Talent Management

Rebooting Recruitment for the Tech Sector

30 October 2019

4 min
It’s no secret that tech is one of the most exciting industries to work in today. Jobs that once seemed to only be of interest to nerdy, socially stunted computer experts are now more sought after than ever before.

With many positions to fill, but with qualified talent hard to find across technology spectrum, recruiters in this exciting technology sector tend to spend a majority of their time pursuing talented candidates who are already employed in (relatively) high-paying positions. To entice these gainfully employed candidates away from their current positions, the smart recruiter packages as many benefits and perks together as possible. They also use the most technologically sophisticated tools available to recruiting professionals today, like Cegid’s RITA Sourcer, which has been designed to use as either a standalone recruitment tool or integrated with Cegid’s Talent Management Solution. Using RITA Sourcer from any device, HR professionals can distribute a job listing on more than 2,000 job boards throughout North America and then track in real time how each source performs.

Location x3

Multiple recent studies of this white hot recruitment sector point out three key areas of importance for tech recruits, include geographic location, location of a company within its own timeline and location inside technology landscape itself. If all of this sounds like just so much coding nerd-speak, keep reading.

  1. Geographic Location is exactly that – where is the job and/or the company physically located? One study determined that forty percent of software engineers currently working in New York State, for example, wanted to move to a position based in California. Interestingly, only 8 percent of California engineers wanted to move to the East Coast. Go west, young techies.
  2. Company Location within its timeline, from startup to maturity to oh-so-yesterday’s news. When hiring for tech positions, the longevity (short or otherwise) of a tech company matters as another study showed that Fifty-seven percent of software engineers at larger tech firms would rather work at a startup company, vs. only twenty-five percent of startup engineers wanted to work for a larger, more established employer.
  3. Location in Tech Sectors. This is a double whammy of location concerns including preferred employment sectors that vary considerably depending on geographic locations. For example, East Coast software engineers and developers are more likely to want to work in finance, education, music and big data, according to numerous studies. While programmers on the West Coast put a priority on machine learning opportunities first, then education, health and artificial intelligence (AI).

A powerful, leading edge recruitment tool like Cegid’s award-winning Talent Acquisition solution streamlines recruiting and sourcing and provides online power to find the right candidates and manage them throughout the talent lifecycle. This gives organizations a valuable strategic advantage through process automation, talent analytics and the up-to-date creative sourcing options to more effectively target candidates and measure recruiting results.

Relevancy: a Real Concern

Another concern increasingly expressed by tech talent during the recruitment process is whether or not their work will be (and stay) relevant. Many respondents to the most recent tech-related job surveys want to work in so called “future-facing” segments like blockchain and have already lost interest in older, more mundane technologies like Java script. Naturally, since there are fewer candidates with relevant blockchain experience, the pay they can command is higher because they are simply more valuable.

One industry expert was recently quoted as saying “People in tech are looking for the next big thing, as opposed to focusing on the current top industry.”

That said, HR professionals should also keep in mind that employees in the tech sector, like almost anywhere else, also want a great work environment. The company you recruit for may not be at the leading edge of the next white hot technology, but don’t underestimate the recruitment value of a cool company culture and eye-opening perks.

Becoming a 2.0 Tech Recruiter

Not all that long ago successful tech recruiters needed to be as knowledgeable about the tech sector as the people they recruited. Today, thankfully, a tech recruiter need only have a layman’s understanding of programming languages and projects along with a solid understanding of industry trends. These are in a constant state of rapid change, of course, but knowing the wants and needs of the tech talent pool will give savvy recruiters a significant advantage in the hiring process.

It’s a generally accepted industry truth that right now, today, crypto and AI are the hot industry segments to work in – along with the emerging blockchain segment as mentioned above. Demand seems to be on the rise for the near future – subject to change, certainly!

Whatever the technology, keeping up with trends is critically important for recruiters and job seekers alike. For example, only a decade ago, software companies were hungry for mobile app developers and simply couldn’t fill the demand. Today, the mobile field is a traffic jam of talent oversupply and has become one of the least desirable technology areas to work in. This is one more example of why staying on top of where the industry is and where it’s headed is so important in the tech sector.

Find out more about how to better manage your workforce from hire to retire, with a modern Talent Management Suite designed to fit your industry best practices.

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