Steps

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How to Find the Best Talent for Your Technology Business: 4 Easy Steps

By : Synextra

We think it’s only right to refer to the current job market, as it is very different to the one we saw in pre-Covid times. Job vacancies are definitely not in short supply these days with the Office for National Statistics recording 1.1 million vacancies between July and September, the highest level since records began in 2001. Looking at the technology industry more specifically, job adverts in this sector have increased by 36% since June 2020 demonstrating the growth of the industry. Following on from this, evidence suggests that the emphasis on higher-level skills such as technology and interpersonal skills will be of greater demand.

So, what does this tell us? In the current climate, and especially in an industry such as technology, it is important to get the recruitment process right and secure the best talent for your business and the future of it.

First thing’s first, you need to think about exactly what you want

It is important to iron this out so you can effectively outline the roles and responsibilities on the job advertisement. Do you want someone that will grow and development in the role or hit the ground running? If your business needs a specific set of skills, and quick, it may be important that whoever you bring on board is able to integrate into the team and fulfil the role straight away. On the other hand, it may be that you are able to offer an opportunity that would present professional development, so therefore applicants would not need to not have all the skills required for the role. If this is the case, ensure this is communicated within the job specification or to your recruiter.

Why does all this matter? Getting this first step right and knowing what your business needs is a crucial part of the process. Getting the right talent and minimising your staff turnover, will benefit you in long term as it will also minimise costs to the business. With the average cost of employee turnover being £11,000, getting it right will eliminate this unnecessary expense.

Going beyond the role specifications, it is important to think about all the other factors a potential candidate considers when applying for a job. Additional information such as salary, location, remote working availability, a bit about the company, any qualifications/experience required, closing date, how to apply and any other benefits are recommended to have included to build a clear picture of the company and role. Remember to be specific on what you want and as clear as possible as to what the job entails, this will naturally pull through more of the right candidates as they will know exactly what they are applying for.

Time to figure how you are going to get the word out

Once you have perfected the job role requirements, it’s time to work out the best way to get it in front of the right candidate. You may have an in-house talent acquisition team or a HR department that have the time to sift through CVs but if not, it may be best to consider using a recruiter. And more specifically one that specialises in the technology/IT industry.

At Synextra, we have worked with Connected IT Group for many years, and would highly recommend to similar businesses looking to recruit in IT. We caught up with our contact Vincent Stevenson, asking what the advantages of choosing a specialist recruitment agency are, “Having a trusted recruitment partner that specialises in your sector is a key factor in ensuring you remain up to date with what’s happening in the market and are able to continue to attract and retain the best talent available. It is important to find and work closely with one or two agencies/individuals who understand your business and its culture.”

It is also a great idea to extend your reach through using social media and utilise your company pages by sharing the internal opportunities you have. If you do decide to go with a recruitment agency there is a very good chance to that they will be utilising such things as their LinkedIn profile to advertise jobs, so it’s a good idea to do the same alongside or a great place to start if you are doing the recruitment internally. To demonstrate the reach and effectiveness of LinkedIn, 45M people every week are searching for a job on the platform with four people every second getting hired.

Reviewing the CV

The chances are that if you use a recruiter, and an industry specific one at that, the CVs you receive will be matched well to the role needs however, it’s good idea to still check them yourself, reviewing and skills and experience. For example, here at Synextra we would look for skills such as experience in VMware and Citrix for a mid-level, IT engineer role. Alongside this, it gives you a chance to have a look at their employment history assessing whether the job they are applying for is a sidestep or a progression. If they are sidestepping, this could be something you could explore if you were to invite them back for an interview.

Also, maybe use this opportunity to check the applicant out on LinkedIn, verifying that the information on their CV matches up. It is also an opportunity to find out more about them, getting a feel for them as a person. Fitting into a company’s culture is important so getting an idea for a person’s personality will only aide you in deciding whether to invite them for an interview and ultimately whether they seem to be the right fit.

Interview format

If a candidate has caught your eye up to this point, now is the time to get to know them and find out more about their skills. The average job interview process consists of two interview which lines up with how we conduct them here at Synextra. The first interview is a chance to have an informal chat, asking any questions you may have about their CV following with formal assessment of technical skills, which is an integral part of the process. In a recent episode of our podcast, we discussed our internal recruitment process with our Infrastructure Manager, Dean Murray and CEO, Chris Piggott.

Regarding the initial interview, Dean explains, “At this point it is a really good opportunity to gauge the applicants’ technical capabilities and assess whether they can progress on to the next stage. I use this chance to discuss elements on their CV. For example, if they state they have experience in installing vCenter I will then ask for a real-life example of this. I will be paying attention to the small details in what they say, assessing whether they are using technical buzzwords in the right context which they can then expand on.”

An important part of the interview process, within businesses like Synextra, is putting the candidate in a scenario they are likely to find themselves in and technically assess them. One way to do this is through a lab scenario with a technical task such as infrastructure build based on a snippet of text provided to them. We advise encouraging the candidate to apply what they know already to the task. We often refer to this as a whiteboard task, giving them the opportunity to showcase their knowledge.

Remember

The average length of an interview process being 27.5 days, highlighting the importance of taking the time to ensure you pick the right candidate. However, we feel it is wise to note how fast paced the current market is and it is very likely that the good candidates will be snapped up quickly.

Give our recent podcast episode a listen, where we explore what we what we look for in candidates whilst offering an insight into to some of the tasks and assessments we use in-house.