Magda King

This is Magda’s last blog in this series of four. Here Magda shares her insight into how tech talent can be lost after a job offer and how to avoid it.

 

Missed Magda’s other 3 blog’s in this series?

How to retain your top tech talent here
Hunting for Top Tech talent here
Looking for your next career move here 

 

Finding top tech talent is one thing but securing them into your role in a candidate-driven tech market is a whole different ball game.

 

If you can manage to find the best Java Developer in the market, but you’re finding that you are losing them during the recruitment process, then it’s an indication that the hiring process is far too long and worst of all, one of your competitors has snapped them up!

 

As a recruiter, we see the common mistakes companies make, and how they repeat these errors again and again.

 

Detailed below are 5 steps to follow to make your tech talent hiring process as speedy and effective as possible.

 

 

1 – The best tech candidates won’t be around for long!

 

When top tech talent comes onto the job market, as you would expect they are inundated with recruiting requests and offers, most techies don’t need to even search for jobs, recruiters and competitors are in touch pro-actively on a regular basis.

 

This means that it’s almost guaranteed that they are going for other opportunities as well as your own. Speed, therefore, is essential.

 

If the hiring manager is someone who is also operational, their time is highly precious and if they haven’t already allocated a rapid time frame for the interview process, it’s likely that interviews can drag on for 2 weeks or more, by which time, great candidates would have been snapped up by a competitor who is already ahead of the game when it comes to identifying the best talent in the market.

 

Thinking of different ways to meet, identifying what looks like a benchmark candidate and going for quick time frames are all great ways of counteracting the pitfalls of losing great candidates.  Skype interviews from home, a coffee in the morning before work or a meeting at a local restaurant in the afternoon or evening are all useful suggestions.

 

 

2 – Slow to offer, quick to disregard

 

 

In recruitment slower decision making is not better decision making. You may assume that having more time to gather applicants, research them and interview them would result in better hires. However as mentioned above, the longer your recruitment process the more time there is for your top candidates to accept offers elsewhere as they will be in high demand.

 

Remember don’t waste time in considering on what to offer your candidate. Your recruitment partner will advise you what the candidate is looking for in order to make the move. If your candidate has come directly, ascertain what they are looking for in a new role and any salary aspirations beforehand.

 

Again, we’ll repeat the importance of what a ‘great candidate’ looks like and identifying that quickly.

 

 

3 – The longer the process the more money you’re losing!

 

 

You’re hiring someone because your business needs them or their particular skillset. The longer your business is without that person or skillset then your business isn’t functioning as effectively as it should. You may be having to pay for an interim consultant to work the role while you appoint a new member of staff or you may have to consider deploying staff from other areas to cover. Both of these short term solutions are costing your business every day and can soon amount to a significant sum.

 

4 – Slow recruitment processes are not a good advert for your business.

 

 

Recruitment is just as much about the candidate assessing your business as it is you assessing them. Good candidate experience is crucial if you’re going to attract the best talent, and one of the bugbears of all candidates is a lengthy hiring process. It goes further than that, however, because it portrays your business in a negative light.

 

Do the best candidates want to work for companies that take ages to make a decision on things? Or would they like to work for a company that makes considered but quick and bold decisions?

 

5 – Communicate well and communicate quickly

 

 

If candidates had to pick one thing during the recruitment process almost all say that a lack of communication is their biggest bugbear. If there are genuine reasons as to why the recruitment process is taking its time then communicate this to the candidate.

 

The longer you leave people in the dark, candidates are lead to believe you are no longer interested. As detailed above, a lack of communication at the start of the process paints a negative picture. It doesn’t lead a candidate to believe that communication after they have joined your business, will be important. Pick up the phone or email, either way, communication is key.

 

Contact us.

 

If you’d like to explore how we can help you to hire and secure the best tech talent contact our Technical Consultant Magda King on 01392 790725 or email magda@kingrecruit.com.