How to attract & identify top talent in 2025's competitive market

As we enter 2025, the demand for specialised data and tech talent is on the increase. The market started opening up during Q4 and Q1 has started positively with more companies opening up roles or building out teams. Companies that have held back on recruitment due to over hiring in previous periods or hiring freezes are now opening up roles and the competition for talent is high. We wanted to help companies to adopt targeted strategies to attract and retain these skilled professionals. We have taken our knowledge of the industry and what professionals are looking for, based on thousands of conversations and our annual survey of the community we serve and filtered the answers to serve you the best.

1. Showcase tech stacks and innovation

An area often forgotten by hiring companies lies in the showcasing of tech stacks and the innovations that come out of collaborations with the data team and the rest of the business. Professionals in tech-centric roles are drawn to companies that lead in innovation. We would suggest highlighting your use of cutting-edge technologies, such as Google Cloud Platform (GCP) tools, advanced AI frameworks or big data analytics. If you have use cases, emphasise projects that showcase practical applications of machine learning models or analytics in real-world scenarios, which appeal strongly to candidates in these fields.

2. Promote your learning and development culture

We can’t emphasise enough how much top data and tech talent seek environments that prioritise professional growth and learning. We would suggest if you do offer well-structured programmes for continuous education, then really put this front and centre of your hiring campaigns – include certifications that can help a professional grow in their area of speciality (like GCP certification for data engineers for example), and if you run regular workshops on the latest technologies in AI, machine learning, and data analytics mention this. Emphasising a commitment to staying at the forefront of technology can be a significant draw and help to lift you into the employer of choice level.

3. Showcase your attitude towards ethical AI or sustainable data

Talking about innovation and adoption of life-changing technologies, as AI and machine learning become more integrated into business processes, demonstrating ethical AI practices is something that is being discussed more by candidates coming through our client processes. Hopefully you have a plan or process in place for this, and if you do then make sure you promote your company’s commitment to ethical data usage, transparency in AI algorithms and efforts to mitigate biases. This attracts professionals who are not only skilled but also value responsible innovation.

5. Offer flexibility around working arrangements

2024 seemed to be all about trying to encourage people back into fully on-site roles, however offering remote work options, flexible hours and results-oriented work environments over fully on-site environments make your company attractive. Not only that, it also opens up the talent market to people who are not in your local area, to people who have the talent and ability but also have to pick the kids up from school and to a more diverse group of people. As an aside, consider providing competitive benefits tailored to data and tech professionals, such as subscriptions to premium development platforms, paid time for personal projects, or sabbaticals to pursue tech innovations as this speaks to their motivations around why they choose employers.

6. Engage with relevant communities

A great way to build access to people before they are looking is by building relationships within specific data and tech communities. For companies looking to hire, ideas around participation might be to sponsor hackathons, meetups, and conferences that cater to the community you wish to engage. This not only enhances your visibility as an employer of choice but also allows you to engage with potential candidates informally and understand their career aspirations and motivations.

7. Share stories and case studies of successful projects

It can be very powerful to share inspiring stories of success, whether that be of an individual or a team project that made a difference to the business. Often people are looking for ways to visualise what it would be like to work somewhere, bringing these projects, successes or team members to life for them can make the difference between a candidate wanting to be put forward or accepting a role or not. Choose ones that involve innovation. Showcase how these projects have driven success for your clients or made a significant impact in the business. This demonstrates the team’s capability and commitment to delivering high-value, cutting-edge work.

8. If you are using recruitment agencies, make sure they are selling your EVP (i.e all of the above)

A good agency will fill roles for you, but a great agency will act as your brand ambassador, fill roles, grow future pipelines, create word of mouth opportunities and build stronger loyalties to your opportunities by fully understanding your EVP and storytelling. Niche agencies are usually better at this as they are able to not only do the above but also fully understand the technical aspects of the role.