Attracting Top Tech Talent: Event Recap

Last month, we hosted an upskill event aimed at equipping North East businesses with the knowledge they need to recruit top tech talent. Over the past few years, tech talent has been harder to come by and changing the way we approach recruitment has never been so important. Here are some insights...?

What Did We Learn?

Be the Experience Your Candidates Don’t Have?

Organisations in the North Est are struggling to fill digital positions, but we have a captive audience of around 3,000 students graduating with tech degrees every single year. So, what is the issue? Lack of experience is one of the major causes of the disparity between the number of open job roles and the pool of candidates available. Many businesses are wanting minimum 2 years’ experience that those 82% of students simply do not have. For businesses changing to offer entry-level apprenticeships, upskilling programmes or in-house training whilst reducing the need for experience, the candidate pools are likely to stay large and full.??

Importance of Employee Value Proposition?

Those applying for jobs want to know what an organisation is all about, and this is why it is so important for businesses to consider developing an employee value proposition. The world today offers opportunity and choice across the globe, but if businesses don’t showcase what they can offer their employees, it is likely that job vacancies will remain unfilled. Outlining benefits, being honest, transparent and having a competitive offering (which doesn’t just have to be salary based) will allow organisations to stand out amongst others.??

Move Away from Lengthy Processes

When reaching out to tech talent, be mindful of the avenues that you choose to reach out to potential employees. More and more individuals are pushing away from sites like LinkedIn due to spam recruitment messages or simply just do not look at job boards. Before your potential candidates apply for open positions, they need to know what their potential employer is all about. Make sure you are showing off your company culture, values and have all information possible available to those looking for it.??

Having a People-Centred Approach

Why should someone join your organisation? Having a people-centred approach to your recruitment process can also ensure that those interviewees accept the job offers if they receive them. This process should begin from the moment someone stumbles across a job vacancy, right up until they are settled in their new role. Avoid making recruitment transactional and instead make it more personalised. This can be as easy as ensuring there is a diverse interviewing panel, catering to interviewees needs, having a clear onboarding journey and reacting to feedback.??

Consider Alternative Avenues

Many organisations discount individuals before they have even sent through an application. By adjusting application processes to make them more inclusive, businesses will open their doors to a talent pipeline that perhaps was once ignored. There are so many things that can be done to ensure that everyone wanting to apply, can apply, and succeed in their new job role. From using accessible job boards, to having a flexible interview style that suits both neurodiverse and neurotypical individuals alike, educating and adjusting recruitment practices can have a big impact on the number of applicants.??

A Big ‘Thank You!?

Thank you so much to the speakers and panellists that took part, there were some insightful conversations sparked. If you would like to find out more about the businesses that were involved, please see the list below.??

• Talentheads : The recruitment specialists who have been successfully delivering embedded talent acquisition for several years, acting as a strategic in-house recruiter to all businesses they support.???
• Haystack : The recruitment platform which has been helping to match techies with suitable roles for years, removing the need for recruitment agencies.???
• Opencast | B Corp? : The highly skilled and fast-growing technology consultancy working at the heart of government, global finance and growth enterprise.?
• DurhamEnable: DurhamEnable helps County Durham residents who have a disability, autism, mental health needs, or other long term health conditions and have faced barriers into work.

What’s Next???

Businesses need to be more aware of the role that they play in the North East’s talent pool. By raising awareness of the opportunities that we have in the region and opening up the doors to different types of tech talent, organisations will help to widen and nurture our talent pool.??

If you are struggling to attract tech talent into your organisation, be sure to check out our free digital talent acquisition programme. This offer aims to address the varying recruitment challenges spread across the digital sector by awarding 12 hours of fully funded consultancy support to SMEs in the North East.?

If you would like to learn more about the process or the type of support we offer, please contact our Business Support Manager, Alex Mouat, to discuss further. She is available at 07734791042 or [email protected].?

Written by Natasha Bowers