Chances are, you’re finding it more and more difficult to find IT talent today. Just a few short years ago if you extended an offer to an IT consultant, you felt pretty confident that they would take it. Now, there are many factors contributing to the challenges in the IT talent pool: a low unemployment rate in the IT market (Dice.com last reported 3.5%), less students graduating with technology degrees and trying to compete with companies that offer new and exciting technology for their employees to work with.
While finding the right IT talent might seem impossible, don’t give up hope. Your projects and deadlines are depending on you! There are a few changes you can make to your search and recruiting processes that will further help you find that right person for your job!
1.) Move Quickly
Today, good candidates don’t stay on the market long. A great candidate will go even faster! If you interview a candidate that you think would be a good fit within your company and for your role, make the offer and make it fast! It’s likely that this candidate isn’t just talking to you. They are getting calls from recruiters daily and are interviewing at multiple places. Make the offer before they have a chance to say “yes” to someone else.
2.) Raise the Rate
It’s always in your best interest to research current market rates (or work with your IT staffing provider to give you insight). It’s especially important in a competitive industry to make sure that you’re paying your IT employees a current market rate. If you find a great candidate, you might need to consider paying them a little more to make sure they take your offer instead of a competitors.
3.) Don’t Be Nitpicky
When looking for the ideal IT candidate, there are lots of skills you’d like your new hire to have or things you’d like them to adhere to. Things like: working an odd hour shift every week or being in the office by 7am every morning. While these requirements might fly in another industry, they might not be well received by IT professionals. While your role might sound great, that one requirement that they can’t work from home one day a week might make your ideal candidate say “no thanks”. With IT jobs so plentiful, they can find one that will be more flexible with their schedule. Work with the candidate to find a situation that pleases both parties.
4.) Look Beyond Experience
It’s typical that when you are considering a candidate, that you look at their past work experience and what kind of skills they possess. While these are certainly important attributes, you should also consider how well they fit into your company’s corporate culture. Having someone who fits into your company is more likely to stay in the long run. Even if they don’t have all the skills you’d ideally like in your new employee, a little training goes a long way and assures they’ll stay with you when the recruiters come calling.
5.) Length of Contract
If you’re looking for a contractor as opposed to a permanent employee, make sure the length of the contract is worth their while to come work for you. Many consultants won’t leave a permanent role or a 12 month contract for a 3-6 month contract with another company. Job security and building experience is important to contractors. Don’t shorten a contract length knowing that you’ll ultimately extend them. Doing so might hurt your recruiting efforts. Make the contract as long as it will take to complete the job – the longer the better!
6.) Start Date
You’ve made an offer to an IT candidate and they’ve accepted. Congrats! But you’re not safe yet. If you pushed that start date out two weeks, they are still receiving calls from recruiters and other companies offering them competitive rates and new, exciting technology to work with. There’s a good chance that someone else could sweep in and steal your new hire. Move the start date up as soon as you can to ensure that your great new hire, actually does start.
The current IT market is not making it easy on IT hiring professionals to find talent. However, there are small changes you can make to your recruiting process that will help you. Consulting with your IT staffing company can provide you with the latest insights into gaining the best talent as well. If you don’t us an IT staffing provider to help your needs, you should consider it. They have pipelines of candidates that could potentially fill your open job, quickly.
Looking for IT professionals? Check out IDR’s services to see how we can help!