Almost all sectors are being driven by a need to digitise their business. Whether you are an established business going through transformation or a new business in the “Insurtech” sector. You have now entered one of the fiercest talent markets on the planet.
A quick job search in Indeed on “developer” in “Manchester” (within a 5 -mile radius) and there are 1328 “live” jobs (correct 29/01/2020 – source indeed.co.uk).
With $528 Million invested in the tech sector in Manchester between Jan 1st, 2019 and the end of September 2019 (source “businesslive”), this market is only going to get more competitive. So how can you stand out in this fog of competition. Profound have some ideas and we’d love to share them with you.
5 things to consider attracting the best tech talent
For the purposes of this blog, we will assume you have managed to make your job advert stand out and attract a candidate…. (this is a minor miracle, read future blogs to hear more!)
- Move Quickly – This is one of the fastest moving markets, there are many internal recruitment teams and agency recruiters all vying for the same small pool of candidates. This is the definition of a “candidate driven market”. This may sound obvious but moving quickly is essential. We can safely assume this is an “active candidate” as they have applied for your job. So, you can bet they are applying for other jobs too. If you don’t make meaningful contact within 24 hours, this candidate will have been contacted by half of Manchester. Ideally you should at least offer your availability to meet within the next 24-48 hours. If you are away, can you offer a skype interview or have someone you trust interview in your place? If you wait until you get back from holiday, chances are that candidate has secured a new role already.
- Be prepared to offer some element of remote working or if not then have a good reason why not – Developers and most tech people (like most of the workforce) spend a large portion of their day working online and their effort and competence is very easily measured. Why does this role need to be sat behind YOUR desk for 5 days a week? You want to build a team environment and help the individual grow and personally build their portfolio of skills? Fine, that’s a good reason, but don’t just pay lip service, put an action plan in place, get under the skin of the candidate at interview, what do THEY want from this job? Give them it, after all, if they get better at what they do, then you gain more value from their skills as their employer.
- Upsell Insurance! – Having had the benefit of recruiting across multiple sectors, we feel we can can say with confidence that candidates in the tech sector are some of the most engaged in terms of their own personal development. The Insurtech sector is a relatively young, buoyant and exciting sector. People’s first reaction when we say “insurance” isn’t always one of excitement! But some of the new (and existing) businesses we have witnessed in this space are creating ground- breaking solutions with real life changing results. Make sure both your role advert, but more importantly your description of the project and what the candidate will be involved in, is on point, and really “sells” the concept to the potential candidate. Being involved in something new in start-up, scale up or transformation will help you secure the interest of any potential candidate serious about their career and developing their skills portfolio.
- Offer an actual benefits package! – We cannot recommend enough that you investigate this, time and time again an engaged candidate’s face drops when reading through a poultry/non-existent benefits package at offer stage, this is true whatever sector you are looking to recruit in.
Holiday – 20 days holiday is not something to brag about, nor is 28 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays. Times have changed, the absolute rock bottom holiday entitlement should be 25 (plus Bank holidays).
Health – Speak to an IFA, how much does it cost to offer Private Health, or even a basic health cash plan? Show the candidate you care this will set you apart from the competition, and if you don’t secure them, it costs you nothing!
Pension – Just because the auto enrolment guidelines say you must pay 3%, doesn’t mean you can’t consider paying a bit more!! What about 5% (which matches the candidates 5% and makes a nice even 10!)
Bonus/equity – Depending on the size of your business and of course the value/level of the candidate, some profit share or at least a performance related bonus structure shows a real investment in the candidate.
- Salary – We’ve left this until last deliberately, because we genuinely believe for most of the developers/tech talent, base salary can be secondary to other factors around personal development, interest in the project, the company itself and the people. However, nobody goes to work for free. Don’t think to yourself “what can I get away with offering as a minimum” think to yourself, how much do I want this candidate, and therefore what are they worth to me/our business”. Follow this formula and at least you and the candidate know that the offer is a fair one!
There are many more factors to consider, people, cultural fit etc. but these fundamental points above should help you in showing the candidate what you think of them and how much you want them to work for you.
If this fails, try engaging a recruiter who will attract either an active candidate, or better still a “passive candidate” (less competition), and deal with all the stages of candidate attraction and offer negotiation for you!
Contact Richard Townsend @ ProFound if you want to discuss candidate attraction techniques or general recruitment advice.
Phone: 07872 925 190
Email: Richard@pro-found.uk
