When you’re trying to recruit tech talent, particularly in a candidate-driven market, you need to try and stand out from the crowd. The tech recruitment landscape right now is highly competitive, and there are far more jobs being advertised than the number of candidates ready to fill them. To attract the best talent and drive successful tech recruitment, you need to create a buzz around your business. Potential candidates need to know who you are and what you’re trying to do, or they’ll never consider you for a job over more established enterprises. For growing businesses trying to compete in the tech talent marks, you need to shout out more about what makes you unique, promoting your EVP and employer brand at all possible opportunities.
But what happens when you have to also compete with other scaling tech businesses? The scaleup space around the world is soaring. We’re in the middle of a tech revolution. With more and more companies receiving funding to take their tech initiatives to market and expanding their offering across the globe, there’s even more competition in the world of startup tech recruitment.
Some candidates long to work at a startup or scaleup. They crave the opportunity to make a mark on a business and have a tangible impact on decision-making that small teams offer. Scaling tech businesses also tend to use innovative software and technology as well as provide greater opportunities to learn and upskill. But most of all, the appeal lies in the culture; startups are exciting and fun, they’re nothing like a traditional 9-5.
However, a lot of scaling tech businesses that need to hire talent are more obscure than others. The problem they have lies that some scaling tech businesses are becoming some of the most renowned and desirable brands to work for in the world. No, we aren’t referring to the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google. But, even in the scaleup world, some names have more appeal than others, and some sub-sections of the tech sector seem sexier and more appealing to candidates than others.
So, picture this, you’re a deep tech business that works with incredibly complex and innovative technologies to serve some of the world’s biggest issues. The work you’re doing is incredible and has the potential to be life-changing. Still, to take your offering to the next level and expand upon your services, you need to hire full-stack developers, data scientists and solutions architects, all of whom are in incredibly high demand. So, how can you compete with the cool consumer-facing apps and businesses that are also recruiting tech talent in such a dog-eat-dog market?
Show what you do
Sometimes for a complex deep-tech business, the issue isn’t purely that people don’t know you but also that they don’t know what you do. What you’re doing can often sound so complex that people outside of the business don’t have the best understanding, which is where your recruitment marketing comes in. We always talk about using digital talent attraction to showcase who you are as an employer, but when it comes to complex tech, there’s no harm in showing exactly what you do too. This will show candidates the brilliant things they have the potential to be involved with and the incredible impact they can have. If you have real-life examples of where your work has made a difference, now is the time to share them and get some publicity. Putting your work into context and showing it to the right people is a great way to generate buzz around your employer brand and your consumer one as it shows potential employees the possibilities working with you can unlock.
Make your purpose clear
People outside of your business may not fully understand what you do off the back, but they can understand why you’re doing it. A study of 2,000 British workers found that 42% of employees want to work for a company that positively impacts the world. Whether your company does this directly in the solutions you’re creating, or you have a commitment and social responsibility that is pivotal to your organization, it’s time to shout about it. Filtering these aspects into your employer brand communications could help you to stand out in a competitive talent market and give you a cutting edge against the competition.
Talk about your tech stack
In the world of tech, one thing that can cut through the noise is, believe it or not, technology. Suppose you’re doing something exciting and innovative. In that case, chances are the tech community will want to hear about it and if you’re using the most cutting-edge technology to do it, even better. Talking about these exciting and emerging new technologies will pique interest and position you at the forefront of interested candidates minds; it won’t be for everyone, but it will be like music to the ears of the right candidate. Consider where the tech community is spending time talking about this; look at forums and social media networks where you could engage interest. Threads on Reddit or Quora can be a great place to start conversations with an engaged audience and generate a bit more buzz around what you’re doing.
Think outside of the box
Whether you’re trying to scale your business globally or raise your employer brand awareness to recruit tech talent, there’s no use in doing the same as everyone else. Think about how many job adverts are around and how many programmatic and social media adverts we see daily. Plus, imagine how many times leading recruiters are approaching software developers. To stand out to tech talent, you need to think outside of the box or outside your industry. Deep tech businesses do not have to be defined by and restricted to tech markets. Otherwise, you’ll be limited your talent pool rapidly. For example, one of our clients, Eagle Genomics, recently wanted to raise brand awareness in India and so, sponsored a cricket shirt in the premier league to raise their profile. This meant that their logo was everywhere, and when they were ready to advertise jobs, relevant candidates stood a greater chance of being familiar with the name. Consider tactics like this and create stand out content or tap into more consumer-based advertising to set you apart from other tech recruiters.
Utilize Your Networks
While we wouldn’t advise only hiring talent from your network, as this can lead to a whole host of issues regarding diversity and differing viewpoints, they can be a valuable tool to build awareness. LinkedIn and social networks are one thing, but getting out to events and meeting other people who can spread the word about your business is a brilliant way to raise awareness amongst candidates. In the same way, you may utilize startup networks to help you source funding and investments. In addition, you can use them to build your profile with talent. Everyone knows someone in this industry, and through the art of conversation, you can build up awareness and raise your profile with like-minded people.
Talent Works are experts in providing scaling businesses with tech recruitment and talent acquisition solutions. Our unique, flexible approach to RPO is more suitable for scaling businesses than traditional outsourced recruitment as our services can adjust to meet demand. With a subscription-based model, there is less risk. However, you still benefit from expert recruitment solutions, whether it’s employer branding and EVPs, digital talent attraction campaigns or even directly sourcing tech candidates.
To find out more about our approach to tech RPO and how it can help your business, contact us and let’s start a conversation.
