5 ways to attract talent in the current climate

5 ways to attract talent in the current climate

The tech job market has changed and is continuing to evolve. The landscape of this sector has been impacted in several ways attracting and hiring technology talent is, without a doubt a challenge. It’s important to understand as a hiring company the candidates and what they are looking for.

Today, IT candidates look beyond big names when they search for a job. They seek out a company’s culture, the flexibility within the working structure, diversity, company benefits, career growth and not to mention transparency across the whole business itself.

It’s important to note that building a reputation where employees really appreciate your approach and want to work for you takes time and consistency. Here at KDR we are here to help you with those steps to attract talent in the current climate.

Here are 5 ways to attract and retain talent:

Transparency

Let’s be honest here: with so much demand for top talent in the technology field it is important for you as a company to come across clearly and coherently. Candidates will look through your social presence/website, job ads and develop a perception of the business and what it stands for.

If you are truly wanting to hire the best talent, you need to be prepared to offer several benefits that are competitive and transparent. But it doesn’t stop there, what does career progression look like? Is your structure transparent whereby they can visualise working their way through the company. Does your company culture match internally what it portrays externally?

You need to be clear about your onboarding process, and the career development opportunities as well as any additional learning opportunities. In the current climate candidates are having to continuously upskill, they know if they stop learning, they will be left behind in the market. Thinking about your employee’s development is a huge attraction and very important currently.

An appealing career path needs to be available. Candidates want to know they can progress and it’s just as important to retain them as an employee by offering to help them achieve their goals.

Having regular catchups to provide insights into an employee’s performance is important for their development. This will help identify their aspirations and individual goals. They will also provide an opportunity to discuss any room for improvements and to provide guidance where needed so that there are no surprises when it comes to the appraisal.

Employers need to be aware that everyone’s set of skills and needs are different, so are their career paths. This isn’t us saying have 100+ different paths on offer as that’s not sustainable. However, providing each employee with their own individual plan, containing their learning objectives, mentoring and progression planning will help to attract and retain professionals.

Company Culture

Company culture is an eco-system that needs to be nurtured in order to thrive. A successful culture brings people together and allows everyone to work as a team. Having a healthy culture allows your team to thrive and should align to your company values.

To attract the best talent, it’s critical for companies to build a reputation whereby candidates are able to instantly recognise your culture and what you stand for and ultimately aspire to want to work for you!

Having the right culture will create an environment where employees don’t want to move on. A positive culture impacts business growth, longevity, and the teams’ results. Showcasing a commitment to a healthy company culture will attract the best talent.

Here are just a few things to how you can showcase your company culture.

Jobs Ads

Write job ads that reflect what your business is about and what it can offer. This is really important when it comes to attracting the best talent. What is a typical day like? Are you a formal business? Casual? Try to capture this in your job ad and showcase how your business appreciates its employees. Highlight your benefits and be clear with what you expect from a potential hire and what they can expect from the company

Language

Company culture needs to be positively displayed in all marketing communications internally and externally. Candidates and clients appreciate transparency in how you address and communicate with potential employees. This is showcase via job ads, company website, interviews, and the onboarding process as well as evidenced behaviours

Values

Highlight your company values. What stands out about your current team that highlights what your values and culture represent? Most, if not all, companies have a values page and it’s important for the organisation to use these values to drive performance

Benefits

The candidate led market requires close scrutiny of your benefits package to see if it is competitive. To attract and retain top talent, a company needs to be forward-thinking and have benefits that really resonate with professionals. A benefits package shows a real loyalty and commitment to each professional working for you, not to mention it is the first thing a professional looks at when considering to a take job with you. Providing a good benefit package will make employees feel motivated and rewarded for all their work and efforts. A focus on employee wellbeing and how working at an organisation will enhance their life is the space where benefits packages are moving into.

Diversity

With so much demand for top talent and for a business to remain competitive, it is crucial to obtain the best people. A diverse and inclusive workforce is necessary to drive innovation, creativity, and strategy. To reap the benefits of a diverse workforce and attract the best talent companies must ensure that their reach for candidates is as wide as possible. Internal processes need to ensure they don’t contain inherent biases around gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, or socioeconomic backgrounds.

In order to succeed KDR has a few tips:

Consistency is key

In order to succeed consistency is key. You need to make sure you follow a process of collecting data, analysing it and addressing issues that arise. Consistent internal and external communication around the subject is key.

Training

Having regular discussions and training sessions with a focus on diversity is essential for companies to help build an inclusive culture environment. One of the key blockers in changing the workforce is the lack of understanding and inherent unconscious biases. The recruitment process is a great place to open up positions to a wider talent pool as long as all aspects of the process are reviewed for inclusion along the way.

Language

When you want to appeal to a more diverse pool of candidates, language matters. From job descriptions to blogs you need to be mindful of the language used to not off put potential candidates

Diverse interview panels

Having a diverse hiring panel is a step towards increasing diversity within your business. It provides a fairer opportunity for every candidate going through the interview process.

Increasing diversity is essential for every organisation to attract the best talent. It is a commitment but essential, it will be a challenge but take one step at a time and don’t forget to measure your progress. For more on Diversity and how to attract & retain the best talent head over to our whitepaper here 

Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose

It’s not all about an environment where if you do well, you’ll get a reward. Not everyone will connect with this approach and employees can get lost in the drive to find a way to be praised or promoted. Research shows that combining autonomy, mastery and purpose into a person’s role will do a lot more for motivation once the basic needs for a certain salary level are taken care of.

Autonomy

Proactively looking into autonomy motivators is a great way to help employees direct their working structure. By rethinking your ‘set rules’ (for example office hours, flexibility, KPI’s, dress code) you can increase staff autonomy, build trust, and improve your reputation to attract future talent not to mention retain employees as well.

To support autonomy in the workplace you need to provide your employees with control over their workload and how they want to complete it. Empowerment is everything and allowing autonomy will empower employees to deliver more.

Mastery

Are you providing your employees with an opportunity to be motivated by success through improving their skills via continual learning and/or practice? To attract the best talent, you need to have an array of learning objectives to progress and grow them in area/s they are keen on exploring.

Purpose

It's human instinct to have a purpose, we all need to wake up in the morning and know we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves. Successful companies in this area ensure their employees understand how their role fits into the bigger picture. Motivation is proven to increase when this is very clearly understood by a team.

Summary

The key to attracting the best talent and increasing performance in this current climate is employee engagement. The best talent is looking beyond the old order of employment. Successful talent attractive companies are focusing on what matters: They are engaging candidates early with clear company values, vision and mission. They showcase well company culture, with current employees acting as advocates. They are opening up their roles to as wide an audience as possible and ensuring their culture is inclusive and they invest in individual career paths, motivators and ongoing development of skills.

For more help in attracting the best talent contact us today!

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