Recruitment is a tricky profession. Hiring the best talent is not limited to the traditional hiring practices based upon the best resume with reliable references. One golden nugget that has been lost over time is the sense of fit. The perfect resume does not always equate to the most qualified.
The most profitable companies identify ways to position their workforce according to their strengths as a priority. Some organizations threaten to hire and fire as a means of remaining viable. Still, only a handful actually restructure and allows the employee to have a say about where they fit best. So when looking for high tech leaders, it is essential to determine if you want leadership or management because there is a difference.
Look for Talent in Unconventional Places
The best recruiters look for skill sets that also complement the basics of the job requirements. So looking for talent may be advertised on some of the most prominent platforms, such as your company’s website and some more notable third-party platforms. Still, many recruiters have found success in some of the most unorthodox ways. Some studies show that referrals from current employees work best. The employee may have better insight into the person’s character, habits, work ethic and professionalism.
Some of your more well-known companies have found talent by hosting what is called a “hackathon.” What they do is allow attendees to showcase their advanced and niche skills. Another option is to host Code Sprints. A Code Sprint is where an attendee is presented with a real code problem that must be solved in a short window of time. In short, expand your job placements and be open to a diverse candidate pool. Allow the candidate to showcase their talents.
Aggressively Sell the Company
One of the biggest draws to top talent is to promote how your organization will enrich their careers. Identify potential growth opportunities along with salary and bonus opportunities. Show them videos or quotes of some of the current employees and share the company’s experiences. One company allows the person to speak with some of the staff after the interview is over and has found success. If it’s beneficial, share your company ranks locally, regionally, or nationally and show percentages of profitability, which shows that it will remain viable for years to come.
Allow Your Top Talent to Assist in the Search
The recruitment team should select top talent from within the company to assist in the recruiting process. This means that companies should activate employees who have large business networks to help in the recruitment process. They can reach out to top recruitment agencies who may have tried recruiting them in the past to let them know the company is searching for top tech talent.
Another option is for those same employees to identify candidates themselves from within their network or get introduced through someone they may already be connected to on LinkedIn or other social platforms.
Diversify the pool according to race, gender, and titles from the various departments within the company. Complimenting your labor pool of talent with Human Resources and the recruitment team will promote a better assessment of the potential hires. Your highly productive labor force knows the company’s culture. They are best positioned to understand how an applicant’s leadership style will affect the company’s vision, and in some cases, how their personality will improve the morale of the office. Allow them to promote the company on your behalf and be in contact.
Your top talent may provide scenarios that are current to the organization’s operation and are better equipped to assess their response to the scenarios, correlate their experience, and share how it can aid in adding value to the company. Also, the employees know their departments better than a recruiter, so insight into the potential hire’s psyche is essential.
Conclusion
In the end, leaders need to focus more on vision. In contrast, a manager’s focus is more on the efficiency of the processes or improving them. Many of today’s leaders develop their management skills first because of the nuances needed to be successful. For example, the best managers must know how to assess talent and how to get the most out of their subordinates based upon the vision of the company’s leadership. Discipline is vital in developing a manager, so secure examples during the initial contact about how retaining discipline yielded positive results. Let them know that they are in demand.
