Hiring technology talent has never been more challenging. A recent snap poll conducted at the WSJ CIO Network’s annual meeting found that more than half of all CIOs are ‘secretly worried that their firms don’t have the IT talent they will need to compete’.
When you have a pivotal role vacant in your organisation, it is understandable to want to fill the vacancy as fast as possible. Many hiring managers operate quickly to fill the position with someone who meets some of the ideal criteria for the job.
But in doing this, these common technology recruiting mistakes are often made.
If you have found yourself hiring for the same position over and over, or failing to attract the calibre of tech talent that you want for your organisation, you might be making these recruiting mistakes.
Poor, or Inaccurate Job Descriptions
One of the primary issues candidates come to us with, is that the job they interview for – or sometimes have even accepted – is nothing like what was described in the job description.
Your job descriptions are your first, and most critical, filter to refine your candidate pool. Honesty and transparency at this stage are essential, or you will turn away the talent with the most potential.
Because tech jobs are evolving so rapidly, there can be an overlap between roles; sometimes the job descriptions are not as up-to-date as they should be, but sometimes they are erroneous. Make sure your job specs are as up-to-date as possible, and only contain truthful, relevant information.
Providing a minimum amount of information is also a big complaint from candidates – aim for a happy medium of around 300-700 words for tech roles, and slightly more for senior positions.
Excessive or Inconsistent Application Process
Recruitment processes which take too long are a common complaint from tech candidates. 57% of people report that the most frustrating part of the recruitment process is the long wait between stages, with almost a quarter losing interest in your company if you do not respond within one week.
A slow recruitment process can be indicative of how your organisation runs as a whole. A long and drawn out wait will alert the candidate that this is the speed at which your company always operates; this is hardly the exciting environment the best tech candidates are looking for.
Being Too ‘Techy’
Technical skills are continually evolving, and this coupled with the fact that critical tech candidates are in increasingly short supply means that as an employer, you might need to start being smarter with your recruitment process.
This can mean staying away from that highly detailed, top-spec tech job description that you have written for the IT project manager position you have available because you only want the ‘best’ talent to apply.
In 2020, hiring top talent requires a more flexible approach. Some tech companies refuse to hire someone if they haven’t got an IT or a computer science background and qualifications. But as the sector has evolved so rapidly, there are many excellent candidates out there who understand technology from a business perspective, despite their lack of formal training.
You could be turning away valuable candidates by including every last dizzying requirement you think you want your new employee to have.
Failing to Keep in Touch With Your Pipeline
Many hiring managers think of the recruitment process as a one-way street, and fail to realise how essential it is to keep in touch with applicants.
It is advisable to keep in contact with candidates who have narrowly missed out on a position in your company in the past; this will keep your talent pipeline full and engaged.
Excellent candidate experience will ensure that applicants are kept in your company’s loop, and are encouraged to re-apply for your vacancies in the future. Ask your candidates if they are happy to be included in correspondence about your company and future opportunities, you can even set up an applicant tracking system (ATS) to manage your pipeline even more effectively.
Ignoring Diversity and Inclusion
In 2020, it is of paramount importance to candidates that their employers are engaged in diversity and inclusion.
Rosanna Durruthy, head of diversity, inclusion and belonging at LinkedIn, spoke recently about where tech employers sometimes go wrong in trying to attract the best talent to their organisation.
She said “From a recruiting standpoint, images are important. Employers need to be aware of inadvertent signals to attract the best candidates”. Here she is referring to images on your website, social media and recruiting collateral which portrays an un-diverse workforce.
How inclusive does your business appear online and in your recruiting process? Remember to cater to a diverse audience in your job description, interview process and throughout your entire employer brand.
Finally
If you need assistance locating the best candidates for your financial technology business, get in contact with Flow Financial & Technology today.
We help businesses recruit the very best talent in the UAE and GCC regions, and help find the talent you need for your business to scale and grow.
Thanks,
About Flow Talent
Flow Talent have been sourcing the best Banking, Technology & Financial Services professionals locally and internationally for leading organisations across the Middle East region since 2018.
The Middle East is a dynamic and growing market where identifying top talented professionals for your organisation is highly competitive and we offer a range of recruitment services to help you with this.
To find out more get in contact with one of our team today.