I think there are two worlds we evolve around. The first is the one our parents exposed us to and the second one is the new 'Technology World.' At one time, I thought the two were the same, but lately I am being convinced otherwise.
Think about it you open up the newspaper and all you read is that interest rates are going up, stock market is going down, gas prices are going up, and housing prices are going down. The economic news can not be any gloomier.
But wait, that is unless you a member of the Technology World looking for a job, where life is good.
Doesn't it seem like that World has it all together? Salaries going up, the number of available jobs is increasing and new technologies are introduced each day. Why would you want to be a lawyer when starting salaries for some basic experience network engineers have reached $50K+? It's reminding me of the late 1990s and early 2000. The only gloomy news I constantly hear in the Technology World is that hiring technologists is getting tougher and tougher.
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And why is finding talent so difficult? When the industry was starting out, each possible candidate had only one of four positions to choose from: network engineer/admin, developer, programmer, and manager. And now, if you look on job boards, you see 40 positions per classification. For example look at today's network engineering positions; you have network engineer 1, network engineer 2, etc. etc. You also have junior-level, mid-level, and senior-level to name a few more. To increase the confusion, you can double that number by changing the word 'engineer' with 'architect.'
What does this all mean? It means trying to hire someone quickly is more difficult. CIOs are telling me from across the mid-Atlantic area that the ratios for interviews to hire are as high as they have ever seen it. But there are some strategies for tech leaders that might help close that gap:
- Ask your staff as referrals. It is the best way to find talent. Most employees will only offer qualified candidates. Make sure your organization offers a referral bonus. It really helps.
- If you plan on using headhunters or job boards, make sure your job description is very detailed (what's required and what's optional). This will stem the flow of resumes that clearly do not meet your criteria.
- If you are going down the headhunter avenue, make sure you provide them with some technical (must know) questions that candidates must answer correctly. This should prevent weaker candidates' resumes from being presented for consideration.
- Perform a quick phone interview before asking the candidate in for a face-to-face interview as it can and will save you valuable time.
- If your organization requires multiple people to interview a candidate, please coordinate the schedules. Candidates relate that they often perceive confusion in an organization when they're asked to come in on separate interviews. Condensing the interview process can also prevent you from losing a candidate to a competitor who moves the hiring process along faster.
- And finally never forget about the candidates that you have previously interviewed and were interested in. Keeping in contact with job seekers whom you liked but weren't able to hire for various reasons could pay off in the future.
The goal for every tech leader today is to make recruitment a full-time practice as the new Technology World moves fast.
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