Steps to Create a Talent Pipeline
Having difficulty in hiring talent into your IT jobs? You’re not alone.
More than half (52%) of HR professionals report that the skills gap has worsened or greatly worsened in the past two years. The same report by SHRM also reveals that 83% have noticed a decrease in the quality of job applicants. Those are big – and worrying – percentages.
More concerning for you is that the skills gap is worst in middle skills and highly skilled positions in science, technology, and STEM roles. Yet the talent is out there. Your competitors are hiring some of the best people into their available IT jobs.
What are they doing that you aren’t? Here are a few tips to combat the skills shortage and fill your IT jobs with talented people faster.
Train and Educate Existing Staff
Instead of assuming you must search for new employees, start your search within. You’ll already have evidence of an employee’s work ethic, IT skills, and commitment to your company.
If you nurture current employees’ development by encouraging a developing career in IT jobs within your organization, you’ll retain loyal staff who are a certain match for your company’s culture.
But don’t assume this is the easier option to recruiting. This strategy requires a lot of commitment (including financial) and, most importantly, a lot of time that you may not have.
Improve Your Talent Pipeline
Having a pool of skilled potential clients is a great way to bypass a cold start of hiring with no supported relationships.
Keeping these potential candidates warm until a vacancy arises will speed up the process of filling a role, instead of heading out blindfolded.
The problem is, although the speed of filling a vacancy is optimized, the actual time needed to dedicate to nurturing your talent pipeline is costly, and provides no guarantees.
Pay More
As the saying goes, ‘You pay peanuts, you get monkeys’. The most talented candidates expect to be compensated appropriately. So, check how much you’re offering, and make sure you’re paying at the right level for your IT jobs based highly on skills and ability, and market rates.
However, you should also make certain that money is not the only motivator to your preferred candidate. If it is, you’re at risk of them leaving you just as quickly for a higher salary elsewhere.
Review how you can build a compensation package and workplace environment that helps employee retention – including benefits, perks, and a culture with values that align with the best candidates.
Hire Remote Workers
The address on resumes is losing its relevance, especially as the world has learned how to adjust to working remotely in vast numbers during the pandemic.
Hiring remote workers is a hugely beneficial way to reach out further than your commute perimeter. It’s a big world out there, and there are many highly skilled IT professionals that could fill your IT jobs with top talent and at better pricing.
However, you must consider logistical issues such as time zones and cultural differences that will need to be addressed.
Outsource
The top talent for your IT jobs do not want to be doing the time-consuming, mundane tasks that stop them from excelling in their roles. Therefore, you should regularly review your processes. Streamline them by outsourcing for admin roles and call answering services.
The best in IT will be attracted to roles in which they can focus on the crucial elements of the business, and on work that they find challenging, enjoyable, and career-enhancing.
Contract/Contract-To-Hire
Consider contracts or contract-to-hire IT jobs, where vacancies can be filled temporarily with a view to hiring permanently once you’ve seen the individual’s skills, capabilities, and work ethic in action.
This strategy will help you measure a candidate against claims they make on their resume, and ensures you assess for cultural fit before committing to a permanent hire.
Conclusion
Your search for top talent in IT jobs has led you to believe real talent is not available. It is. Developing a strategy that includes all the above tactics will help you develop a talent pipeline and fill critical roles as you need to.
The result will be more effective hiring, reducing costs, and mitigating damage caused by not having the right talent in place when it is needed.
Using a staffing agency will certainly help you in your search for the most talented candidates for IT jobs. We’ve already nurtured the relationships with exceptionally talented people. We know what motivates our candidates, and match them for cultural as well as skills fit to your IT jobs. You save time and expense and keep your business on track.
Speak to TECHEAD to learn more about how we help clients source the best talent across our direct hire and staff augmentation services.